Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Would the VP180 V4 match well with the M60 V1?

Having done some blind tests with the VP180 and VP150 with both M100's and M50's, the VP180 is a more powerful performer.

Based on the results of the blind tests, I would recommend using a 100 Hz crossover with the VP150, while 60 Hz is fine with the VP180.

Both the 150 and 180 sounded great (the tweeter arrangement in the 150 works just fine in real rooms), but the probable best choice to go with your M60's would be the VP160. The difference in timbre matching won't be as much of an issue as you might think. For the $$$, a good choice.

...but I worry that it might be overkill when the fronts are M60's. Has anyone had a chance to hear how they perform in this kind of setup?

Do they sound overpowering compared to the M60's?

And should I be concerned about a V4 speaker not being well-matched to a system of V1's?

Craig, I don't know what your definition of a "real room" is. It's certainly NOT your ginormous man-cave...LOL!

I sit exactly 8 feet away from the 150 and on centre. It sounds alright...certainly nothing like the VP160. If I sit anywhere to the left or the right, all bets are off.

Mdavis, the 150 and the 180 have an unconventional tweeter location. The 160 is a D'Appolito configuration which is proven in the industry.

Andrew from Axiom did a beautiful job on the 160. I'd love to hear the opinion from someone who has heard the 160 and 180 in the same environment.

Honestly, just buy the 160. You'll love it. And I'll envy you .

I'll go do some testing. Never really thought about it before -- the VP180 is so wide it pretty much reaches both sides of my HT area anyways

The 160 is quite a bit less expensive than the 180, and is essentially an M60 in center channel format. IT's objectively the best choice to match your mains.

I run a VP180v4 center with M60ti mains (older than your v1's) and am very happy with the combination. Guessing you're looking at 180 rather than 160 because of height ?


No risk of this -- just make sure levels are set correctly and everything will be fine. IIRC the VP180 was a couple of dB more efficient than the VP100 it replaced, but what that meant was that rather than having to boost the center channel a few dB like I did with the VP100 I could set everything to the same level and get matched SPLs.


I found the matching was very close with pink noise testing (which really exaggerates even tiny differences), and no distinguishable difference with normal content.

I went from VP100 to VP180 and the difference was huge (duh ! :)). IMO it really helps having a full-range center channel even if you are crossing over at 80 Hz like me.

I purchased my VP180 before the VP160 was introduced. I probably would have gone with a 180 anyways (I lean towards the view that if anything the center channel should be even more capable than the mains) but AFAICS I would have been really happy with either.

For what it's worth, the VP160 is actually the center channel that I (and a bunch of other people) were bugging Axiom to produce. And they did !!

My 0.02$. I'd buy the 160.

I dont know if this is possible in your setup or not, but raising the center channel to the position your mains create their 2ch phantom image makes a huge difference in creating a seamless and realistic frount soundstage. (Tweeters aligned). This is especially true for bluray concerts. Game changing.

I'll need to have it on the floor and not on a stand (which would put it too high). Given this, I presume I'd be best off going with the "inverted" option, that angles the components slightly upwards?

Placement-wise, it will be going in front of a large front projection screen. Because of this, I'll need to have it on the floor and not on a stand (which would put it too high). Given this, I presume I'd be best off going with the "inverted" option, that angles the components slightly upwards?

Given the height of the VP160, that would only realistically allow me to raise it by about 5" or 6" at best. Would that, combined with the "inverted" option, be a worthwhile thing to do?

Those look great, Craig. Given the unusual dimensions and weight of the 160, I'm thinking the best route may be to go with Axiom's official stand at a custom height of 5".

If you need ideas for raising a speaker 5" off the ground, I humbly offer the following:

The difference in timbre matching won't be as much of an issue as you might think.

I'd love to hear the opinion from someone who has heard the 160 and 180 in the same environment.

I have heard both in my home at the same time. I found the VP180 was not as good for off axis listening in my room but it offered slightly better lower mid range performance than the VP160, ie. the gunshots in U-571 during the boarding scene had more impact with the 180 vs 160. If I recall there were some other minor sonic differences much like M80 vs M60.