Best small speakers?

Just to pile on, I think the Merlin TSM are well worth considering, very high quality two-way monitors. I would also seek to audition the Harbeth line, HL5s would be my target at the price point and bit better bass performance than their smaller models. Are there better? Who knows, but these are undoubtedly excellent small speakers. Oh, and did I mention Verity......

Part of that something I think has to do with what I would call coherence that comes from two drivers rather than 3 or more - few drivers to mesh and make sound like they are cut from the same cloth - also imaging seems to be more precise with two-ways - the advantages are to my liking, which is why I got Merlin VSMs - essentially two-way monitors with "integrated" stands (and electronic equalization to produce almost full-range performance down to 33hz or so. If I had 5k to spend, and was not a matter of size, a used pair of Merlins is what I would get, with considerably better bass performance than is possible with a pure "book-shelf" two-way monitor.