Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater VP150 vs. Ascend 340C

Has anyone had an opportunity to listen to both of these centers? Is it just going to come down to "a matter of taste" or does one clearly perform better than the other? It seems like there are some who do not like the way the VP150 sounds. Its hard to get a feel for if people think its the design/driver layout or if it is just the Axiom sound. Also, my current center is a Paradigm Monitor CC-370 V3. How does this model stack up to the VP150 or Ascends 340C? I have old crappy JBL mains right now and I was originally going to start with the Paradigm Monitor center and pick up the Monitor 7's down the road to replace my mains. Now that is have come across Axiom and Ascends I am wondering if I could be getting more bang for my buck. They would be running off a Pioneer Elite 43TX if that means anything to anyone. Any thoughts? (50/50 music/HT)

I think it will boil down to tastes.....

but I guess I could take my 340c to spiffnme's place to compare.

Me though, I would rather compare mains and then get the center that matches.

Curtis, you're more than welcome to stop by with your 340's.

But I do agree with you. Dermontt should get some new mains and then match the center to those.

Dermontt, if you're in the LA area, you can stop by and hear my Axiom setup, and I'm sure Curtis is more than willing to show off his Ascends.

I think you'll find that Axioms blow away the Monitor 7s. Pmbuko certainly did... except his were Monitor 9s, and now he's got M22s.

Wow, he really likes the m22's better than the monitor 9s? The m22's have less bass though right? Isn't the monitor series, Paradigm's top of the line? They sure look nice. I bet they're really expensive though. What about these speakers:

http://www.goodsound.com/equipment/paradigm_esprit_v3.htm

How do they compare to the m22's?

Nope. Monitor 9s are Paradigm's top of the line when you're not considering their Signature or Reference series. I think they were only about $700. I can't find any info on the Esprit line on Paradigm's website, but at the moment I'm not looking very hard. Also, the reviewer quotes them as $399, so I would guess they're near the bottom of Paradigm's line.

The M22s are far superior to the Monitor 9s. As for the bass, sure the 9s had more, but not enough in my opinion. The M22s, when combined with his SVS sub, blow the Monitor 9s out of the water.