Hey guys,

I was wondering if any of you tried and give your opinion on using the vp100 as right and left stereo speakers with a EP500 subwoofer? The reason why I am asking is because the symmetrical or horizontal nature of the speaker design makes it much easier to use in my living room where having horizontal speaker placement for me is difficult. Also the speakers are not bass reflex so there is less concern for me putting them close to a wall and blocking a port.

What are your thoughts?

IMO it depends on what you plan to use them for. I wouldn’t do that if critical listening to music is big on your list. The reason most speakers are vertical is because that make for a better horizontal dispersion of the sound coming from them. Which in turn helps to produce a better soundstage.

OTOH if movies and TV are most of your listening then they might work out ok. I personally like the wider dispersion of sound for watching on screen action because it better created a theater like wall of sound making it harder to pinpoint the location the sound is coming from so that it seems to blend better with the on screen action.

Do you plan to grow this into a 5.1 or 7.1 or ?.1 (who knows where it’s going next), or is this going to strictly be for stereo?

Depending on your constraints I’d be more inclined to go with bookshelf speakers and a sub. If you absolutely don’t want a bass reflex speaker then I would find one that either isn’t ported or front ported if you haven’t tried that yet.

Someone did post pictures of a setup with 3 VP150 across the front L/C/R but I have no idea how it sounded with music and am inclined to think it doesn’t do well at reproducing a realistic soundstage.

Also have you considered in or on wall speakers. Those shouldn’t be ported. I’m also guessing you meant to say “having vertical speaker placement for me is difficult” or you wouldn’t be looking at going with the VP100s


Cheers,
Dean

EW, welcome. It's unclear if you want to place the speakers horizontally or vertically, since you say that horizontal "is difficult". As Dean pointed out, vertical is generally better. As far as back ports, as long as they're at least a few inches from the wall and have "breathing room", they're okay.

Can it be done yes, but if your talking about placing a horizontal designed center speaker on end, in a vertical orientation, I don't think the soundstage would be as good as using a speaker designed to be vertical. What is wrong with going with one of the bookshelf speakers or onwall/inwall designs, they don't require that much space.

Setting up 3 VP100 vertically or 2 VP100 vertically and the center horizonally would definitely work. I would cross them over to the sub higher than the suggested 80hz since they will not have much bass extension. Start with something like 100hz and keep the 500 up front with your mains. Even better would be something like dual EP350's matched up with the VP100's - one sub next to each L & R speaker would work wonderfully with a higher crossover point.

M22s perform very well near a wall--pmbuko used his on full metal brackets and reported better bass extension than sitting on a shelf farther from the wall.

I don't really see the point of using VP100s vertically (on end)--their bass extension will not be as good as the M22s, the cabinets are larger, and they're not designed to be used that way.

Bass extension really doesn't matter if you are using a subwoofer like he will be doing. You can compensate with a higher crossover point to the sub and carefully place the subwoofers as close to your mains as possible to avoid/minimize any localization. My advice would be to use 2 subwoofers (EP350) over a single EP500 for this purpose.

There has been one posting about a set LCR VP150's set up across the front in a large open space, where are those pics?. I would think 3 VP100s across the front would work just as well and has been mentioned ensure the sub is near the front and set the crossover around 100hz.

But if you have enough room to run, say 2 M2's and a VP100 for a center I would go this route as the M2's will have better horizontal dispersion as Dean(grunt) mentioned. this wil help ensure all seating positions have better sound.

The VP center speaker tweeter is designed to have a horizontal dispersion when orientated correctly. Turning them on end defeats the whole design, so you would be better off purchasing a speaker designed to be vertical.

To avoid too much confusion, could you please confirm that you meant "where having vertical speaker placement for me is difficult". Otherwise the post is a tad strange and can lead to stranger answers...

I wouldn't be suprised if the VP100 has better on and off axis performance when placed vertically.

Audioholics tested several horizontal center speakers and in every case the off axis performance was better when they were positioned vertically

http://www.audioholics.com/education/lou...evaluation.html

So I wouldn’t bet against you Doc.

Yes, but better than the M22s?

They didn’t specifically test the M22 or VP100 but I imagine the M22 would do better. In the test above the only horizontal speakers to best a $115 bookshelf speaker in off-axis response were a $600 MTM and $2,500 W(T/M)M both sitting vertically. Though the $2,500 W(T/M)M when measured horizontally only barely lost out to the $115 bookshelf for off-axis response.

Hi guys,

What I meant by vertical placement, is that normal speakers that are long top-to-bottom may be tough for me. Having speakers that are meant to be "on their side" like placement of the VP 100 would work better.

A bookshelf speaker would work if it weren't for the fact that all the axiom bookshelf's have a rear firing port... The in-cabinet option like are too big for me so I was thinking of using VP100s for left and right like this:

== TV ==

I listen mostly to music and some HT (2/3 Music 1/3 HT)

Hope this clarifies what I'm trying to do

It might be worth asking if Axiom can do a custom M22 for you with a front firing port?

The 3 horizontal VP100 would be the best configuration due to your placement restrictions but it might not be the most optimal. But yes it will work. What do you plan on doing with placement of the sub?

Like Dr. House says, it's not ideal, but it should work just fine.

The pics of the tweeter show a quad diffuser, to me this means it should work in either horizontal or vertical applications, yes/no?