I know this has been discussed many times, but I just did a back-to-back listening test in my 20'x16' home theater room of M22ti/VP100/QS8 vs M60ti/VP150/QS8 in a 5.1 config, driven by a Yamaha RX-V1400 receiver and Sony DVP-NC685V SACD player. Both used a Hsu STF-2 sub, also I tried both configs without the sub. Material was primarily multichannel music using SACD and DD/DTS 5.1.
Executive summary: both sound great, but the M60s were better. However M22ti with sub vs M60 without sub is a closer call.
You won't go wrong with either. However to my ear the M60s were better, fuller, and worth the upgrade assuming you've got the space and money. With the same amp, room, sub, source material and settings, the M60s had more punch and depth at the upper base and lower midrange.
That said, the difference between M22s in a poor position with poor material vs good position and good material was greater than the difference between M22s and M60s. So don't worry so much about the speakers; try to get the proper speaker angle, make sure listening levels and sub are calibrated, watch for room acoustics, use good material, etc.
Some questions I had before were whether M22s with a sub are equal to M60s without a sub. To my ear this was a close call. M22s with a sub are very, very good. The crystiline M22 highs are nicely augmented by the sub's bass. The M60s with sub were better (not saying M22s were bad -- they were very good). But removing the sub from the M60s diminished the punch and impact more than I expected. Note I recalibrated and switched M60s from "small" to "large" after removing the sub.
My conclusions are: M22s with a sub are very competitive and a nice package. M60s are sufficiently better to warrant the upgrade if you have the space and money. M60s need a sub for most optimal results, although without a sub they're very impressive. M22s need a sub. They are all nice speakers and Axiom has been a great company to deal with.
