i'm looking for thoughts on setting up a new set of speakers for the outdated ones i'm using. it would be a 7.1 system, but i'm looking for thoughts on surround speakers. any pro/cons to using bookshelf speakers as side surrounds, What i've got in mind is 1 500 sub 1 VP150 center, 2 M80 fronts, 2 QS8's as Surround Rears, and possibly 2 M22's for side surrounds? I'm running a denon 3808 with plent of power to push just about anything, i think? My thoughts with this is it might balance out my fronts a little better, but i've been wrong many times before.

The side surrounds are there to replace a whole side wall of speakers in a theater setup. You should really consider QS8 for the side. M22 would do fine as back surrounds.

I agree with EF. The surround effect from the QS8s as sides really is amazing.

thanks for the input.
My speaker wires for my backs are set up to hang form the cieling. but they are not at the very back of the room (the room is to long), the rears that i would need would need to be short enough they don't hang to far off the cieling, but also push all the sount towards the front. (i have a 9' basement cieling) suggestions. or should i stick with the QS8 for that as well?

Many use M2s as rear surrounds combined with QS8s as side surrounds and still others use QS8s all around. If the rears are not far back then I would go with QS's all around in particular in a 6.1 setup. If the rear surrounds are very far back I think a direct radiating speaker works better. For the price, I think I would try M2s first to see how you like them(some have turned them on their sides with good results, if needed) and then you have the ability to move to the QS's if you don't like the M2's back there(it would be free shipping within 30 days as the QS's are more expensive)

Rud, welcome. I agree that if you're going to use both QS and M type speakers for surrounds that the QSs should be the ones used for the side surrounds. Unless you mean that the back wall is an extremely long distance away, the present location of the speaker wires for the back surrounds can be extended with additional wire so that the back surround speakers can be placed on the back wall instead of hanging from the ceiling.