I have a pretty small room that I want to make into a little theater for myself. The room dimensions are 12 feet long by 10 feet wide by 10 feet high.

I was thinking of going with the epic grandmaster with 500 sub, but Im not sure if that will work. Won't the speakers need room to breath (to sound right), it could be overkill? There is no budget to work on, so money is no factor. All help will be very much appreciated.

Much depends on what your listening level is. You're looking at 1200 cu ft so it will be easy to fill that room with sound. Axiom speakers, by nature can be played at very low levels yet and maintain their clarity and detail, even the M80s.

...and Welcome!!

Yes the M80's can play very low. They can also be played very LOUD!!!

You can get some idea's through the forum here from people who actually own these speakers, but another great way to figure out what would work best for you would be to call Axiom's customer service number and talk to them. Since they design the speakers they can more accurately specify which speakers would work best in your circumstances!

Good luck!

BP, welcome. The only "breathing" factor is that the back ports should be at least a few inches from the wall behind. The distances from the center of the mid-woofer cones to the three nearest room surfaces(floor and two walls)should be unequal, but there's no requirement that the distances be large. The M22s should be excellent in a room that size and some members have even used larger tower models in similar rooms.

Personl prefernce is all that matters. The larger floorstanders may look to be overpowering in a small room but the performance is not limited by the size of the room. I have run both M22s and M80s in rooms not much bigger than yours and they both performed perfectly.

My room is just inches wider and longer than 12' x 13' with a 9' foot ceiling, and my M22s sound terrific paired with a small sub which would not even compare with an EP500.

If you're not considering a move or a different larger space for your system for some time to come, I'd go with M22s. They really are everything that "pro" reviewers claim that they are.