Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater VP100 vs VP150

This past Saturday I installed an Epic Grand Master System for friends of mine. Receiver is a Yamaha RX-V1. They, as I, were thrilled with the sound. After spending an hour or so balancing and trimming we settled back to watch Star Wars The Phantom Menace. I couldn't understand or hear a lot of the dialog so I increased the Volume of the center channel by 5db which seemed to improve things but the center channel was obviously much louder than the other channels. Yesterday I took my VP150 to their house to see if it was much different. It was. I had to set the gain on the center channel back to zero. Dialog was MUCH clearer. My question is this. Is there a way, maybe with equalization of the center channel, or some other way to improve the dialog with the VP 150 or should I encourage them to upgrade to the VP150? Thanks in advance!

Rexx, I'm a bit surprised if there's that much difference, and wonder if something's wrong with that VP100. However, since the RX-V1 includes a center channel equalizer, it should be tried. Since the voice frequencies run roughly in the 200-2000hz area, first try boosting the RX-V1's 300 and 1000hz bands a few db and see how that sounds.

I agree with John. Play around with the center channel EQ.

Reducing, rather than boosting, the 300Hz band might well yield a good result (by reducing the fundamentals and hence relatively emphasizing the "formant" frequencies of voice).

I just compared the VP100 to the VP150 and found a 2 to 2.5 dB difference between the two in my living area using the AVIA disc and a Radio Shack SPL meter (the VP150 being the more sensitive). I agree with John and Sushi that you shouldn't find a 5 dB difference between the two centers. But it sounds as if you were calibrating by ear and recognized that the center was noticeably louder than the other speakers. Were you to the side of the sweet spot? I found -- as others have posted -- that the VP150 has greater dispersion. Alan and Ian have said that this is due to the TWWWT driver arrangement (as opposed to the WTW configuration of the VP100). I found the dialog in both centers to be clear, so I did not experience the problem you describe. But I did find the VP150 to be noticeably better for my large room. My wife (who couldn't care less about audio equipment) put it best. While watching the opening scene from Oceans 11 in which the parole board is interviewing George Clooney's character, she remarked that the VP150 made it feel as if she were at the table. I agree. The VP100 is a fine center, but I believe the VP150 delivers a more immersive experience.

I was actually in the sweet spot, within a foot of the center. I will be going back to their house tomorrow and try John's and Sushi's suggestions. Thank you all for your help.