Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Why do my QS8s sound better than my VP150?

Been listening to my M80 based system and so far am impressed with everything except the VP150. In fact I am deeply disappointed in it. If I do a noise test on my LMC-1, the QS8s actually match the M80s quite well, but the VP 150 sounds muddy...like a lot of the higher range is missing. During the test I put my ears up to the tweeters on the 150. They are working but at what seems to be a very subdued level compared to the mains and the surrounds. I understand placement can make a big difference, but what I am hearing will not be affected by the placement...the sound is WAY different.

Has anyone experienced this? Am I doing something wrong? It is really bad when a voice pans from the center to one of my M80s...it goes from okay to astounding with a single pan.

I don't own QS8's, so I can't comment on them. But I can tell you that M80's and the VP150 should sound very similar during a pink-noise test. M80's have more bass, obviously, but the mid and high range should sound darn near identical. They do on mine, anyway.

One thing you could try is to swap the VP150 and one of the M80's and do the pink noise test again. That would tell you if it's the speaker or the av equipment.

Is the VP150 brand new? It's possible that something might have come loose inside during shipping. It's happened before. Send an email or call Axiom.

I too am very very disappointed in the VP150!
I notice a large tone difference between the M80's and the
VP150 when using pink noise to calibrate. The VP150 sounds low/muffled even at the same SPL reading as the M80's. I have an old Sapphire center that matches the M80's closer than the VP150. Dialog is terrible unless I up the center by +5, even then its more loud than understandable. I spoke to Axiom and tried all suggestions to no avail.
And I also notice my QS8's match the M80's better than the VP150?

I'm on the opposite side of the fence. Placement does make a huge difference. I'm very pleased with the performance of my VP150. I do also bump up the dB's on the center channel about +3 over what I have my m80's, as most people do this anyway.

forgive my ignorance, but what is a pink noise test?

I'm super happy with my 150 for both 5.1 music and dialog during movies. Nothing but clarity for me and it seems to blend seamlessly for music. I too run it 2 or 3 db higher just to even out the dialog on some weaker DVDs. I should probably mention I have M60s not M80s but for this discussion, I think it's still a relevant comparison.

I hope you solve your problem but if not, no shame in trying something new. Happiness is what counts in the end.

receiver test tones to calibrate your speakers to match.

get some M22s wired in parallel. Vertical bookshelf speakers are awesome as centre channels. (I have M3s at the moment)

Be sure your receiver is set up properly.

MANY receivers have options to equalize the center channel speaker. Be certain this is turned off.

As stated earlier, connect the VP150 to the Front Left channel momentarily to verify this.

Hi bhull,

All of the preceding suggestions are excellent, but keep in mind that if you are using a pink noise test signal to check each speaker, even identical speakers like the M80s will have a slightly different tonal signature depending on the location of each in the room.

Even when you place two identical speakers side by side, then separate them by a foot or two they will sound different with a pink noise signal. For instance, if you replaced your VP150 with a third M80, it would still sound tonally different when you fed each one a pink noise signal.

The combination of direct sounds from each speaker and reflections from the walls, floor, and ceiling, which combine to reach your ears, will vary with every location in the room, causing slight tonal (timbral) changes between each speaker.

Try repositioning your VP150 to different center locations until you can get a reasonably seamless blend between it and the M80s using music, soundtrack or dialog material.
Pink noise is an EXTREMELY CRITICAL test signal and no two speakers ever match totally with this test signal.

Remember too that every room is different--it's "the forgotten component" as an old mentor of mine used to call it.

Try different center locations and be sure to turn off any auto-EQ program that you may have running in the AV receiver/processor.

Regards,