Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Should I Swap V150 for two M22s?

Appreciate any input here guys. I mentioned this on the "two centres" thread but I think it may have gotten buried. At present, I have on order, a VP150. I've heard a couple of comments basically supporting the idea that two M22s may be a better route to go. Pricewise, there is not too much difference between a single VP150 and 2 x M22s. Sonically, is it an improvement over the VP150?

I can't answer your question, but a single M22 might work well also. What do you have for your left/right speakers? You could match them, that would be ideal.

Adrian. What configuration were you thinking? Johnk's post on the other thread sums it up nicely.

You are working with two concepts here: two centers to anchor dialog on the display (one over one under the display), vertical alignment of drivers to get the best horizontal dispersion of sound from the center.

I am using M80s up front and was planning on using the M22s horizontally, tweeters out, under the TV (they'll be v. close to ideal listening level height). Essentially this is similar to a VP150 but with 1 extra woofer and ports on the back.

you don't want to turn a bookshelf that was designed to be vertical horizontal, if that is your plan you might as well get a center channel speaker. The horizontal dispersion goes out the window by flipping it sideways.

SirQ, you are referring to the cabinet design itself? I've fired an e-mail to Alan on this also, to see what he says. I don't really want to stand them upright in my setup, but for arguments sake, let's say the M22s were in fact, stood upright, do you think they would be preferrable to the VP150?

I was running 2x M2 as a center channel, tweeters out, and was very happy. I finally gave in and bought a VP100, not sure why because I was already sure that the 2x M2 would sound better.

The VP100 sounded better, even with the crossover frequency (to sub) set high to make sure that the slightly deeper LF response of the m2s was not muddying the voices some how, and I don't really know why. I still think 2x M2 should be better in pretty much every respect with the possible exception of power handling.

Adrian, I think Randy is pointing out that the M22's are ported and designed to be played vertically. Of course, only he can answer to that. Also, the ports may cause some issues if placed in an enclosed shelf unit like the vp100 or vp150 are designed for. The cabinet design of the M22 is not quite the same as the center channels which allow for two different angles if I see the websites pic and details correctly. I have been looking in to a center channel myself and have been using one of my M3's in a vertical position above my tv and so far have some mixed emotions on it. Probably an M2 or an M22 might better match my M80's. Won't know unless I try it or someone tells me different. I know another M80 would be the ticket but that ain't gonna happen in my current living room setup. Not sure if I would need two of any of the three though. Meaning the M2's, M3's or M22's. Just my two and a half cents worth.

My stand is about 60-70% open at the back, it's one of those tiered glass (3 panes) type stands, supported at the front corners and in the middle of the back, so I wouldn't be concerned about the porting. The 22s have such great reviews and are often said to sound, dare I say "M80ish", that it sounds as if they would blend extremely well with M80s up front. This is just something I wanted to put out there, to you guys that might have tried it, whether successfully or not and compare the two. Obviously the VP150/M22/M80 are all well timbre matched, as they use the same drivers and twtrs, so the differences are probably subtle anyway.

My 150 works great with my m80's, can't imagine it any better.