Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners M22's or M3's?

The advantage is you get better horizontal dispersion with a vertically oriented center channel and when using the exact same speaker you get the exact same sound from the center as the mains, not a similarily good sound as with the VP100/150. The differences are minor when comparing the VP series to the M22 but they are there.

Fred said it all. I don't understand too much about the subject so our fellow forum members have advised me on that. So this is the reason why I got 3 M22's for front and 2 QS8's for the surround.

Well, only if they are positioned in the room exactly the same way

picky, picky, picky. :P

Unless its a square room...

Can you put round speakers in a square room?

Yes, but only if the diameter is less than the doorway width.

Geez, just put them in sideways! It'll flatten out the response too.

Okay, well I don't agree. They make the center channels to be timbre matched with the other speakers. Using the M22 as a center means it's going to be radically off the horizontal listening access. (Unless you're mounting it behind a sonically transparent projection screen. Then never mind.) On the other hand, the center channels are made to disperse the sound horizontally; and you can also more easily angle it a few degrees up or down.

Speaker makers attempt to timbre match their centers to their mains. An identical speaker will be identical in timbre.

Vertical speakers naturally have better horizontal dispersion. Center channels are designed to be wide to attempt to get the same dispersion characteristic.

Yes, centers do have a slightly better vertical dispersion (for the same reason vertical speakers have a good horizontal). But there's no reason an M22 can't be angled to fire more directly at ear level (the left and right may also benefit from being angled up or down if they can't be placed at ear level).

Center channels speakers are all about design compromises because most people don't have room to place a full hight speaker above or below their display. I have just enough room for a VP150, I can't even fit a VP180 into my setup. But if I ever go to a projection system, I'm surely making room for an M22, if not an M80 for my center.