OK....I finally had a plan.
Based upon everyone's input, all of the posts I have read late into the night, and my basic desire to have that more robust and clear sound that I have heard in more expensive loudspeakers, I am going to go w/ the M60s. That was actually the easier decision.
Once I made that choice, I now had a tab running up just under $1500 (60's, QS8's, and VP150). I am still juggling whether or not the 8's are necessary w/ my room size and the new tweeter thing. Regardless, the tab is still a bit higher than I want to spend in one instance.
So, the logical thing is to just buy the 60's now and then add components as I go (using existing components in the interim). Seemed like a good plan until I found out about this additional 5% off for buying 5 speakers or more....they had to throw in that additional incentive to do my usual impulse buying.
