I am currently in the market for a new speaker system and I am starting on the front speakers. I am on a fairly tight budget. The room is quite small coming in at about 180 sq ft or so with an 8 ft ceiling. I have heard a lot of good things about Axiom speakers and I am in the need of some advice. I was looking most closely at the M22 or the floorstanding M40 for my fronts. I am currently using a pioneer VSX-811S reciever that supplies 100W per channel. I mostly use speakers for DVD's of the action variety, but I enjoy the occasional CD. I would like to know what the trade offs are between these two types of speakers. I realize that the M40's can produce lower frequencies but I plan on picking up a sub in the near future anyway. Would the M40's paired with a sub (cheapest Axiom 385 I think) in a room my size be overkill? Or would the M22 with a sub be more balanced. Please keep in mind that the room is small but I do enjoy listening at pretty high volumes and watch mostly intense, dynamic, action movies like Lord of the Rings, Gladiator etc. I do however, want clear, balanced, quality sound in addition to some oomph. So right now my decision is pretty much between floorstanding and bookshelfs and I would really like to know if these specific floorstanding (M40) speakers would possibly eliminate the need for a sub in Movie applications. I have a feeling that it won't but any and all input, advice, or ridicule is greatly appreciated.

I would buy M22's with a sub. your room is small, even an EP125 would fill it decently. If you don't have to worry about neighbours, buy a EP175 or EP350 to really rumble your place.

Even if you buy the M40 or any floor standing speakers you will still need the sub for movies specially those that you mentioned. The floor standing will have good woofers but not sub-woofers.

Considering your room size, I agree with Patchwork that you are better off with M22 plus EP175.