Since I own both the NHTs (I've owned a complete M6 set up and currently own an M5 setup with M5s all around except the rears which are taken over by L5s, all anchored with an Outlaw LMF1EX) and the Outlaws let me comment.

For home theater, the NHTs are wonderful: their sealed enclosures work very well with subs and they have a nice clarity that does a great job at decoding soundtracks. For music, they are good, but just a tad dry, not M&K gritty dry, but the "venue" of a performance is less obvious than it is with the Outlaw BLS. The Outlaw gives you wonderful imaging, a huge soundstage, and sounds that extend well beyond the cabinets, placing sounds to the left and right of their respective speakers. The NHT, on the other hand, has a much narrower soundstage and has been noted elsewhere, works particularly well in narrow rooms due the the virtual focus image geometry where the sound is projected towards the listening area.

For theater, at the closeout prices (the M5s were going for $229) the NHT were a steal. For a mixed system, the Outlaws would work better. Since I'm an audionut, I keep a number of systems available that I pull in and out depending on my mood. The Outlaw gets a lot of serious listening, particularly two-channel music.