bookshelf or floorstander

I'm going through the same process right now (see my threads on the subject of which speakers to try), and it seems that placing a high emphasis on soundstage is channeling the recommendations in favor of nearfield monitors. Right now I have floorstanders (Linn Ninkas) and they're plenty agile without any noticeable box resonance, but they don't through quite as convincing a stage as I'd like.

This having been said, the best soundstage I ever heard in my whole life was from a pair of Hales Signature IIs, which might also be the largest (and most expensive) speakers I've ever personally auditioned. So I'm not sure that the hard and fast rules about all of this are quite so hard or fast as they may seem.

Something else to consider.

I have Totem Mani-2 monitors that do a good job of bass in a smallish room. In my large living room, though, the bass isn't quite there. I do focus more on what's there and not what's missing (extended bass).

What's nice about this is that you can listen to different kinds of music without worry of big volumes of bass upsetting neighbors, wife, or anyone else around. Bass has a tendency to make it's way through the house more.

Ya. I'm in a fairly small listening room as well... somewhere around 12'x15'.

Another factor is finances... to drive a passive subwoofer in a floorstander, you would want to have plenty of clean power... which costs more money. I, on the otherhand, would rather have an efficient bookshelf that I can drive with a clean 50wpc without a problem.

My room is exactly 12x15 and I just sold my VS VR-4SRmk2 in favor of a 2-way stand mounted monitor. The VS sounded great, but I had to load up my room with massive bass traps to control the low end. Even then, I wasn't getting the best sound I knew could get. In a samll room, you get a much better soundstage when listening to nearfields. If you listen to rap and dance music, then floorstanders will give you more of what you want (bigger low end), but in the big scheme of things (and in my opinion), a GOOD monitor speaker will sound better, and still have plenty of low end for your small room. My monitors go down to 30hz.