Reports hereSame room, same equipment. Interesting reading.
Assuming purchase of assembled speakers with MLS cabinets, the maxed out VMPS can be had for about $1k less given typical dealer "courtesy" discount.
A very small "sweet spot" seems to be the most frequent criticism of the VMPS design. I won't argue, but for me it is irrelevant since I am usually the only one listening. Even if my wife joins me it is wide enough for two. Generally when it comes to listening spots, "how sweet it is" and "how large it is" are inversely proportional. Obviously it is a different story with manhood
I'm not sure how the speakers were set up, but a cross-fire arrangement, as recommended by Brian, widens the good listening zone nicely, perhaps at the expense of ultimate sonics in the center.
As for bass response irregularities, well there is no getting around that in a system with several big woofers placed in a room with walls. In my experience, optimizing the bass via speaker positioning and mass loading on the passive woofers is the most difficult aspect of VMPS speaker setup. Undoubtedly having nine small woofers at varying heights on each side will minimize standing waves in the room, at the cost of bottom end impact.
Corner traps and other treatments help, but the best way to deal with bass is room correction and parametric EQ. One of these days I'll practice what I preach...
Irregularities in the treble range, described on the Alpha LS, are not related to the room (nor will they be fixed by room treatment), but are a function of driver selection and crossover design. If the high end of the Alpha isn't to one's liking it will be very hard, if not impossible, to correct.
