I don't know if the Model T vs. actives is subtle or not. 8" vs. 6.5" (sort of) woofers...and more wood.

I will tell you when the actives were in my 1900 cu.ft. living room, the bass just kicked ASS! I mean it was unbelievable. And it was gooooood. Not bloated but just indescribably perfect. I couldn't get anywhere close to maxing out my measly 70W into 4Ohm Pioneer. I was like at -20 and my chest was pounding. That was the most awesome thing I ever heard. And of course the rest of the spectrum is so accurate too.

I moved them into my 4,200 cu.ft. space and the bass diminished. Don't get me wrong. Far better than M100 but they just don't have the same kick. I can't push them to disco fever levels without the dual 500s in place. Practically, it makes no difference to me because I have no need for that SPL but if I did, the 500s take over.

Yes, the room is so very important but just take a look at what the actives can do. I hopped them around and they sounded terrific in every room. I've never experienced that before. So an accurate family of curves goes a hell of a long way to removing the room from the equation. Bose sort of did that in a cheap and dirty way. Their speakers had (have?) no response below 300Hz and above 8KHz. They sound great as long as no one expects stereo everywhere but nowhere.

I gotta get that book.

House of the Rising Sone
Out in the mid or far field
Dedicated mid-woofers are over-rated