BigH said:
Yes its true in UK the trend is for smaller speakers, this I believe is partly room size but more looks and fitting into modern living room space. As a consequence many speakers try to produce more bass than similar size speakers did in the past. There are always compromises with speakers so no not really do all that larger size cabinets. Personally I don't many modern speakers.
Agreed. It's really noteworthy how many reviews of small standmount speakers or brochures for them, say something like, "it's amazing how much bass they produce for a speaker of this size." Am I alone in NOT wanting the music completely distracted by bloaty flatulent bass?
Meghan Trainor's got a lot to answer for! It really is NOT 'all about the bass'. Standmount speakers should stop trying to be floorstanders and be content with playing to their natural strengths of detail, accuracy, timing and lush midrange, and just let the bass roll off and be done with it.
Speaker design is subject to fashion though; my old Monitor Audio R252's were pretty big for standmounts and came with their own short wooden stands. But visually more speakers now are narrow but deep, giving the illusion they are smaller than they really are.