Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater VP100 vs. VP150 my thoughts

Well I finally took some time and hooked up the VP150 and VP100 for a listen. I played LOTR due to its extreme dynamics with whispers and explosions in the center channel. My setup was with both centers on my mantle and just simply plugging and unplugging the banana clips into each speaker and listening to certain parts of the movie with each speaker, nothing scientific but I could hear a difference right away. Some of the difference is due to the 6ohm VP150 playing close to 2db(76 vs 74) higher than the VP150 when I checked for calibration with pink noise. Some scenes were simplied caompared by plugging and unplugging each speaker during the scene to check for tonal differences.

My initial thoughts about the VP150 were correct, it does have a slightly lower tone to it than the VP100. The vocals are a little deeper and wider spread than the VP100. I have always felt male vocals on the VP100 were perhaps a little to high pitched while listening over the years with the VP100. To correct this I usually set the center to large and it did help. For this comparison the center was set to small and the usuall crossover 80hz.

The vocals on the VP150 were what I was trying to achieve with the center set to large with the VP100. The VP150 has more of a realistic quality to it that is hard to describe, airy, open might works as descriptors. Male vocals sounded as they should and I could hardly notice a difference with the female voices. It also sounds more dynamic during the explosions, it appeared to add more punch to them when compared to the VP100.

The downside of the VP150 is the vocals are not as crisp or clear/forward as they are on the VP100, this reminds me a little of the difference I hear between the M60 and M22, but not as discernable. During some scenes (whispers, soft voices) the vocals seemd a little muffled, slightly hard to hear, on the VP150 and not so on the VP100 even with a 2 db deficiet.

My conclusion is that you really can't go wrong with either speaker, both have outstanding clarity and detail, but I would suggest the VP150 for medium to large rooms, with its better dynamics at louder volumes and the VP100 for smaller intimate areas as it does sound a little cleaner, more detailed making it easier to hear the voices at lower volumes.

Jason,

Thanks for the review. Have you tried using one of the M22s as a centre? It would be informative to have a comparison amongst the 100, 150 & M22.

Also, how was the 150 vs. the 100 off-axis?

I did a quick off axis check during the movie but to be fair I wanted to have the speakers in exactly the same spot(not angle), so I did not post it. The VP150 dropped 2 db and the VP100 dropped near 4 to the same place.. Just remember the VP100 was about 8 inches farther away to that spot making it a few more degrees off. It was quite alarming to notice how thin they both sounded off axis as I never really paid attention before, as I usually am not the one off axis.

For those interested, I did try both on at the same time and as with my M82(M60/M22) combo, the center channel came alive as never before. It had a warmth/bass to it and yet still clear enough to hear the softer voices. I am still working on which is better VP150 above or below, it's looking like below on the first couple of tests.

I was thinking about trying the M22s as a center and not just one, 2 as well, vertically and then horizontally like the VP series, more on this center channel shoot out to come....

Thanks.

And please make sure you try the 100/150/2xM22 center combo. It's a good thing Monday is a holiday, eh?

Monday is a holiday? I hadn't noticed, I should be doing some roofing on the addition at my parents house for most of the week end. My comparisons will have to wait till next week when my youngest is at preschool, I should be sleeping during this time but the new speaker combinations make it to hard to sleep

Nice review. Looks like the 150 is what I need.

I'm still sans centre as "unscheduled bathroom renovation" ate into my speaker budget. Loving my M22's and QS8's still and will probably go with a VP150 unless you need to unload that 100 sometime

later J.

Thanks.

I might be willing to loan it to you for in home demoing along with the VP150.

I still feel the VP100 is a much closer match sonically to the M22, but going louder with the VP150 helped bring out the highs a little more.

Great stuff! AS I have a V150 on the way, I hopefully can add a review with some cogent thoughts.... Or maybe not!