Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Anyone using an M80 for a center channel?

That built-in angling is what I have a problem with. Maybe it really does work out to be an appropriate angle for the majority of setups, but every other speaker shoots straight except for upside-down VPs.

Maybe they will continue with the VP trend of one side straight and other side angled.

Out of curiosity, what problem did you have with the angle? Does it sound different or worse on the angled side as opposed to the straight side?

Is the MSRP on the M80 centre channel going to the be same as a regular M80? When it comes to the M80 centre channel stand, pricing of the stand is going to be very critical due to the fact it will be very difficult for placement assuming it is designed as a typical horizontal centre channel. Most rooms will not be able to accompany standard room placement and will need the stand (which is a very good idea). The cross price elasticity will be very crucial.

IMO I would look at price elasticity and cross price elasticity of past products (like the VP150, stand) in relation to changes in the US exchange rate or another approach the external value which reflect world wide price changes in Axiom products.

Maybe something discuss at your next council. You don't want consumers final decision to not buy the M80 centre channel because they feel the stand is too expensive.

Great points doc. I understand for development cost (which affects end price) considerations why Axiom might go the route of using the identical enclosure as the floorstander and just arraying the drivers differently, but I would rather pay a bit more for the new center to get an enclosure with one flat and one angled side. With two angled sides, the ONLY non-stand deployment option will be on a shelf BELOW the monitor. No stand of any kind will work in my environment; I do have shelf space, but it's above my monitor.

Oh, oh, just to clarify, I've had no specific problems with angled speakers. It simply seems inconsistent to not adapt the cabinet for center channel duty by making it level on one side. I thought it had been stated that they were using the existing M80 cabinet, but my memory has been known to have dropouts.

I think I'd accommodate a normal M80 as my center before going for a horizontal one, but I look forward to hearing impressions. Right now I'm pretty happy with my M22.

If I were to guess (and this is all that it is) is that Axiom probably has increasing economies of scale in speaker production (with standard vinyl finishes). The great thing here if this is the case, the M80 centre channel will use all the same parts (enclosure, drivers, tweeters etc) so there is little in R&D costs other than the time and materials to come up with the orientation of the drivers, tweeters and mabye changes to the crossover. For the M80 centre channel I assume this will be very cost effective for them even if they make minor changes for an angled cabinet (this is the area where I hope savings can be passed onto the consumer). Placement, development and need for the stand is probably where it gets tricky and where the consumer takes on extra added cost and can have an affect on their purchasing decisions.

None of their other centres are angled on both sides so I highly doubt this new one will be either.

I hope you are right. If so, they'll have my sale day one.

Veering off this angled/flat topic for a moment, when contemplating a very wide center channel as this will be, would it make sense for the tweeters to be centered rather than at the flanks? I have just a 37 inch (measured diag.) display; you want voices seeming to emerge from the image, no?

I'm wondering which way they will go on this too. My guess is they will put the tweeters on the ends, so just make sure your mains are far enough apart and you sit far enough back.

Centering the tweeters would allow the mains to be placed closer together and allow you to sit closer to the front, but I don't know if there will be any undesirable lobing or combing effects as a result.

I'm pretty sure cost savings would be very marginal for Axiom to use the exact same cabinet shape on an VPM80 vs an M80, never mind it probably not being the right choice(2 angles) for a CC. The driver cutouts will be located differently than the floorstanders anyway, therefore requiring a different CNC program, so it's no biggie to make the cabinet in true VP fashion(one side angled, one side flat).

I also wondered about the width of a potential VPM80 and how tweeter placement would affect the character of it. I'm sure Axiom will make several varying prototypes, test them in their anechoic sound room, blind test them, and make the best choice based on their results.