clueless is quite accurate on the trade off on size and effeciency. small speakers = little bass, which i believe is the underpinning to good (read warm, realistic, etc) sound. the 8k speakers you refer to do not provide more bass. it may be better bass, but not more. also the absence of bass in a small speaker makes them easier to place in a difficult room. what the "8K" speakers can provide is the potential for transparency, i.e. the ability to hear all of the detail in your software w/out emphasis or lack thereof in any part of the frequency spectrum. if your electronics are not up to the level of the speakers then the high price of the speakers will have no value to you. small speakers can also work quite well with a sub in a difficult room as you can place the sub in a location which doesn't exacerbate the standing waves in the bass, so long as the sound of the mini's and the sub mesh.
Does size matter?
I am in a chnaging home situation and maybe looking at smaller room in future.Have your standard size 42"x12"x16" boxes now but looking for high peformance in a smaller box.Still when I throw a set of Sound ASnchors under the monitors well how much space am I saving.Have thought about $4K as target for used market and was thinking of going and giving JM Mini Utopias a listen.Would like a set of new Quads but size and placement become issue.But when I have just looked at size as a criteria I find it hard to believe that some of the companies out there lik e Sonus Faber or Dynaudio have products that really can make a bookshelf speaker worth $8K.But with size vs peformance what is out ther I might nmot be thinking of?