Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater VP180 vs two VP150s vs VP150 & VP100???

How would a single VP180 compare to say two VP150s with one above and one below a front projector screen?

Previous discussions were about how a center above and below helped to get center channel audio to seem more like it is smack dab in the middle of the large screen. I know that the driver configuration is different, but is the sound field large enough on the VP180 to do something similar and to nail the center channel audio to the center of the screen?

Crap crap crap!!!! Guys!!!! You aren't helping!!!! I should have never asked... Now I will always have sub-par center channel sound until I get a VP180!!!

Question-is there a point at which a center channel can become too large? I mean, with the left/right speakers supposed to be around 10-12 feet apart, or the same distance apart as the listening position is from the center channel (my understanding anyway), would it not cause a seamless sound across the front because there is less space between the front speakers? If so, is this a good thing, or should there be a more noticeable separation between the three front speakers, which would happen with a smaller center channel.

Maybe I'm way off in left field, but that popped into my head this afternoon.

Thanks,
Cam

(yes I’m eccentric)

Cam in my experience testing two M22 speakers laying horizontally above my screen in my apartment (mains only about 6 feet apart) I found that for multi-channel sources the center of the soundstage was way to wide for most music. For studio recordings it made the vocalist, drummer and/or any other instruments coming mostly from the center channel sound blurred across the front like the vocalists mouths were 5 feet across. No amount of tweaking any settings could “tighten up” the center channel image since the drivers were physically spread out 4-5 feet. Note this was also sitting 6-8 feet away from the screen and the further back you get the more the line array of a horizontal center starts to sound more like a point source since it’s angular width decreases relative to distance.

OTOH I did find that for movies and most concert SACD/DVDs the “wall-of-sound” effect created by an array of horizontal drivers seemed more like a movie theater of concert. Also, at first I thought the large horizontal array sounded great for everything but once I started listening critically I didn’t like the smearing effect it had on multi-channel or PLIIx music. I imagine that for most people this will not be an issue since the “wall-of-sound” does seem quite impressive.

That’s the reason I’ve been musing the idea of getting a VP180 and mounting it on a stand so it can be rotated 90 degrees between the horizontal and vertical so I can have the best of both worlds. (yes I’m eccentric)

Cheers,
Dean

That would be an interesting comparison. Your mains aren't very far apart but my guess is that you would still get better results with a horizontal VP180 as opposed to two horizontal M22's. The number (2) and layout (centred) of the mid drivers and tweeters on the VP180 should help "separate" them from your mains somewhat. I'm not sure why you'd want to rotate the VP180 into a vertical position though since I thought you already had a vertical M80 for a centre.