Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo bookshelf speaker as center channel

Also - please explain the 'phamtom' effect.

I would not recommend putting speakers on top of subwoofers, and if I recall correctly, I believe some at Axiom have stated this as well. I suppose you could use some absorption material to isolate the two.

Phantom center is when the avr simply spreads the center channel information between the 2 main speakers when there is not a dedicated center speaker.

Have you considered a VP150, or is it too large? It is definately the way to go in a room that big if you cannot fit a third vertical main.

M22's are probably better, too... Mainly because the back wall is open. If it's too much bread right now you could always phantom the center for the time being.

vp150 might be too heavy for the shelf it would sit on.

Could this work?

Two M22's as main speakers on stands next to my media cabinet and two M2's as centers but located next to the TV on top of the cab- can the center channel signal be sent to two speakers (is that the phantom effect?) - would both of those speakers get the same signal?

Very new at this - sorry!

How do Axiom speakers hook to the receiver?
Plain speaker wire or some other connection?

Hi Mike,
I am agreed with Potatohead on the M22's and VP150. However you obviously have to work within your budget and physical constraints.

The normal configuration would be left and right front speakers only and optionally a center channel. Without the center channel there would only be the left and right fronts which would create the phantom center effect. By turning off the center channel in your AVR the signals that would have been routed to the center speaker are instead mixed into the front left and right channels - creating the 'phantom' center channel.

The speakers connect to your AVR with standard speaker cable. It's up to you if you want to use banana plugs or some other connectors. You can always use bare speaker wire into the binding posts with no connectors.

Hope that helps.

Hi ab030,

I really do not advocate doing the phantom center-channel thing--it's extremely limiting, first because you cannot adjust the volume of the dialog during movies, and second, because it only works if you sit exactly in the sweet spot between the left and right main speakers.

If you sit anywhere off-axis towards the left or right front speakers in the phantom mode, the dialog will move away from the TV screen to the nearest speaker, ruining the illusion.

So unless you're severely constrained budget-wise, I'd suggest you go with a single M2 or M22 and, if you want, put it on its side. Yes, it will affect dispersion somewhat but you may not even notice it. In my tests using a single M2 or M22 as a center on its side, I could not easily distinguish differences using program material (movies or CDs). It's certainly audible using a pink-noise test signal, but the latter is extremely critical and there are lots of anomalies audible using test signals that are not audible with programming.

Both the M2 and M22 are ported, so you'll want to leave a few inches of space behind the speaker for venting, and keep the front edge of the speaker protruding over the lip of the shelf so you don't get tonal colorations from the adjacent furniture.

Regards,
Alan

OK - no phantom effect.
My original plan was to get 3 front speakers.

So -- what will sound better?

Three M2's across the front (including one for the center on its side) ?
Or two M2's in the front and a VP100 for the center?

If I have options - I will go with what sounds best.

The M2 on it's side has poor dispersion so throw that idea out and stick with M2 or M22s as mains and then look at the VP100 or VP150 as the center. The 150 plays a little bit lower in tone and I find certain male voices to sound better with it.

If you gave me those 2 choices I would go with the 2 M2's and the VP100.