I’ve had the VP160 running in my newly calibrated home theater for a couple weeks now and thought I’d give you my two cents. As other owners have stated, the VP160 fills a hole in my 7.1 system that I didn’t know existed. For five years I’ve been more than happy with a VP150, but after hearing how seamlessly the VP160 combines with my M60’s to create an uncolored soundstage that sounds so natural, I am convinced I’m hearing exactly what the sound engineers wanted me to hear from the source material. From the faintest sounds of an actor breathing, to quiet footfall of bare feet walking on carpet, the VP160 is able to produce the smallest detail without sounding as though the level is unnaturally high. One the flip side, the booming voices of Optimus Prime and Darth Vader carry a weight to them I’ve not heard anywhere but in the better calibrated Cinemas in Calgary. It quickly becomes clear that this is a different beast then the VP150. The frequency response is fantastic, allowing the listener to hear subtleties in the mix that could easily go missing from lesser speakers, but also would not be missed until one heard things as they were meant to be heard. In Transformers: Dark of the Moon, there's a scene where Optimus Prime and Sentinel Prime are having a discussion on who should lead the Autobots. The voices of Peter Cullen and Leonard Nimoy slowly move from the right front or left front channel to the center and back again as the camera slowly moves from side to side. The front soundstage sounded simply amazing, with no obvious difference between my 5 year old M60v2's and the new VP160v3. Better ears then mine might be able to pick something out, but I couldn't.
It's difficult to judge just how much my home theater has been improved by the VP160 due to the fact that I totally re-calibrated my AVR and renovated my room. During the course of my renovation I learned a great deal about room treatment, speaker size, subwoofer set-up and AVR settings. As a good friend of mine with a real ear for sound told me this weekend, "The new center sounds great, but now the whole system sounds like it's just been upgraded." I agree. I'm hearing things I haven't heard before, but not just from the VP160.
I am very happy with the VP160 and would recommend it to anyone with M60's and the space required for a larger-sized center channel. It's a big improvement over the VP150 and the prefect complement to the M60's. Now if only Axiom would make matching surrounds...
