Bookshelf or Tower

My room is about 15' by 30' with lots of wood furniture in it and tile floors. It is a combo dining/living room and has vaulted ceilings to an 11' peak.

I plan on auditioning speakers this Friday and the shop is a big B&W and Paradigm dealer so I should be able to listen to PM1's and 800 series and all the Signature Paradigm's too.

I like the idea of book shelves just because 70 lb towers are a beast to move around and from what I have been reading the smaller bookshelf cabinets give better imaging which I love.

Zd542,
what got me on the speaker path is that I was all ready to spend 2k on a CD transport but then I came to the realization that it was more then I spent on my speakers, and if anything speakers would make the biggest difference to sound so now I am thinking I underspent on the very important speaker component of my system. I like the studio 20's very much but I am thinking that I can get even more sound by putting that 2k towards more expensive speakers. I will have these for 10 years min so I might as well get something good now.

The subwoofer arrangement is enticing, but that means another box to put somewhere and I just do not have the floor space to hide it.

I love the detail and imaging of my studio 20's, it was surprising to hear instruments here and over there in the room. what I don't like is thinking that I have left some more of that good stuff on the table by not spending more as I will have these speakers for a while and this is the first pair of speakers I have bought as I have been using my parents hand-me-down snell e-III's for almost 18 years until the drivers finally fell apart.

B Limo, I private messaged you (I think) not sure if I had technical difficulty or if that is just the way this site works.

some good stuff in the buying forum I see too

thanks all!

I agree that a 3-way is the only way :) Gosh,did not know what I was missing.

So went to audition speakers yesterday and today. Ended up at the Paradigm, B&W, Aerial and Wilson dealer.

To mimic my setup we used an Anthem P2 amp, Ayre pre, Naim CDP with transparent cables all around. First we listened to my Studio 20's and they were good. then the Signature S2's and they were really good and then the 805D and they were really really good and detailed but then at that price point, I was curious about towers. Listened to Paradigm S6 and Tributes. I have to say I am biased to the looks of the Paradigm stuff, especially the signature cabinets are very sexy.

once I heard the towers it was clear to me the shortcomings of a bookshelf and the sound I am seeking came from the towers. So after two days of audition sessions, I ended up putting a deposit down on the signature S6's. They are very sleek and will look great in my room.

They gave me full paid value for my 3 month old studio 20 trade-in plus 10% off retail of the S6's. Not bad considering I did not purchase the studio 20's from them.

Funny though each day I came home and listened to my system and I thought the studio 20's sounded great and better on my system than on the store's setup. hmmmm...

my neophyte understanding behind the purpose of the larger cabinet is more air volume to move through the drivers which translates to range and sound etc.

the killer part is that these cabinets are composed of el cheapo MDF or particle board.

OP reporting back to say I ended up getting the Paradigm Signature S6's.

The deciding factor was seeing the limit of the particular monitor I was interested in, the Paradigm Signature S2.

In a certain song, a pop rock mellow acoustical, with violin in background and acoustic guitar up front and Ryan Adams vocals, the whining violin distorted at a med-high volume with the S2's but with the S6's were clear and defined and there was room to go higher. So I extrapolated out and said that is just an indication of the overall precision and truth to the sound. Is that because the towers have more power handling?

After hearing that, as much as I love the idea of a monitor, I knew the towers were the right choice for me.