New to HT and need help, please let me know your thoughts on the M22 matched with the VP150 and QS8, I was going to go with the M22 VP100, QS4's but I am wavering and need help with the set up. I have the HSU STF-2 sub.

I've been happy with my M22ti for about 6 months now, and the vp150 and hsu stf-2 sub set-up for the past month. I'm not sure what I can say to convince you, except that I love mine. I haven't had a chance to listen to the QS8's yet. Though it seems the opinion around here is that if budget permits, go with the QS8/VP150. I suppose it depends on your financial situation, room size, etc

It also depends somewhat upon bass management and intent regarding multichannel audio. That is, the QS8's have bigger drivers and a bigger box, so they just go lower, flatter than the QS4's. If your receiver has very sophisticated bass management AND/OR you don't care much about the prospect of multi-channel audio, you can probably do just fine with the QS4's. The design principle holds true, and I think the QS4's are quite a bargain.

But I wanted to avoid any potential for buyer's remorse, so I bought the QS8's

Likewise, Ray will likely chime in that the VP100 is a stellar center channel and only suffers in comparison to the VP150. Really, Axiom makes fine products and you don't necessarily have to buy the "ultimate" models to benefit from their quality in design and production, especially if you have the discipline to stick to a budget or don't want to "wait" to enjoy great audio.

that is what I have been reading about how most prefer the VP150 and the QS8, so I will decide soon

Tom has me pegged!!!! The VP100 is excellent.

One of the things I didn't think about much while I was in the hunt was room size and adjacent space. After talking to the Axiom folks, and SVS before them, it became clear that this was one of the prime ingredients to making a good speaker choice.

Both Axiom and SVS took me to lower models than I originally thought I wanted/needed. It's very difficult to provide input to the type of questions you are asking without knowing room dimensions. M60s will overwhelm you in a 10x12 room and the M22s will sweat pretty hard in a 22x30 room. Same issue with the QS4/QS8 choice. Please call Axiom and talk to them; they ARE the Axiom experts and will treat you extremely well. Within 1/2 hour of the phone call, you will have placed your order and will be marching in the Axiom army.

Many of the people here bought their speakers before Axiom started using the 1" tweeter in the QS4's. Because of this, we all used to say:

"You must buy the QS8 because the Qs4 was inferior in quality to the QS8."

Now that the QS4 has the same tweeter as everything else in the Axiom line, I think you will start seeing a lot more recommendations for the excellently priced QS4.

I can also recommend the VP100. It seems to match the M22's very nicely, and has good vertical and horizontal dispersion. I couldn't personally stomach the size of the VP150 in my room, and neither could my stereo rack. However, if you have a really big room, maybe the VP150 would be worth it.

The surround speakers are also an interesting issue. I have had a stereo-only rig until recently. You have to ask yourself how much will you listen to sources in stereo. While I have gone from ~80/20 stereo/HT to ~60/40 stereo/HT since getting a surround receiver, I also realized that most movies don't make that much use of the surround channels.

Obviously most movies that are more than ten years old have little or no intentional surround encoding, and many new movies still only use them for occasional gimmicks. I just watched Ghostbusters last night, and they only mixed the surround channels with a few effects like Slimer going from front to back and with some of the music tracks going into all the speakers. Much more immersive? Sometimes. But is it worth spending more money on the surrounds, when they might get 1/5th the use of the main speakers? Also consider that a much cheaper speaker like the M2 might sound better with DVD-audio and SACD than a bi-pole / di-pole / quad-pole design.

Just remember to have fun,
Cooper

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Ray will likely chime in that the VP100 is a stellar center channel and only suffers in comparison to the VP150.

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Hey, that's my line!

Peter, I think Ray is pushing you out. Regime change you know. It's going around.

Pete, let these guys prattle on. You and I understand about the VP100 and there is clearly a jealousy issue manifesting itself here.

S.O.D., Speaker Overpurchasing Denial, can be a very serious issue if left untreated.

You hit the nail right on the head with S.O.D., when is good good enough, how much better is better. to be or not to be that is the question.

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Both Axiom and SVS took me to lower models than I originally thought I wanted/needed. It's very difficult to provide input to the type of questions you are asking without knowing room dimensions. M60s will overwhelm you in a 10x12 room and the M22s will sweat pretty hard in a 22x30 room. Same issue with the QS4/QS8 choice.

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Excellent advice Ray.
Perhaps you should ask for a new job over at the Axiom plant in customer phone call service eh?

chess - you mean they might actually PAY people to have this much fun?

Somebody please take the coffee away from that smiley!