Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Differences in center channel choice-advice/help?

Hey guys, I Am new on his forum But I have a question, I am planning on purchasing a pair of M60 towers And am wondering If the M3 bookshelf would work as a center channel? I feel this may make the soundstage more seemless and would also allow me to have my tweaters pretty close in height to one another... I really like the idea of a vertical center and a few tests have shown that even a moderately prices bookshelf can outperform an expensive horizontal center configuration. Has anyone ever tried this before or compared the M3 to the vp150 as a center?
Any thoughts would be great!

Thanks,
-Rmb

Never tried it myself but many around here have an recommend it. I use a vp150 and am pleased with how it performs. If i was getting a new center channel today though I'd go with the vp180 . I'm sure others will chime in with more help.

Oh yeh, Welcome to the forums!

I have not heard the M60s or M3s for myself but from everything I’ve ever read here the M2 or M22 would be a better match for the M60s. I’ve tried both the M2 and M22 with my M80s and found both preferable to the VP150. As long as you are using a subwoofer either of these would work fine, however, in a larger room the M22 might be the better choice.

Cheers,
Dean

RM, welcome. Yes, I definitely prefer to use a vertical center as similar as possible to the mains. As Dean commented, the M2 or M22 would be a better match for the M60s than the M3 would be.

So out of curiousity why would the m2 match better when the M60 has dual 6.5 inch woofers ??? would not the lower bass response in the center be appealing ... for fuller sounding voices and smoother transition into the towers and subwoofer... Just my thoughts.???

If an M2 was selected, the crossover would be no lower than 80Hz. Its low bass response would be irrelevant and the mid-bass to sub transition would be very smooth. The all-important mid-range would be handled by the same 5 1/4" driver as in the M60s.

Ok thanks!

RMB, the best center would be to get a matching M60 for the lower bass that you mentioned. I will guess like many of us this is not an option so unless you are willing to buy the VP180 for a more perfect tonal match, any other speaker will be a bit of a compromise.

But don't lay the M60 on its side.

After hearing the M3's run full-range in the blind test at Axiom last month, I was really impressed. I wonder if we are all making too much of the tonal differences between the M2 and M3, especially with the V3 upgrades.

FWIW, I have a VP100 with M60's and am very satisfied.

Please keep in mind that room placement makes such a huge difference in your perception that even when using identical speakers, the center channel is likely to sound a little different when cycling through pink noise.

Having directly compared M80s, M50s, and M3s, we are making too much of the tonal differences. As I recall, the M3v2s were more similar to the M80v2s than either were to the M50tis (read v1s).