I have a friend on a bit of a budget-he has decided on QS8's for surrounds, and plans to use existing sub.

He will be using the system 90% movies and 10% music. Which configuration up front would be the best "bang for buck"-VP150 and M22's, or VP100 and M60's? I've never heard the M22's, but crossed over at 80 Hz would there be a huge difference between them and the M60 in that application?

I've never heard the M60's but my room is 22x28 and I sit about 10-12 ft away and the M22's with a great sub and the vp150, and qs8's are plenty fine and he'd be happy. The M22's don't have much bass without a sub.

Currently I'm debating on a set of M60's or M80's so I can get the room towards the back to 85+db.

If you have a large room like myself you'd be in the same situation, otherwise if your in a small room the M22's with sub will sound just fine, unless your looking for it to be loud.

Here's the thread from when I was looking to buy.
http://www.axiomaudio.com/boards/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=17013&Number=265464#Post265464

If the 90%-10% just time or also importance? (ex: I listen to 70% HT 30% music, but the importance for me for quality is 99%-1% in favor of music).

I have both M80s and M22s. When I hooked up the M22s in my main room to compare, I could not really find a difference for movies and TVs between the M80s and the M22s. For music, yes, but not for HT usage. I would tend to think it also applies for the M60s.

The setup was far from being a proper comparison, but it may give you an idea. It was enough for to start recommending M22s for HT usage for people who could use the money to upgrade other parts of their system or do something else entirely.

Not a whole lot of difference between the M60 and M22 with a crossover at 80hz, other than the M60 will still play louder if he has a large enough room to require it. I would even say there isn't enough difference between the VP100 and VP150 to justify the extra cost when used in a smaller HT setting. The VP150 only plays ever so slightly lower and louder which is why it is recommneded for larger rooms. I think for mostly HT useage an M22/VP100/QS8's and a good sub are all that most require, but that sub has to be of the same quality as Axiom, Hsu, SVS etc. I ran my system with an older, lesser quality sub for years till I finally made my sub purchase and the step up in performance/sound quality was substantial. Any savings from going with M22/VP100 should be put towards a quality sub if he doesn't already have one.

His 10% music listening will not matter too much quality wise-I mean, it will not be listened to critically in 2 channel stereo, so bass extention of the fronts won't be a huge factor. I also think he should upgrade his sub, but one thing at a time!

I was pairing the M22's with the VP150 just because his room is wider than it is deep. Jay, did you find the sound dispersion, left to right, on the VP100 is comparable to the VP150?

I agree with Jay. I had a chance to do a direct comparison of the M22 and M60 and was surprised at how similar they sound.

The VP series has simialr dispersion qualities, some even find the VP100 to be better than the VP150 depending on the room.

I have commented on this before and when I moved from M22s to M60s then finally M80s I would tend to agree with many of the opinions comparing all these models and their similarities. However,in my opinion, I found regardless of the crossover setting, in my particular HT application(not so much with music), the transition between the L/R floor standers (M60/M80)to the sub a little smoother than the M22.

At higher volumes the M22s just seemed to "strain" a little bit in the mid bass region as opposed to the others which handled it better.

Good point Casey, One of the advantages I/we usually mention about floorstanders is their ability to play louder than bookshelf speakers and as good as the M22's are, they are still limited by their size. I think much of the smoothness of the floorstander sound comes from the better integration of the lower midrange/upper bass frequencies, although I have also heard some say this muddies up the sound just a bit and it loses some of that articulation the M22's are famous for.

Thanks for all your advice! I'll be hosting my first "audition" tonight and these points will come in handy, as I have only heard the speakers I own, although I'm planning to check out Onn's system once he acquires that VP180.

On another note, I really like your setup Jay. Nice and clean. What sub are you using? Looks like it transforms into an end table...

My sub does indeed get used as the end table and it is an SVS PB13 Ultra.

Nice. Oh, by the way, my buddy deciding on one-upping me. He ordered M60's with VP150 and QS8's after the audition. Now he has sub envy. I'm pretty sure he'll be looking into the SVS line in the near future too.

How do you like your Ultra?

It works great, especially for movies, I miss the reasonance Axiom subs have when I listen to music, the 13 and nearly all other subs I have listened to, sound dry in comparison.

That is an interesting observation! I don't think I've considered that angle before. Does this "resonance" sound like it supposed to be there, or is it coloration from the cabinet?

It is supposed to be there and it makes the sub sound very smooth and rich, much more life like IMO at least with music. For movies it still sounds very good but it seems to detract from that initial hit that you get with the other subs, Just my opinion though.