Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater VP180 First Impressions

No one is fondling Steve... Except my wife once a month or so

Just got through with a block party here for the 4th. After the festivities, the whole gang came over to see our fireworks show and hang out for drinks. We all sort of came together in the theater after some time. I turned on the system and everyone was FLOORED! I don't think I've ever seen so many people (adults and kids) dancing around and having a great time! It was a great night!

Was that the "2 M80s, 1 VP180, 4QS8s, 2 EP800s" system or the "Pair of Algonquins" system ?

Just checkin'

Algonquins during the firework show, the rest afterwards!

Michael I got around to implementing the VP150 with the VP180 and the very second I heard the first note I knew the combination was a mismatch, it has to be due to the timbre and tonal balance not being the same because my initial thought was that the VP150 sounded like a small speaker playing on top of the TV, which in essence is exactly what it is ... three 80s with a VP150 peaking the triangular pattern.

As you can tell by the picture I didn't play with pointing the 150 with an aim straight for the seating because I felt it wouldn't make a difference but I did play a couple of scenes from movies along with some different types of music and I just am not impressed with this particular combination at all, although I always felt the VP100 and VP150 did an excellent job and sounded great with the 80s. I'm not so sure sure a pair of VP180s would sound any better than a well placed and well positioned single 180, but until somebody tries it we'll never know.

Oh and why the Vaseline jar on top of the sub you ask? I suppose because it's been forever since the grill has been off of the VP150 but I had a hell of a time trying to pry it off of the VP150 and even pulled one of the inserts out of the MDF so I'm going to do what I do on our boat, a thin coat of Vaseline on all snap fittings ... can we say magnetic grills!



I must say, the more I listen to the VP180 with our system the more I am impressed with it.

Well that's what I was expecting, but was hopeful they'd play nice together. Thanks for taking the time to give it a try. So when did you move the 600 from the side wall? I thought it sounded killer there. Good idea with the PJ. I have stuck grills on a couple different speakers that will remain on them as I don't want to screw up the speakers taking them off.

I just want it on the record that SOMEONE mentioned BigJohn to go along with the "Vaseline on the speaker" sitjeeashun.

When I spoke with Brent (who is running 2 vp150s, 1 above and 1 below his screen) back in May about whether I should try to combine the vp150 with the vp180, he stated, "No the 180 would just blow the 150 away."

He also suggested that the vp180 would most likely stand on its own and not require support from an additional center.

It sounds like your listening impressions are consistent with Brent's assessment, thanks for sharing.

After being able to listen to my 180 for a while and having the 150 hooked up in the other room it is easy to tell them apart. It is definitely a night and day difference. I finally found a disk in which voices go across the entire front and I was very happy to hear hardly any difference at all. As others have stated, the more I hear it, the more I like it. In my opinion if you have the room for this HUGE center it is well worth your money to upgrade to it. I am extremely happy with it.

I said it before, but it really was something to watch everyone's expressions during the 10 minute Avatar demo. You have to understand, it was very late (like 11pm) and there had to be 15 people in the room, with about 8 of them being kids sitting all around on the floor. Everyone, and I mean everyone was sitting there wide eyed, and nobody uttered a word. It's quite amazing to see a whole room of people that drawn into something (especially kids who about 10 minutes beforehand were dancing around the room like maniacs). I have to admit I spent all of my time watching their expressions rather than looking and listening. It was a really fun night.

Afterwards, several of the adults said they never experienced anything like that before. They used the words "perfectly tuned", "clear and precise", "balanced" and of course "room shaking".