smaller speakers for critical listening?

I notice above headphonedream preferred the Boenicke W5 to Dutch and Dutch . We all have our preference and me telling you which I prefer doesn't really mean much but since some are sharing their preferences I will say I sold Joseph audio Perspectives 2 and kept the D&D, they are amazing speakers. 

At a root level...the answer to profs question of "can you be truly happy in the long run with a small speaker" the answer is it depends on who you are.

I am now at 8 years with small speakers and likely will not go back to floor standers any time soon if ever. I have had Sunfire HRS SATs, B&W M-1s, Revel Performa3 M105s, Raidho X-1s, my own Verdant Audio Nightshade & Blackthorns, Scansonic MB-1Bs and I am probably going to get a pair of Audiovector R1s here soon. I am all in for stand-mount speakers but that is my preference. Without a subwoofer, the image is decidedly smaller. With a subwoofer...it is close assuming the right speaker. That is the key. (And this is not just because I only produce stand-mounts.  I have begun working on floor standers).

How do you find a speaker that has the right tone that you react to in the right way? When you say critical listening, are you looking for refinement and accuracy vs. listening experience and musicality? I had a blogger over to listen to a few speakers and at one point, he commented on the two speakers we were focused on and said "this is definitely the better speaker but that one is just more fun."  There is an element of refinement and excellence but also musicality and enjoyment.  

The only way to do that is listen. Schedule appointments. Use the same tracks and take copious notes while you are listening. Focus on a narrowed list of both types of speakers. If a speaker fails vs your test, don’t waste your time. I have a series of six tracks that I go through that if a speaker didn’t check the box I was looking for on any one of them, I would just move on.

Finally, on the note of small speakers sounding big. This is extreme, but read the review in the Absolute Sound of the Raidho TD 1.2s. They are $23K list price speakers but the reviewer ran an experiment where they brought three people in to listen to them blindfolded and asked them what they were listening too. Two of the three thought they were listening to electrostats or planars (admittedly not full range). That immersive sound experience can be achieved at prices below $23K but that to me is what we are all trying to achieve when producing small speakers that deliver big and immersive sounds.

If and when you are ready to demo, you ought to check out Audiovector R1, Raidho X-1, Monitor Audio Platinum 100s, Magico A1, and I would encourage you to stop by and listen to my (verdant audio) Blackthorn & Nightshades for small speakers that sound big. Verdant obviously only if you make it to the NYC Area.

For small floor standers, the Audiovector R3 (read Andrew Quints review in TAS), Scansonic MB5 B (Raidho floorstanders are very pricey),Verity Finns, Vandersteen, Spendor D7.2 and 9.2, Magico A3 and for a speaker that is large for a stand mount but not really and floorstander, the Harbeth 40.2 are all very much worth your time to listen too I think.

There are countless others as illustrated by this another threads. These are just ones that I have heard and know sound excellent and I think will age well and limit the yearning for...more.

With the right track, when I close my eyes even the tiny Spendors can sound about as big as my floor standing speakers!
However, other content will sound decidedly smaller.
(Basically if it's a recording that contains instruments and voices recorded and mixed to sound forward and large, they can sound that way on the tiny speaker.   But with more distant, smaller image sizes the smaller speaker shrinks things a lot more - e.g. certain symphony recordings - where the larger speaker portrays things with a more consistent sense of larger scale.   That's in my experience anyway.

Here's a though experiment for you, @prof (if you're reading this):

Let's say you pick up a top notch recording of _____ (take your pick: Kind of Blue; Beethoven's Grosse Fugue; Morton Feldman's Trio; Workingman's Dead; Joni Mitchell's Blue; Aja; or maybe something that *you* actually like). I'm thinking of something ambitious, precise, and not too busy/loud. You pour a glass of something warming, sit down, and listen. Which speakers?

northman,
Honestly it depends on what speaker I'm in to at the moment.   I just got an LP I've been waiting for and I'm excited to cue it up on the Joseph Perspectives (which are set up because, after a while of listening to the Spendors, I got the itch for the Josephs).