It does really depend on what you listen to.

I wonder if the bass you feel you are missing is because of the room. That is one of the disadvantages of mains that reach really low. You do not have much flexibility in placement to make up for nulls and standing waves. It might just be that your mains are positione in such a way that there is a noticable null in the upper bass, affecting the way the kick drum sounds. There is no way to know for sure unless you do some measurements.

Personally I do not fiddle with my sub. I did my room measurements, equalized to flatten the response and set my levels to match the mains and now leave it alone. I ran the sub hot for movies when I first got it, but now that I am used to more ballanced bass, I much prefer it.

Ian, thanks for describing that interesting single vs multiple speaker test and emphasizing how important it is that any test of audio equipment needs to be double-blind to be taken seriously.

Troy, my music/movie ratio is about 99 to 1 and I always use my EP500 for all music, even compositions that don't contain very low bass. If the sub level is properly calibrated it just gives the impression that the speakers(not the sub)are putting out the lower bass and playing the higher frequencies a bit more cleanly.

It's worse than that. I got the Denon POA amp to go along with it! If your going to lose it you might as well go all the way. The finish on the speakers is HG Rosewood.
Mel

Troy, with the M80s, I use my PB13 Ultra for music in 2.1. Yes the M80s work incredibly well on their own, especially when given gobs of power from the A1400 , but for those of us with out one, allowing the sub to do the work below 60 or even 40 hz frees up the M80s and your receiver's amp section to do the best they can with the higher less demanding frequencies. Once the sub is calibrated properly you won't be able to tell that is playing.

Thanks for the information Ian!

OK, I've just got to stir the pot a bit here. I know no one is present who fits this, but for those who think that Axiom mis-designed the M80s and the VP150, to what purpose? Do they think that Ian et al. just drew some stuff on paper and went, "Hey, that looks neat-o! Let's build speakers that look like that!" without testing anything?

Well, they DO look neat-o.....

OK,
and I know this question has been asked before, so I will go do some long ago searching. But, now I got to asked cause if not your gonna wonder , " well, what's the damn question ? lol

I know why I need that sub in movies, but why do I need it in music. I listen to Eagles, Elton J, Fleetwood, Tragically Hip.

I can see that if the M80's roll off at 30hz and the sub will start to take over ( so to speak ) around 80hz and keep to volumn level going to say 25hz when it starts to roll itself off. OK, I guess I answered the question in the question and calibrated right, would be awesome. But, then if I have a good sub like that why the 80's whynot get a speaker like the 60's where that much bass in a front is not needed that much specially if the LFE is set to 80hz.

The 80s offer a little better/smoother IMO, midrange, they do have a slightly different sound than the M60s, yes it is only really noticeable with A/B comparisons but it is still there. The 80s also offer better upper/mid bass than the M60s which is where the sub, when crossed over properly, won't be playing.