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Re: Axiom VP Series Quandaries……
grunt #288286 01/23/10 06:13 AM
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 Originally Posted By: grunt
 Originally Posted By: htnut

I think part of the problem with manufacturers in general is that most centres are / were designed to be easy to implement and install. Designing them for placment above or below a display or on a shelf or rack limits the physical dimensions and weight. IMHO you can't change physics and the only way to get a "fuller" or "deeper" sounding centre is to use a bigger cabinet.

Like you, I have always preferred 3 identical mains across the front. Aside from their sonic characteristics being identical, their height is also identical, which is another dead giveaway when testing horizontal centre speakers. The only real fair way to test a centre speaker is to elevate it to the same height as the mains. This is why the dual centre speaker setup is intriguing, as users claim that the sound feels like it is coming from the screen as opposed to below it.



In my apartment I tried dual M22s above and below the screen and liked it a lot especially for movies. I didn’t mind it for music but it did mess up the soundstage on my best recordings a little bit but not to badly. The best sounding center I’ve had was a single M80 upside down above my HDTV. Having it upside down put the tweeters almost on level with my M80 mains but with the rest of the speaker extending upward it made the soundstage seem like it was radiating from the whole wall. The only thing it did to change the soundstage was to make the discrete audio like vocalist drums coming from the center sound like they were on a dais. I briefly considered using an AT screen so I could hang my center M80 upside down behind it. But then I got better. Sort of?


Yup, for me the only way I'd be totally happy is with an AT screen and 3 floorstanders across the front. Sadly finances and WAF prohibit that so my quest continues for a horizontal centre that comes as close as possible to the mains.

Re: Axiom VP Series Quandaries……
grunt #288288 01/23/10 06:21 AM
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 Originally Posted By: htnut

Even more reason in my books not to skimp on the centre speaker

The best reason I can give people for using an identical center to there mains is that you never see anyone using 2 different left and right mains presumably because they share a lot of audio information between them so you want them to sound as similar as possible. Since a center seems in most material to share even more information with the L/R mains than those speakers even share between each other why would you want to use a different speaker unless you had to.

One thing, people switching or at least trying a matching vertical center might find is that I sounds very different and even might not like it. There is an appeal to the spread out sound of a horizontal center. Nothing wrong with that at all. I prefer QS8s for music even though theory says I should be using identical or as closely matched surrounds to my mains as I can, but since they are purpose built to reproduce ambient sounds I find they work better for me than direct radiators as surrounds.

When I switched from the VP150 to a vertical center I had already spent months using a phantom center so the change was not as drastic for me to just add another identical speaker. For people switching directly it will sound very different and quite possibly not as good since they are so use to hearing the horizontal center. And like I’ve said before there is an appeal to the way a horizontal array spreads the sound out across the screen. I think JC from Axiom is using 2 M22s laying horizontally above his screen. I tried and liked this a lot for movies but it didn’t work at all for music IMO.




3M80 2M22 6QS8 2M2 1EP500 Sony BDP-S590 Panny-7000 Onkyo-3007 Carada-134 Xbox Buttkicker AS-EQ1
Re: Axiom VP Series Quandaries……
grunt #288290 01/23/10 06:25 AM
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 Originally Posted By: htnut

Yup, for me the only way I'd be totally happy is with an AT screen and 3 floorstanders across the front. Sadly finances and WAF prohibit that so my quest continues for a horizontal centre that comes as close as possible to the mains.

I’ve discovered that w/o the WAF finances are also less of an issue. ;\)


3M80 2M22 6QS8 2M2 1EP500 Sony BDP-S590 Panny-7000 Onkyo-3007 Carada-134 Xbox Buttkicker AS-EQ1
Re: Axiom VP Series Quandaries……
grunt #288314 01/23/10 03:25 PM
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 Originally Posted By: grunt
IMO if horizontal centers sounded as good as towers you would see more people running 3 horizontal centers across the front. I haven’t seen one yet. Personally I would prefer 3 VP150s across the front to M80/M22 mains with a VP150 center.


Didn't someone post pictures of an install with three VP150s across the front? Weren't they all pretty high up in a room with a lot of glass all the way around?

Re: Axiom VP Series Quandaries……
CV #288318 01/23/10 03:48 PM
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Yeah, it was a house in California out by the beach. I don't think the owner was a forum member?


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Re: Axiom VP Series Quandaries……
St_PatGuy #288320 01/23/10 04:17 PM
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That sounds right.

Re: Axiom VP Series Quandaries……
CV #288321 01/23/10 04:22 PM
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Actually it was a Florida home....

3 vp150s, 4 QS8s and A1400-8 system

Gorgeous home!


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Re: Axiom VP Series Quandaries……
RickF #288322 01/23/10 04:28 PM
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Ahh, it was jakeman who had posted it. Thanks, Rick. The California one we were thinking of must have been that World's Largest Axiom Audio Installation.

Re: Axiom VP Series Quandaries……
CV #288323 01/23/10 04:32 PM
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I must have completely missed that thread CV, do you remember who posted it?


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Re: Axiom VP Series Quandaries……
RickF #288324 01/23/10 04:33 PM
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I thought that was the same one.


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