Thanks all for the replies. Exactly the type of commentary I was hoping to get. Here are some of my takeaways:
M22/M3: The M22s sound more like what I'm after. I don't have an issue with getting a sub.
M80: ...but the observation that M22s + sub = M80s gets me thinking. I started with M80s on the short list but thought placement issues would be too great. Now I'm not so sure. The comments above about putting the speakers in front of the plane of the cabinet and that bookshelf speakers on stands may be potentially less kid-friendly give me pause. The plan was to mount the speakers to the wall, but I think I'll revisit the 'form factor' question some more.
power: Thanks - 90-100w was what I figured as well.
placement: I take the point that I'll have to experiment. Doesn't sound like either option I described has any obvious flaws that scream 'bad idea'.
surround sound: I appreciate the comment and used to listen to music in a DPLII arrangement regularly. Over time I may add to my living room setup, but out of the gate (or out of the wallet I should say) I'll be starting with 2-channel listening. My assumption is that I can add surround speakers over time, regardless of whether I go M3/M22/M80. Let me know if this is a bad assumption.
Thanks again for the replies.
