NHT VT-2 Comments (Reply to AK inquiry.)

Flipping the switch on on the VT-2 does two things.

1- In “audio” mode,  the main lobe of the speakers is tilted inward, in order to partially simulate the NHT 21 degrees schtick. In “video” mode, the primary axis is directly forward from the speaker baffle, as is more conventional. This changes the direct/reflected ratio to give the audio mode more focus/sweetspot and the video mode more coverage/spatiousness.

2- In the “audio” mode, the crossover attempts to maintain a textbook transition between the drivers, leading to a very clean impulse response. In “video” mode, the frequency bands of the drivers overlap slightly. While having almost no effect on the frequency response or tonal balance, this makes the impulse response less sharp, and creates the kind of stereo imaging I believe is more appropriate for video use, with widened sources, less specific lateralization.

I always liked the VT-2’s personally. They had a solidity, dynamics and power handling that seemed to work well for rock music, good acoustic jazz and, of course, soundtracks. It was also a time that NHT was walking down new roads of exploration, treating the temporal and spatial response of speakers with as much thought and care as frequency response, to try and get control of aspects of the sound that were generally considered trial and error in a design.