What makes a speaker too big for a given room?


Aside from the visuals, of course. I've heard people refer to the idea of a speaker being appropriate (or not) for a given room.

Curious to hear people's thoughts as I have a small-ish space and want to upgrade this year.
fripp1
My guess would be woofers that create to much bass energy(air movement) and then sounds bloated.
Seems to me that the point of the exercise is to maximize the enjoyment for your budget. If the system is too big physically that it pisses you off then clearly its too big. if the speakers are too big (performance wise) and still sound better then your other options and the money is right then whats the big deal. I recently heard some aerial 20T's in a small room and man that was nice. way better than my more modest units. If I had the cash I'd consider that in a heartbeat. It may be running the aerials in a non ideal state but if you like the sound then who cares. thoughts?
Manufacturers should not only know the dimensions of your listening room, but about the furniture, carpet, drapery, exactly where you plan to put the speakers, and should also conduct a lengthy interview (perhaps in the listening room over at least a couple of days) with you regarding your personal taste, how much you care about the opinions of others, and, of course, examine your finances.

Also, I recently read an essay in some HiFi mag about high quality subwoofing. Although technically maybe there isn't much below 40hz or so that should concern you, the writer was listening to mandolin music with and without his REL sub. It sounded much better WITH the sub even though logic dictates it shouldn't. It seems that a well designed and properly placed sub seemingly "charges" the air in the room with energy of some hard to measure nature. Having done this experiment myself with my trusty old REL Q150e, I experienced the same thing. If I dial out the sub it seems to drain the natural life out of the sound, leaving me in a despondent state of woe not unlike the demeanor often displayed by subless minimonitor users shuffling around their tiny apartments in tattered tweed jackets pausing only to look out the window at a full range world.
big speaker vs small speaker

less imaging performance, slower bass, less life and poor low volume performance due to larger drivers
Larger loudspeakers do not have in general slower bass,less life or poor low volume level performance and if one did it wasn't properly designed. For larger loudspeakers actually have less weakness than smaller designs which are total design compromised. Overly small drivers, tweeter covering to much range limited SPL, higher thermo compression,no low frequency and if a attempt is made at reproducing lower frequency you reduce SPL and raise distortion even more. Sure everything has its place and many need or want smaller loudspeakers but to think that the laws of physics does not apply to smaller designs shows a misunderstanding of how loudspeakers function.