Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater M2v3/VP150v2/VP180v3 center channel comparison

Dean, as I noted in a previous post, I do intend to try the VP180 on end and compare it this way, hopefully tomorrow before I have to give this baby back to its rightful owner.

Thanks, I missed that comment earlier. I’ve been waiting for someone to do a vertical test since this thing came out. I’m still entertaining the idea of having one mounted on a stand so I can orient it either way depending on if I’m watching a movie vs. music or alone vs. side seats filled.

OK, I tried the VP180 in the vertical position against an M80v2. I simply placed both speakers in front of my AV unit and made changes to the Denon so I had a mono signal(what a PITA). I listened to various types of music and I found the M80 to have a wider soundstage, that is to say the music didn't seem to come from just the speaker while the VP180 had a similar effect but not as much. I suspect this is due to the different driver configuration. I think the differences would be greatly diminished once played with a left and right speaker for multichannel duties but YMMV.

Tony, sorry I forgot to respond to your question about an M22 center vs the M2. IMO there is little difference. The M22 will allow a 60hz crossover if so desired and but it really doesn't have the size to handle those frequencies with any real authority, not like the VP180 or floorstanders do. If you have bookshelf speakers for L/R then by all means run the same speaker across the front as it will yield a truly seemless soundstage, if the M22 is too tall then the M2 will fill in nearly perfectly, I doubt most would ever notice any difference.

I'm pretty sure Ian told us that there are different crossovers in the M80 and VP180 to deal with changes in baffle-step correction due to the cabinet orientation. So, I'd expect them to sound different, and not just because of the driver configuration.

Ah yes, I forgot about the crossover differences as well, good point.

See the interview with him in HTR.

Just thought of a possible way to run VP180 with M2's. Run dual M2's above, aligned vertically above the display and then the VP180 below. The dual M2's present a 4 ohm load and should play a little louder to better match the VP180 ouput. I think this would yield pretty good results for a wider listening area.

Is that really necessary with the VP180?

I wonder how a new 180 would fair with my 80v2's of a few years old? Can't afford to upgrade my entire system again, arggg.

From what we've heard, pretty well...

Wonder if I could make a VP180 fit on top of a 27" CRT without my wife noticing...