Has anyone heard the VP 160 mini? Saw a bunch of them in the discount pages. Curious to see if anyone has heard one.

Sounds like ( ) something custom

Axiom discontinued the VP160 Mini v.4 maybe 5 or so years ago, though you can apparently custom order a new one if it fits your needs. IMHO, Axiom had too many models, something obvious to a customer but not to someone steeped in the industry. It's still an issue that plagues other speaker manufacturers trying to slice the pie too thin rather than focusing on a few best-in-class models that can be sold at scale.

I don't think there's an incentive to change, because there's no additional cost in a build-to-order model where all the R&D has been done. But sometimes it's better to steer the customer into a few well placed models.

If I were to hazard a guess, it'll sound like the M5HP and VP160 with less bass extension.

Interesting. Just happened to see a bunch of them so I thought maybe they didn't sound great.

I purchased a VP160 Mini (HP) about 4 years ago. It replaced a VP150. It’s still my center for the multi-channel system which consists of M5HPs, QS10s and M2s (7-ch). Have no idea how it compares withs its big brother, but it sounds and integrates great in my average sized room. Bass rolled off at 60hz. Would purchase again if needed.

Early on, I had the regular VP160, later only to change to a reg. VP180 then an OW 180, all because of the change in my HT set-up. If wide-angle dispersion is important to you, because of the difference in the nature of the design of each speaker, from my experience anyway, the VP160 tends to have better WA dispersion than the VP180 that I have owned in both styles, in which case, I probably would have gone to the VP160 OW version instead of the VP180. The issue was, at that time, the OW version of the 160 still did not exist and for me to make a trade "downward" now financially doesn't make sense.

In any case, unless raw power is important to you, I would tend to stick with what you have.