Thanks for all the great feedback. And the winner IS::: Both are great speakers! 'Course, I knew that, but I'm very glad to hear more first-hand accounts and it does seem like I would be satisfied bass-wise with either, since my goal is, to put it stupidly, for the bass note to be a solid "dommm" instead of a "hrmmmmm" (subwoofer off) or "blrrrf" (subwoofer on). My current sub is a Klipsch RW-8--inexpensive, but I really resisted investing $$ in a sub. I'll probably go with the Golden Ears because they will fit the room better than the M-Lores and I am sort of a detail freak. I might get the M-Lores later for the larger front room, next time I get the upgrade bug.
Regarding TonyAngel's comment, I agree, and wonder if people may be listening under the influence of conventional wisdom by thinking they need to raise the Mini-Lores. Seems like Eric knows what he is doing and designed them to be floor-standers. I've read that, especially with wide-band drivers, it's not about leveling the tweater, but the sonic center of the speaker, which on the M-Lores would be the 8" wideband driver. But of course it's about individual ears and rooms, and I ain't heard'em.
Good to know that bass freq response figures on floorstanders reflect roll-off the same way the specs on bookshelf speakers do.
I also like this comment and need to think more about it: "Even though a floor stander may be capable of delivering better bass, you may not be able to realize
the benefits of the added bass. This is because putting the speakers where the bass response is best is likely not going to be the position where the
speakers image the best, and placing the speakers where they image the best is unlikely to produce the best bass response."
...this seems to make sense and will have something to do with wall proximity and room size, but I'd have to experiment to figure it out fully. In my specific listening room, the speakers would need to be a maximum of 1 foot from side walls. I wonder if this would be even enough to avoid boominess/boxiness in a small floorstander (it does fine for my small bookshelf speakers, but an inch closer to the wall or too close to the back wall and they become terrible).
Regarding TonyAngel's comment, I agree, and wonder if people may be listening under the influence of conventional wisdom by thinking they need to raise the Mini-Lores. Seems like Eric knows what he is doing and designed them to be floor-standers. I've read that, especially with wide-band drivers, it's not about leveling the tweater, but the sonic center of the speaker, which on the M-Lores would be the 8" wideband driver. But of course it's about individual ears and rooms, and I ain't heard'em.
Good to know that bass freq response figures on floorstanders reflect roll-off the same way the specs on bookshelf speakers do.
I also like this comment and need to think more about it: "Even though a floor stander may be capable of delivering better bass, you may not be able to realize
the benefits of the added bass. This is because putting the speakers where the bass response is best is likely not going to be the position where the
speakers image the best, and placing the speakers where they image the best is unlikely to produce the best bass response."
...this seems to make sense and will have something to do with wall proximity and room size, but I'd have to experiment to figure it out fully. In my specific listening room, the speakers would need to be a maximum of 1 foot from side walls. I wonder if this would be even enough to avoid boominess/boxiness in a small floorstander (it does fine for my small bookshelf speakers, but an inch closer to the wall or too close to the back wall and they become terrible).