So much of this has to do with getting the right bass in the room.
A smaller 2-way in an untreated room can often sound a lot cleaner and more balanced. Here’s a blog where I wrote about my 6.5" 2-way:
https://speakermakersjourney.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-snr-1-room-response-and-roon.html
If your room sounds good, a 3-way speaker, or 2-way with sub, have some real advantages. Pulling the bass off the midrange driver reduces IM distortion, offering much more transparency in the midrange, but the extra bass extension may sound bad in the wrong room, and end up leaving the final experience feeling very unbalanced.
In the middle of these options one of the most popular formats is the 2.5 way speaker. Small footprint. plenty of bass, and dynamic range.
A smaller 2-way in an untreated room can often sound a lot cleaner and more balanced. Here’s a blog where I wrote about my 6.5" 2-way:
https://speakermakersjourney.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-snr-1-room-response-and-roon.html
If your room sounds good, a 3-way speaker, or 2-way with sub, have some real advantages. Pulling the bass off the midrange driver reduces IM distortion, offering much more transparency in the midrange, but the extra bass extension may sound bad in the wrong room, and end up leaving the final experience feeling very unbalanced.
In the middle of these options one of the most popular formats is the 2.5 way speaker. Small footprint. plenty of bass, and dynamic range.