If you haven’t already try turning the VP150 off in the receiver and run a phantom center as an experiment. If while sitting in the sweet spot voices stop sounding “hollow” then something is certainly not right.
I’ve used the VP150 in three rooms and gotten three different results one excellent, one average (for a horizontal center) and the present one which I think is exactly what you describe. Voices sound like someone is talking through two tin cans connected by a string or somewhat high pitched and edgy. Also voices sound like they are coming from through a tunnel with the source somewhere behind the TV getting worse the further off center I sit. Note I get this result with the VP150 sitting in the open about 4 feet from the nearest wall and with both a Denon 2807 and an Onkyo 3007. Also in all rooms Audyssey made it sound worse.
Like I said above it’s also sounded pretty average in my apartment living room where the voices were a little higher pitched and the overall sound was less dynamic than my M80s. Both of which were subtle enough I didn’t notice until I tried a phantom center with my M80s by accident. In my apartment bedroom my VP150 blended perfectly with my M22s I was using as mains there. So in my experience it’s very sensitive to placement and room acoustics.
Again try running a phantom center and if that makes the “hollowness” goes away then maybe you should consider trying a M22 as a center if you can fit one or a VP100 which I have no experience with but have never read of anyone having this issue with it.
Cheers,
Dean
