I've noticed a lot of people seem to go with the VP150, even with M50's or M60's, is this a good thing? The wattage difference is double (m60's say 200, vp150 says 400)...am I missing something?

- Sean

Welcome, Sean. What you're missing is that the maximum power rating of a speaker is of very little significance. Theoretically it's the amount of power a speaker could use without being seriously damaged. Bear in mind that a speaker uses maybe 1-2 watts playing at a comfortably loud level and might hit 100 watts on brief peaks. It's highly unlikely that the maximum rated power would ever be used and the figure is meaningless in actual operation.

Ok, well my amp is 200W per channel, is this going to be too much power for the speakers I mentioned?

- Sean

Sean, re-read John's post again. Most of the time, your amp will only be putting out an average of around 2 watts. Only on brief peaks will it put out more power. What's important, is how much distortion or "clipping" is happening during those peaks. That's what will damage your speaker.

Also be aware of "claimed" power ratings. They tend to be wildly exagerated. What brand is your amp? Is it 2ch or 5ch?

Shawn

An amp is almost never 'too much' for speakers (assuming decent speakers)-- it's a much more common problem in the context we're in for an amp to be 'not enough' for speakers and not only sound bad but damage the speakers.

One of the design goals for Axiom speakers seems to be the ability to take a lot of power and not crap out. The ratings are conservative. You should be fine whatever Axioms you drive with that.

as everyone else has said Daphoid, there should be no problem with too much power. As Alan stated, here, Axiom speakers are tested with unreal wattage levels and will survive.

I'm sorry if I seem confused, or ask the same question over, audio is new to me.

Here's the setup (not yet installed, but coming):

Reciever: Denon AVR-2803S
Amplifier: Rotel RMB-1095
Various Video / Audio Sources (dvd,ps2, etc)

Speakers:
Axiom M50Ti (Front Left / Right)
Axiom VP100 (Center)
Axiom QS4 (rear left / right)
SVS PS2-ISD (powered sub, plugging straight into the reciever instead of the Rotel amp, or perhaps I should go into the pre-outs since it's powered?)

- Sean

daphoid,
The subwoofer will be connected to the pre-outs of your receiver. It will not/should not connect to any amplifier plugin.

Do you already have the Rotel?

Because I do not think you need it right now.

The Denon will power those speakers incredibly well without the Rotel amp. I personally think that your money would be better spent on M60's, VP150, and QS8's vs. getting the extra Rotel amp.

Just my 2 cents, your system is going to rock no matter what.