Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Excited about my VP180

I'll buy your 150 if you buy mine and then we can both buy a VP180

It has taken me a little longer than I had hoped to submit my review, but I had a couple of business trips to attend and the wiring/setup has taken me longer than ever (simply due to the fact that the speakers are in my highest visibility room and I want the wiring to be as discrete as I can make it without an invasive through-the-walls approach.).

Also, actually, the Emotiva has also delayed me somewhat as well. Maybe it's just my XPA-5, but that amp has always been an extremely sensitive - easily kicking into protect mode. Even before my Axiom speakers came, it would typically kick into protect mode whenever the receiver stopped sending a continuous signal (such as when switching audio modes). The XPA-5 does not seem to be troubled at all by the M80s or VP180, but through trial and error I have discovered that the amp runs solidly without kicking to protect mode if I run only the M80s and VP180. So, the surrounds are now being powered by the Onkyo, which is plenty for them.

So, how about a little review of my Axiom experience thus far?!

The sound quality is simply wonderful and breathtaking. Playing music gives a sense of being in concert, something I've never experienced at home before. The clarity of the instrumentation is astounding, and the power of the speakers are up to the challenge of dominating my two-story space.

The EP500 doesn't seem as loud as my HSU Research sub, which is half the power of the EP500, but it performs/sounds better to my ears. Together with the M80s, it is particularly nice.

The VP180 is very good, but not quite as great as I had hoped. As evidenced by the topic heading, the VP180 was my most anticipated speaker; I had very high hopes for it that may have been unreasonable. I have discovered that to maximize intelligibility of voices, I need to set the VP180 to an 80Hz cut-off. This is seems disappointing since it, like the M80, is a near-full-range speaker. Due to my slight disappointment, I tested it against a couple of other center channels I have; a large Polk and a Vienna Acoustics. My wife and I both agreed that the VP180 was better for movies and utterly crushed the Polk and VA for music. Also, stunningly, the huge V180 looks pretty cool on its dedicated stand, so it also decisively won the competition on room aesthetics as well (mainly because it looks really nice composed in our unique room setting, not because it has better appearance as a speaker).

Speaking of crushed, the M80s are causing me a problem. I have a picture wall just above the left channel. During playback of a bass-heavy recording one of my pictures went flying off the wall! OK, I say it's a "problem", but that's what I call a really really good/fun problem! That's just another one of many "wow" moments I've had so far with this amazing Axiom system.

This is the first time I have ever had the discipline and the wherewithal to purchase a complete matched speaker system. The Axiom speakers simply sound phenomenal together. Lots of people, like me, mix and match speakers of different makes, but having a matched set produces a superior experience.

Not all has been great with my Axiom Audio order though, and the following are some of those not-so-great aspects. While the sound quality of the Axiom system seems superb to my ears (the first time any speaker has sounded superb to me in this room!), the visual quality of the speakers is not quite as great. I am annoyed that there is a score mark on the black-oak vinyl on one of the M80s. It is very small and limited to a front corner on the top. I placed the slightly-defective M80 away from the major traffic space, no one is ever going to notice it; I'll just know it's there. My assessment is that it is not a significant enough defect to warrant the headache of returning the speaker.

Also, on the bottom-left corner of the backside of the EP500 the black oak vinyl is slightly delaminated. Again, it's small, and in this case on the backside; not significant enough to me to go through the trouble of returning the product for that reason. But, I paid for a non-defective EP-500, so it's annoying if only superficial.

The worst fit and finish problem, by far, are the dedicated Axiom stands for the VP180 and the surrounds. They are painted black.....mostly. I estimate that they are 99.9% painted black. In other words, the paint coverage is not 100% and some of the raw aluminum is visible. Not pretty. I'll probably use a very small brush and do the touch-up work that Axiom should have done.

One more issue. The manual for the EP500 claims that an RCA adapter, which is required for connection to my Onkyo receiver, was supposed to be included, but I searched and searched and found no such adapter. So, I had to go to Radio Shack and buy one there to get by until Axiom can complete my order. Again, this says to me that Axiom is somewhat careless when it comes to the fine details of delivering a polished/complete product.

In conclusion I'd grade my Axiom system a "C-" for fit and finish and an "A-" for sound quality, but my total grade for the system is a solid "B".

Very good - but not spectacular - job, Axiom Audio!

David

P.S. Another Emotiva thought: One of the responses to this thread indicated that my Onkyo is sufficient to power my speakers. This is true. And in fact I have some strong incentive to just use the Onkyo. The Emotiva is a power hog, it is huge, and it adds no aesthetic value to my room (where aesthetics are important). But, the Emotiva puts out 300 watts per channel (at 4 ohms) and the M80s and VP180 seem to love that power. Testing the VP180 all by itself, I switched the speaker connections back and forth between the Emotiva and Onkyo and found that the added power from the Emotiva gave the VP180 a fuller/richer more vibrant sound even at lower volumes. Am I nuts? Am I just imagining the sound is better with a more powerful amp? Even though I prefer to take the Emotiva away and just use the Onkyo's built-in amp, my ears tell me that the Emotiva sounds so much better that it makes a convincing case for keeping it in place. It's not so much that the Emotiva sounds awesome, but that the Onkyo, by itself, sounds poorer/lamer/slightly-disappointing. But, if you think I'm just imagining a difference, I am all ears to listen to your argument.

I am glad you enjoy your Axiom setup and sorry to hear about your finish troubles. We don't hear this type of issues often.

2 questions:

1) on another thread you said:

After listening to the EP500 for yourself, do you think it is an inferior product compared to the competition and do you regret your decision?

2) You seem to be a bit disappointed with the VP180 but mentioned that it was much better than the other centers that you have. Can you explained what is disappointing you?

Concerning amplifier differences, I originally bought a very cheap Sony 100wpc receiver from Newegg for about $150. Then I sent this back, and purchased a Pioneer Elite 110wpc from BestBuy for $640. The difference was amazing. I only had a single pair of M22's at the time, and I got a much fuller sound with the Pioneer. With the Sony, I got good mids and highs, but was severely lacking in bass and power.

I think that a good power supply probably goes a long way in sound quality, because that's one of the things that was light with the Sony.

This is the first I have read someone disappointed with a VP180.

Maybe its just the "break-in" period?

I don't have the ability to answer your first question. I don't have access to the subs that will be reviewed in the shootout. Compared to my HSU Research VTF-2 MK 3 sub, the EP-500 is clearly better...and at twice the cost it darn well better be better! How would it stack up to an SVS PB12-Plus, which costs just a little more than the EP-500? I have no idea, but my guess is that the EP-500 would not hold up. If I could do it all over again, I might give more consideration to the SVS, but there is substantial value to me in having a matched set for purely visual-aesthetic reasons. In other words, another sub might be better acoustically, but the EP-500 is a perfect visual fit with the rest of the system.

I regard myself as happy with the EP500, but will always be suspicious that it isn't up to the competition because Axiom withdrew from competition. But, I am happy with my purchase because the EP500 sounds satisfactory to me, so this isn't anything that is going to gnaw on me.

On the VP180 I am likewise happy. For all I know the VP180 is the best center channel speaker in the world...and my expectations were just too high. When I set up my speakers (I have yet to run the Audyssey), I manually set the M80s and VP180 to a 40Hz threshold. However, this made voices difficult to hear on the VP180, but when I set the threshold to 80Hz the voices became satisfactorily clear. I had just hoped that the VP180 would sound great with a 40Hz threshold, so that is the limit of my disappointment. This is a really small matter to me; as I indicated my testing demonstrated that the VP180 is the most superior center channel I've ever had. I love it, just not quite as much as my probable unrealistic expectations.

I am surprised you haven't heard of more finish issues, since 50% of the items in my order had finish issues (again, not so severe that I'm willing to ship things back for replacement). If only one item in my sizeable order had an issue, I wouldn't have mentioned it, but when 50% of my order affected I have to conclude that such issues must be the norm. But, I am way-happier with a less-than-perfect finished superbly sounding speaker and stands, than I am with beautifully finished less-than-stellar sounding speakers.

You may rightly regard me as a satisfied customer.

Oh but no, you still have yet to read someone who is disappointed with a VP180! Please permit me to again state that per my own tests, the VP180 sounded better than any center channel I have ever owned. If I register any disappointment it is merely that it didn't match up to my probably-too-high expectations. Not meeting my expectations is disappointing, but on the whole I assess the VP180 as pretty awesome. If I could do it all over again I'd absolutely order the VP180. I'll have another look at my original wording and revise it to emphasize my satisfaction with it.

Hope that clears things up and thanks for calling attention my need to be very careful with words; especially in a product review!

[EDIT: The "Edit" button is missing under my review, so please allow this reply to suffice as a clarification regarding my satisfaction with the VP180.]

Have you tried the VP180 with a 60hz crossover? Also placement of the speaker can make a difference, a few inches higher or lower, even a slightly different angle can greatly increase SQ.

I agree the M80s love power and sound better(IMO) with lots of power available but they don't sound bad with just a simple good quality avr driving them.

Thanks for taking the time to write up your thoughts

I have to say that I don't fully understand how that could be since typical male voices will be above 80Hz, I would see that to be more of a problem for music with bass instruments (although I think the VP180 does a wonderful job in this department). Maybe someone with a bit more of technical knowledge will be able to explain. What matters is that you found a setting that sounds good to you.

Yes I did try 60Hz...basically just kept moving that threshold up and up until I achieved results that satisfied me. That's a great point about speaker placement/position. My room, due to it's multi-purpose usage is necessarily compromised from a speaker placement/position standpoint. The VP180 looks cool and sounds very good where it is, so for now I'm going to leave it as is even if it might sound better a little higher or angled up a bit.