Hi Guys,

I've been lurking on the Axiom board for months and I'm ready to take a very repeat very big leap. I'll save you the mushy preamble except to say that I am very appreciative of your candid views - this has been the most informative and balanced board I have visited. I'm excited to be a potential Axiom owner.

Okay here's what I have in mind (I'm starting from zero so this will be all new equipment!):
Fronts: M22
Center: VP150
Surrounds: QS8
Sub: EP350

Pre-amp: Outlaw 950
Amp: Outlaw 770

For the time being, I'll be using this setup in a medium-to-large sized room (15X20) with my viewing/listening position approximately 10 feet from the TV. The room has windows on one long wall with the opposite wall open to another room. Mounting the QS8s on the walls is not really an option - I was planning on getting the Axiom stands for them.

So with all that, the bank is just about broken. I've got enough left over for cables and wire (thanks for the great advice from the board on that too!), but no budget for any immediate upgrades or additions.

Now here's my questions:
1) I opted for the EP350 to get the lower frequencies that appear to be weak on the EP175. I do like the idea of floor rumbling bass for HT and I like a large variety of music (basically everthing except country) to include hard rock and some dance/techno stuff, so I figured I would appreciate the 350. I read in other posts that folks seem very satisfied with both subs, but I thought I noted a sort of consensus that besides the lower range, the 350 definitely has the ability to cover a medium to large room with lots of bass if you want it. Would you agree?
2) Given the fact that one side wall of my HT room is completely open to another room, do you anticipate that I will be able to set up the QS8s (on the Axiom stands) adequately to get good surround effects?
3) Lastly, but certainly not least, if I were to need to trim a few hundred US dollars out of my budget, where would a relatively painless place be to cut or reduce my choices? I considered dropping down to the 755 amp (since I am only using 5.1 now, although I would like to add a rear speaker or two later), or maybe dropping the VP150 and using the speakers on my TV (Sony XBR Wega - actually it sounds pretty nice...) for a center. Opinions?

Thanks in advance for your advice and I hope to be able to contribute some views of my own after I get this rig set up and running.

Best regards,

- Jeff