RMAF 2016................Boenicke W5

@gawdbless

Your observations are correct. Speakers with less bass extension get into trouble less frequently than larger speakers.

The further down you go, the more likely you are to excite a room mode and get outrageous or no apparent output.

This is why a good 2 way with extension to 40-ish Hz are the best compromise and easiest to live for most music lovers.

Now, for those who really will do whatever it takes, spend any amount, well, there’s ways, many ways << evil laugh >>

Unfortunately music lovers think the solution to all bass problems is just to add cone area, and that's where things go south. A 2-way speaker like I described is like the girl (or guy) next-door. Easy to get along with, always up for a trip, movie, or baseball game. Subwoofers are the schizophrenic neighbor who you wake up one day and see screaming at an oak tree and attacking it Don Quixote like with a rake. "Full range" speakers that go lower than 40ish Hz are  going to be somewhere in between. 

Erik,
I agree with your logic. All Gawbless said is these Boenickes were really quite good and impressed him more than some larger and more expensive speakers under show conditions. He never said they're the speakers he's ever heard.  Let's have perspective and appreciate the context. 
Charles, 

Charles,

Its a preconceived notion based on the laws of physics and having heard many speakers both large and small that have no choice but to always abide by those laws. Not just whimsy or speculation. Its how things work.  Whereas a reviewers review is merely an opinion based on whatever happens to be the reviewers motivation.

I’m sure they sound very good within their limitations. If those are the limitations one chooses to live with for that price along with the rest than so be it.

No limitations, well almost, down to 25 hz we go in an orderly fashion, anything less is not acceptable. What I have now is more or less balanced down to probably 35 hz - not good enough, not bad though.

Mapman, That’s the point, Gawbless wasn’t challenging the laws of physics or implying the speaker has no limitations (all speakers do). He simply wrote that they sound good. Of course reviewers offer opinion (just as you, I and everyone else) no dispute there. At the very least he heard the speakers which is a meaningful point. Listening trumps assumptions . Anyway Gawbless is more than capable of explaining his thoughts. It seems some are offended that he compared them to larger speakers,heaven forbid!
Charles,