Ok, found the problem and it isn't the VP180
I went old school and took SPL measurements. As suspected, the VP180 was measuring 3db higher than the M22's, fixed that by adjusting it to -3db...
What was surprising though, my ATMOS Height ceiling speakers were measuring 3-4db higher than the M22's. Adjusting them down -4db and BINGO, that seems to have done the trick. Now, when listening to 2ch recorded music in Dolby/DTS sounds way more natural.
Somehow, the ceiling speakers were contributing to the localization of sound appearing to come from the VP180. I didn't notice it during movies and games as the coding for height is better separated.
Glad old school spl (ok, it was an app I downloaded onto my phone) beat out AccuEQ wizardry.
