Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Anyone Heard Any Center Speaker Better than VP150?

Hello
I use an Axiom made Merak MC6H center in my small HT system. Love it! Trapezoidal shape, twin 6.5" drivers and a great honking 7"x3" horn tweeter. I replaced a Merak MC6H in my big HT system with a Klipsch KLF C7, an enormous center speaker with a similar layout to the MC6H, twin 8" drivers and a gargantuan horn in the middle (no trap shape). I've come to the conclusion that the Klipsch was an error. The Merak sounds much, much better. So, it's time to put the giant Klipsch up for sale and get a new center for the big system.

That system uses a pair of M60 like speakers up front, a pair of M50 like speakers on the side and a pair of Mission 77ds bipoles on the back wall. I'd get a pair of QS8s for the side surround positions except for the floor to ceiling high sliding glass doors on the right side.

Anyway, of course, I'm probably going to get a VP150 for the center, but, have to ask - Has anyone heard any center channel speaker which you think would be better than the VP150 with a pair of M60s, etc.?

Looking forward to your replies.

with a pair of M60's, I cant say of anything better.

About 6yrs ago, JBL had a center channel w/ 2 6.5" and a large horn in the middle. I had it in my home theatre for about 2 yrs, but had to get rid of it due to moving. I sold it to my friend, and am still jealous every time I hear that speaker. I will try to find the model #

Yeah, 2x6, assuming that your L/R mains are indeed very similar to the M60s in their timbre, the ONLY center channel that I believe is better than the VP150 is, well, another M60. Considering how tricky it can be to timbre-match between different brands of speakers, I would not consider anything else than Merak/Axiom (and yes, I would come to the same conclusion that a Klipsch would be an error).

While I wouldn't want to try to timbre match L/R/C from different manufacturers, I did really like the JMLabs Chorus Line CC700 -- very clear and very neutral. It uses twin 6.5" poly mid-bass and a 1" titanium tweeter. But, I've never been able to hear the VP150 and the CC700 in the same room. I have really come to love my M60s and although the VP150 doesn't timbre match them perfectly, it has been more than good enough.

Note that I was able to improve the apparent timbre matching by tilting my M60s up just a bit which also served to soften the occasional harshness of the tweeters.

Now for something completely different... Tell me if this wouldn't make the hair on the back of your neck stand up!? When I got home today, my wife off-handedly mentioned to me...

"oh, I wasn't able to get a record to play on your 'record player'... I put the needle down, but no sound came out?"

While she's not dumb (she's has her PhD) she still can't use the remote for our old SONY TV but still...SHE got mad at ME because I immediately went to check it out??? She said I acted like she was an idiot.

The JBL model line I refer to is the SVA series. I would probably switch back to my SVA setup over my axioms if I still could....or maybe I just remember these speakers too fondly.

http://www.dvdim.com/dvdim/jbl/svacent.htm

""oh, I wasn't able to get a record to play on your 'record player'... I put the needle down, but no sound came out?"

"While she's not dumb (she's has her PhD) she still can't use the remote for our old SONY TV but still...SHE got mad at ME because I immediately went to check it out??? She said I acted like she was an idiot."

Maybe get her a color coordinated Bose Wave Radio for herself with a little CD player built in?

Thanks for the tip on the JML center. I'm going to wait for the VP150 to reappear on the Outlet and give it a little AB work out.

In reply to:

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While she's not dumb (she's has her PhD) she still can't use the remote for our old SONY TV but still...SHE got mad at ME because I immediately went to check it out??? She said I acted like she was an idiot.

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Well, my wife, who has an MD and PhD and teaches at the medical school, knows a little better that she is not very mechanically oriented, and that there are some things that she cannot always get right. More importantly, she knows that, if she does something silly on our AV gears, that does not detract from her intellect whatsoever. I love her, a highly intelligent woman with such a laid-back attitude.