. . . The 180 on the other hand is ported to the rear and you will need at least 12" of free space behind it. . .
The rear port on the Axiom VP180 center speaker model as all other Axiom ported audio speaker models needs only a minimum of 2" of space to breath freely. Additional space might be needed to adjust bass response to your taste and the acoustic of your room.
I have two Axiom VP180 installed in my dedicated Home Theatre room: the one above my front projection screen is only 3 " away from the wall and the one below the projection screen is 7" away from the wall. I could not be happier with their superb performance.
