Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo What about the M22 as a center speaker ?

I received my M22Ti pair today and after listening to them for a few hours I am delighted ! They are replacing a 15 year old pair of Boston Acoustic A150s that are about three times the size have a 10" woofer, and use a 3 way design. I was hoping the M22s would sound at least as good as the A150's which I really like but want to replace with something smaller. The M22s exceeded my expectations and even surprised me with their Bass response which was as good and musical as the A150 for most of the music I listened to tonight.

I also have the Axiom A100 center speaker. I like it too but after hearing the M22 and seeing how physically similar they are in size and shape I have to wonder- why not use an M22 on its side as the center speaker instead of the VP100 ?
I know I'd have to learn to read the Axiom Logo sideways and attach the speaker wire at the end instead of the middle but I think I can make those adjustments. The plus side would be that my center speaker would match my fronts in every way and sound somewhat better than the VP100 while actually costing a few dollars less. Does that give you any ideas Axiom ? For example how about an M22c with the logo turned sideways ? or an M22cii with the sideways logo and the tweeter in the middle ? I say this is a great idea and congratulate myself for having it. In fact I also say noone needs a better center speaker than the M22cii and it is pointless to try to exceed the standard it will (probably) set ;-)

OK maybe I got carried away. Are there any arguments against turning the M22 on its side and using it as a center speaker ? How noticeable a difference could it make to have the tweeter slightly off center ?

After posting my question I found that the M22 as a center speaker has already been thoroughly discussed, including an excellent technical explanation by Ian that addresses the limitations that would be found in the M22cii (It would possibly still be a great idea for audiences all deaf in one ear, as long as it was the same ear.) Look in the Home Theatre section for that thread.

yes, Harvey, this was suggested before.

also, it is not as simple as putting the tweeter in the middle, and moving the other woofer in its place to put the speaker flat so it sounds good. There's more to speaker engineering than that. Besides, if you want a tweeter between two woofers for a center, just buy the VP100.

As I mentioned in the first post I do have the VP100. The point was that it doesn't sound as good as the M22 and I therefore was curious about using the M22 as a replacement for the VP100. Based on the thread that I read in the Home Theater forum after that post it appears that a) according to Ian there are design tradeoffs that would make the M22 a poor choice for many center speaker applications, but b) Alan Luft tried it and it worked well for him because the assymetric tweeter dispersion pattern wasn't a problem in his room. It may not be in mine either so I plan to try one of my M22s as the center speaker and see how it works.

Hey Harvey,

That's great you like your M22ti's, but are you trying to turn me into Liza Minelli's and Lorna Luft's missing half-brother? It's Lofft, here, not Luft. (ha, ha)

A few thoughts on putting the M22ti on its side as a center channel: Yes, it compromises the lateral dispersion, and it sounds a little different than an M22ti in its proper vertical orientation, but it still sounds better than most other center channel speakers I've auditioned. When it's on its side, the intelligibility off-axis remains very good, and the speaker lacks that annoying edgy "cuppy" coloration on dialog and vocals that seems to be present in many other center channel speakers.

There's also an argument that if you're listening or watching home theater alone and you're sitting exactly between the left and right mains, you can put your processor into a phantom center setting and not use a center speaker at all. (A rigid purist audiophile friend of mine does just that because he doesn't like any center channel speakers!) I'm not that rigid, but years ago, in the earliest days of Dolby Surround, I tried using a powered Bose as center and it was so colored I stopped using it and went to the phantom mode until I found something listenable and shielded I could use.

Anyway, try out the M22ti in a reclining position and see what you think.

Regards,