Thanks Alan,

I was thinking pretty much exactly what you said and I was getting a little confused. I think people got confused when I said the m60s look big. They do look big but that is just the layout of my room, making the side profile stand out as well as the height of the speaker.

I do not listen at super high volume ( I can barely get above 2.5, maybe 3 when wathing 300, on my volume knob -- no idea how loud that is ) so I don't think I would have problems with the speaker getting taxed at high load.

98% of my critical listening is HT. I do listen to music but use it as a background and do not listen critically except in those rare instances like last night when the girlfriend was gone and I wanted to really see what the m60s could do.

During that listening session I was really focusing on the smoothness of the bass and tried to find good music for bringing out the differences. I played with the crossover on the receiver and I think I have the sub dialed in really well. The bass guitar was nice and smooth and the output was consistent no matter what crossover I used. The m60 alone was tighter and did not go as low but the difference was minimal and I think I would not see the difference when I switch to m2s (I like the small size over the m22). All my real listening is to HT where you are so involved with the movie that subtle things like that do not become apparent.

I think I am more curious than anything about the real differences between a full range (full range to me) and a bookshelf for pure HT. It is nice that there is the 30 day window, though I rarely send anything back. I can find a use for them somewhere even if they don't find a permanent home in my HT.

I have one other question though. I was listening to Jack Johnson On and On last night and the high frequency sound when he slapped his guitar was harsh and fatiguing. Was this a fault with the recording, my rather average electronics, or my speakers? I've had this Sony STR DB840 receiver since college and I'm looking for excuses to buy a new one. I don't want some lame excuse like "it will sound better," I want a concrete example of something like the Jack Johnson CD that was bad before and the new electronics fixed it. Otherwise, it has served me well and will continue to serve me until I really need it.

Thanks for all your responses.