Your title, 'book shelf', may limit responses, I suggest you start another thread asap asking for advice about
3 way 'stand mounted' speakers
btw, square rooms are very difficult, what is the ceiling height?
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Seems you are not a fan of subs but want decent bass.
Ports are often used to keep the speaker width smaller.
I am not a fan of ports, definitely not side or bottom firing, thus the amount of bass would be limited/increased by the woofer size, which determines the speaker's width.
Dual small woofers are also used to keep speaker narrow and get more bass, making the speaker taller and retaining tighter imaging.
Front ports are a way of using a smaller diameter woofer, thus a narrower box,
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SUB, I realize you said no, but for others
Perhaps you have not heard a stereo pair of front firing subs, producing directional bass adjacent to the mains. (fundamentals and their overtones create directionality of bass)
Self powered subs also take the requirement for low bass out of your amp, then your amp can deal with upper bass/mids/highs more easily.
And, after the crossover to or in the sub, the stand mounted speakers do not try to make low bass, which changes which speakers you can use successfully.
3 way 'stand mounted' speakers
btw, square rooms are very difficult, what is the ceiling height?
...........................................
Seems you are not a fan of subs but want decent bass.
Ports are often used to keep the speaker width smaller.
I am not a fan of ports, definitely not side or bottom firing, thus the amount of bass would be limited/increased by the woofer size, which determines the speaker's width.
Dual small woofers are also used to keep speaker narrow and get more bass, making the speaker taller and retaining tighter imaging.
Front ports are a way of using a smaller diameter woofer, thus a narrower box,
......................................
SUB, I realize you said no, but for others
Perhaps you have not heard a stereo pair of front firing subs, producing directional bass adjacent to the mains. (fundamentals and their overtones create directionality of bass)
Self powered subs also take the requirement for low bass out of your amp, then your amp can deal with upper bass/mids/highs more easily.
And, after the crossover to or in the sub, the stand mounted speakers do not try to make low bass, which changes which speakers you can use successfully.