As you know, the sub will take care of the low frequency and the receiver will typically only send higher frequency sound to the front speakers.

So what is the point to go with floor standing speakers for the front?

Assume that the sub can do better job than the floor standing speakers for bass performance.

Its kind of a catch 22 in my opinion. That said, from what I've learned over the last few years, it should be the room that determines which speaker you use.

I've owned subs that didn't/ don't go as low as my towers.

I like how natural the bass is from my towers and when my subs are on and appropriately "naturally " tuned there's not a big difference until there is (ULF content).

Had I went with bookshelf speakers and new subs, roughly equivelent in cost to my L/C/R, I'm sure I would have also been satisfied.

Big room and or big SPL go big...

Want towers buy towers...don't? Don't.

Depends how loudly you want to play. A few years ago I ran some tests with visitors switching between M60s and M2s as mains, with the usual sub/center/surround as well. At low volumes it was actually tough to tell the difference but once you started cranking the volume (eg helicopter crash scene in first Matrix) it got a lot easier.

I don't know of anyone using M5HP's as mains with a sub yet but I bet they would be interestingly close to M60s as long as you crossed over at 80 or higher.

It seems that the conclusion from both of your opinions is that the bass would be better when playing ULF content loudly in a large room.

I will wait till I have a larger room to setup 7.1 then move 4 bookshelf speakers back and have two floorstanding speakers for the front.

AFAIK neither bookshelf nor tower speakers handle ULF content.

When I first got my Axioms, I chatted with Alan and was going to go M22 bookshelves. I told him more about my space and cubic volume, and quickly realized that for decent sized rooms, even with a big powerful sub, there were good enough benefits in output performance of tower speakers (M60s in my case) to justify them.

I've never looked back, but I know that some people really love their bookshelf speakers too. Heck, I'm using M3s for surround and overhead Atmos/DTS:X use, and I love that I can push them down to 70Hz if needed which is great. With a good bass management system, my M3s blend wonderfully with my M60 and VP180 front soundstage.

When I first got my Axiom M60s, I was in a room that was about 12 feet x 40 feet x 8.5 feet tall, so pretty good cubic volume. I then moved them a couple of years later into a space that was about 11 feet by 15 feet by 8.5 feet, and they were clearly "more than enough" for that room and bookshelves would have worked great for that smaller room.

So how does that help you? I don't know, maybe just that you can have a great setup either way, but if you get into a decently large space, you will benefit more from the output capabilities of a tower speaker.

Right... the towers would not be covering ULF but the content above the crossover frequency (eg 80 Hz) still needs big speakers for large rooms and/or high SPL.

You also need big-ass subwoofers for ULF with enough power to make the floor writhe and twist under your feet.

Speaking of which...
I seen this on AVS a few weeks back...its from an old forum but I saved and have already shared the link https://youtu.be/UOgErtNRA7c
Makes you grin. Wish I could've been there.

Hi
My room is 11.5w x 15.5L x 8h
I have had the M80's and VP180 with EP350
I found when listening to stereo I could not get the M80 to image properly. I struggled with that. the sound stage seemed to be a foot below the tv. My centre of the tv is eye height when I am sitting. Approx 38". I have a 70" screen.

I bought M22's and have not looked back. I have a awesome sound stage. I can play 5.1 or 2.1 and even when my brother came here he thought the centre channel was on. He looked at me like I was nuts, until he put his ear to the VP160 and found it was unplugged.

I have not yet heard these speakers stressed out. and I play at a comfortable level with movies 80db - 85db
Music well a bit louder. 90db

I am upgrading to the M5HP and can only imagine they will be better yet. Imaging is alot better now. In stereo voice seem to come from the centre of the screen.
Also, I can put the subs anywhere in the front row as the bookshelf are wall mounted with the FMB.
I would not suggest the EP350 though. I was a week too long in returning that, so am stuck with it. I am going to get dual SVS SB2000 or maybe dual EP500. but, not quite sure.
Not when the M80's were upstairs in my living room, 14 x 23 x 8 and I was sitting 17' back the sound stage and imagining was alot better. But, I can tell you as for volume levels and deteriorating etc there was no difference, unless of course I went to ear bleeding volume levels.

Very helpful indeed. When moving to a bigger room with 7.1 setup, the bookshelf speakers could serve as surround ones and get floorstnding for front.

For sure sub has to be big. I tried two and can clearly hear the difference.

Lol:)

Interesting. Are you using receiver for stereo ? Have you compared with stereo amp with same power?

I have a Anthem MCA5 325w p/ch
and a Anthem AVM30 Pre/Pro

Movies 5.2 and when listening to music with Spotify or Blu-Ray I have it setup for Stereo.

And even with my 325w per channel AMp theres no issues at all with the M22's and it gets loud in hear that neighbors across the road can hear easily

I have a Anthem MCA5 325w p/ch
and a Anthem AVM30 Pre/Pro

Movies 5.2 and when listening to music with Spotify or Blu-Ray I have it setup for Stereo.

And even with my 325w per channel AMp theres no issues at all with the M22's and it gets loud in hear that neighbors across the road can hear easily.

I have REW on my laptop and a Mini DSP Umik mic and when I run the frequency response etc the M22 drop off around 80hz or so. But that could be room etc. The best bass response is wall mounted. Reason why I am moving up to the M5HP hopefully they get down decently to 60hz at 75db