OK. I don't have the room for floor standing speakers and also I would probably blow my ears anyway. Another thing I am trying to understand is the db level in a speaker compared to the negative db volume on the Yamaha receiver. For example, I now understand that 0db on the Yamaha is maximum volume and -15db means 15 db below maximum volume. My KEF speakers are rated at 87db sensitivity and 110db maximum output. Can you explain what this means and what the equivalent to 110db is on the Yamaha receiver?
Neutral speakers can fool us as to how loud they are. In the situation of music, We start out what sounds loud, and then after a short time, we are moving that volume up and up. Walk outside for a minute and then walk back in and it is noticeably very loud to us again for a moment. That's the true loudness before we adjust again. I keep a db meter at my seat. Speakers and equipment void of much in the way of audible distortion can be dangerous if you don't know what you are doing. My personal limit is around 87db at my seat, and I have worked in industry for over 40 years w/o hearing protection.
I am in a 12' x 20' room. I have all my gear across the narrow end of the room and I am using 12" 2-way monitors with horns with a sensitivity of 98db, along with a pair of 12" subs in a near field/semi-desktop setup. The room is fully furnished with two sofas and whatnot. The speakers I had in here before that were 15" 3-way floor standing speakers, so there is indeed, room for them.
Minimum size bookshelf speakers for anything near reaching concert level performance in my case, would be 8" and that is with them within 2-3ft of my reach. All of these 5-6" driver bookshelf designs that are all the rage now, leave me hanging, and I end up driving them to their absolute limits. Best thing about these tiny speakers being, they often cost as much as a tower, with 3x as many being able to be fit into a shipping container. From there, it's just convincing the masses that is all they need.
No replacement for displacement. I was told my ways based on this long known idea was antiquated and that new tech had somehow cheated the physics of all this with new found designs and efficiencies. After awhile it occurred to me, that most people who were telling me this, were henpecked men who were not allowed to have large speakers in "her" living room. They were wrong. Once one gets used to 'life-sized' sound, there is no going back. Even when idling along, the presence of the larger drivers is apparent. They just excite the air molecules differently. I look at 5" drivers as mid-range at best, and that would have to be crossed over like a 4-5" mid-range driver in say a 12-15" 3-way tower.
The other giveaway to these new concepts not fitting my criteria, is when I am being told that "They sound much bigger than they actually are." Well, no they don't, and I will never fall for that again. That right there tells me the bass is cheated with what amounts to a small subwoofer driver and cabinet tricks, than an actual mid-range driver, and the manufacturer is trying to satisfy too much of the market by making these poor little things do full-range duties. If a subwoofer driver is to be included in a full range design, it had better be a 3-way, and preferably with the mid driver in it's own compartment.