Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater vp150 ok with m100s?

Eastcoast I'll let you know how I make out. I'm sure it will sound good, but the anticipation is always a killer...

hey guys
well I got my m100s and all I can say is wow!! Truly an impressive pair of speakers. The clairity and realism is by far unbelievable. Imaging is spot on, right perfect in the center. M100's were very bass heavy out of the box had to turn bass down to +1 and use all of the port plugs 3 on each tower. That helped tame some of the bass. Highs and mids sound great. Best sounding speakers that I have ever owned.

One thing though that I do not like is the 3 piece grill. I like a more seemless look. Having 3 different pieces is distracting and draw your eyes to the speakers, just not a fan. Im hoping that Axiom will make a grill that is all one piece.

Now on to my topic of this thread vp150 ok with m100'?
To make a long story short....NO. VP150 is not even in the same class as the m100s. I know, I know you guys told me, I just had to see and listen for myself. Thats why I ordered the vp180HP. I was just not impressed with the vp150.

Just wanted to give a quick, small review, more to come

good to hear, thanks for the update

My first setup was M60's with a VP 150. It was good, but the center could sound a bit boxy to me off axis. It was the best I could get at the time. The soundstage was close but not seamless. Waiting on my VP160 (delayed by the ceiling speakers) to compare, but with the same driver array as the M60's it has to be better.

Someone mentioned the crossover, I was actually wondering if letting the VP160 do some of the 60-80hz stuff might sound tighter than letting the sub do it. It'd be interesting to A/B it.

Let us know how the 180 stacks up.

Thanks for the update. Kind of bummed by the response, although I'm not completely surprised. Wish I could fit the 160 or 180 in the space, but just no option other than the 150.

Quick update:
Im starting to get mixed feelings about these speakers.
Sometimes they sound great and other times I get disgusted. Listened to cds Ive enjoyed for years now sound like ****.
The m100s are extremely sensitive to room placement and very bass heavy. I am using all of the port plugs btw. Back of speaker is 12-13" from back wall. I had to turn the bass down on my Denon 4308 from +2 to 0 or -1. Its hard for the m100s to integrate well with my dual svs sb13 ultras. I have the xovers sometimes on 40 or 60. Not using Audssey. A very very picky revealing speaker.
IMO
My room is 14'x 22'. Is my room too small for this speaker to perform to its potential?
Please help, guidance needed...
For what it is worth I auditioned some Paradigm studio 100s at home. Switching between m100s and studio 100s at first I thought the studio 100s sounded better but after listening for a couple of hours they are just not as clear and sometimes sound artificial not life-like. Studio 100s going back to dealer m100s hooked back up. M 100s clearer stronger speaker.
I need some help...Do these speakers need more break in? I know my thoughts are scattered.
Thanks everyone for their input/opinions

If at all possible pull the speakers further from the wall. Based on experience with M60s and M80s I would think about 2 feet minimum from back of speaker to wall.

Are the speakers against the long wall or the short wall ? Just trying to visualize your room.

Are the M100s set to "large" or "small" in the receiver ? If you're integrating with subs I'm pretty sure you'll need "small" (no matter how wacky that sounds ;)).

I cant pull them out more, wife will get upset. Due to the way my room is set up the m100s are on the long wall.
M100s are set to large 40/60 xover depending on source.
Settimg them on small with what xover? This would be better?
thanks Bridgman for getting back to me, kind of bummed out

Yes, set to small. Large means it's sending the full signal, and small is what you want for it to utilize the crossover.

I admit I didn't re-read this thread all the way back up so this may have been stated earlier but you may just be suffering from what oh so many of us have discovered when you switch to a high quality speaker.

You described the M100s as having more clarity, more realism than the Paradigm Studios. This is a very good thing. This is what gives you that "I'm blown away feeling" when you play a quality music source.

The downside of clarity (although its not its fault) is that you are now hearing just how HORRIBLE many recordings have been made over the last few decades. For a huge number of recordings, studios moved to something called dynamic compression in order to make thier albums sound 'louder' than everyone else's. People tend to like 'loud' so this worked back in the 80s when everybody was using cheaply designed boom boxes. Then we had the iPod revolution which also made popular what may be some of the worst headphones ever made and encouraged over compressed music (size vs. dynamic) as well..

So Ya, I went through the same thing. Some of my once favorite CDs do indeed sound terrible on my M60 but it's the recording studio's fault, not the speaker's. I've found better mixed, replacement recordings of some but you can't count on the word "remastered" meaning better every time either. Others, have moved from favorite to 'I'll occasionally suffer through them' or I only play them on my iPod where I can't tell what a horrible job the producer did to them.

However, when you do get a well produced album, it is an amazing thing. I'm not saying the M100 is the right speaker for you. However, I'm just adding the variable of the music source to your considerations.