I would like to get you all opinion on speaker choice

[pate]

I am looking at buying speakers.They offer center speaker VP150 v2 each having three 5.25" and dual 1" tweeter it measurement 28" long.Their floor standing speakers have dual 6.5" single 5.25"and 1" tweeter. and it is 38" tall. Wouldn't it be better to use (3) VP150 for the fronts, and than all vocals sounds would be the same across the front,wouldn't that be important.I'll have two real good subs! Should I go with those outstanding floor standing speakers and they are ported.Thanks Very Much

[RoadRunner6]

Unfortunately, you didn't list the brand of the speakers you are refering to.

Fortunately, I'm psychic and presume from the model number and descritption you are talking about Axiom Audio, the VP150 center channel and the M60 floorstanding model.

If you really used three of the center channel speakers you would want to palce them on their sides so that they were in a vertical orientation. Let me paste some comments here that I made from another post:

".....Many people are not aware of the fact that the very best arrangement for the left, center and right speakers are 3 identical speakers in a curve so that all three speakers are the exact same distance from the listener. The is sometimes possible with either floor speakers or bookshelve speakers but is usually not practical for most HT setups. An option is to have a center channel that is a smaller model in the same series as the left and right with the same exact tweeter and possibly the same midrange. The center is placed vertically just like the left and right. I personally have a small condo and have all three fronts with the same exact small bookshelf model and all placed in the vertical position. The front soundstage is beautifully smooth with the exact same voicing/timbre across the front.

Unfortunately, this is seldom desireable for most buyers even though sonically it is the superior orientation. Thus the center channel laid over on its side was designed and marketed for practical HT considerations. There are problems with this horizontal placement of the center speaker. One of the main problems is what you are experiencing, poor lateral dispersion. As one moves off axis (to the left or right from dead center) the sound of the center channel speaker changes). My system consists of speakers that have a very good wide dispersion as your left and right probably also have. I can sit in the middle (directly in front of the center speaker), left or right side of the sofa and still virtually hear the exact same sound from the center channel. With a horizantal center speaker even with the same tweeter, I would loose this flexibility in seating without some sound changes. I am pointing all of this out so you will understand my possible suggestions......"

To answer your question, yes it would it is better to have the vocals (voicing/timbre) the same across the front and also to the rear. This is why most brands make a center and surround model to compliment the front left and right. Note that the VP150 and the M60 have the exact same tweeter and mid/bass (5.25"). So the regular setup would include two M60's, left and right and a VP150 center above or below your TV. This should give excellent blending across the front. Note also that the QS8 surround (a superb surround speaker) has the same tweeter (2ea) and 5.25 driver (2ea).

Many center channels have what is called a D'Appolito array design, that is a tweeter in the center flanked by two mid/bass drivers. This tends to cause the dispersion problem due to what is refered to as lobing. Axiom designed the VP150 differently with two tweeters on the ends and three mid/bass drivers in the center. This gives a better wide dispersion effect than other center channel speakers and should make it an excellent choice horizontally for the M60's.

If for some reason you find that the horizontal VP150 center does not fit in with your setup you could use a vertically placed Axiom as the center. I would recoomend the M22 Axiom with the same tweeter and two of the 5.25 drivers as an alternative to the VP150. It is a tall (20" h) and narrow bookshelf model and would need to be placed at least 12" off the floor. The M50 floor standing model would also work.

When you set up the system with your subs, be sure to set all 5 speakers to "small" and the crossover from the M60's to the subs at about 70-80Hz's and the others at about 80-100hz depending on the speaker (if your receiver allows for different crossover points).

RR6 :biggrin5: