Hi Michael, I’m one of the people who doesn’t much care for the VP150 can’t speak to the VP100 since I haven’t heard it.
I’ve tried it in 3 different rooms and paired with M80 and M22 mains and in 2 out of the 3 cases (paired with the M80s) I preferred either an M80 or M22 as a center over the VP150. In the one other case it sounded ok paired with the M22s but I never really tried listening to it much since in that room I mostly used headphones, but clearly nothing anomalous jumped out at me like the other 2 times.
My biggest issue is that I have never found it to be a good tonal match with the M80s. Note I am very sensitive to this and eventually switched to using a phantom center it was so annoying. In both cases it was noticeable enough I could tell the difference in a blind test within seconds of hearing a male voice from the center speaker in blind testing. It was also very noticeable when a actor is talking and walks across the screen. In these cases the sound of male voices was more hollow sounding when coming from the VP150.
The other issue I hear is the smearing of the front soundstage during music. I found that discrete instrument and vocalist placement wasn’t a precise with the VP150 up front. Also multi-channel SACDs sounded less dynamic with the VP150 then with an M80 or M22 no matter the crossover. The VP150 also killed the ambience on some of my favorite tracks.
IMO the VP150 has the least fidelity of the Axiom speakers I own. M80, M22, QS8 and VP150. However, that’s not necessarily all bad. There is an appeal to the more wall-of-sound like effect the VP150 created over a vertical speaker especially for movies. Laying 2 M22s on their sides will simulate this though more exaggerated but not the tonal difference. The closer I sit to the screen more this effect helps spread out the center channel to blend better with a large screen. The first thing I noticed when trying a vertical center was this change with the M22 of M80 sounding more like a point source than a horizontal array.
As for other issues real or theoretical others have reported I haven’t had them.
In summary if I didn’t hear the tonal difference or notice missing dynamics with the VP150 I would prefer it’s wall-of-sound effect for movies. However, I would still prefer the M22 or M80 for music due to the more precise sound stage I hear.
In ranking the Axioms I have the VP150 is the weakest. The M80s are all around the best. The M22s are the best performance for the money and the QS8s are the best in their class I’ve heard.
Cheers,
Dean
