Doug
I added to my earlier post you quoted to more accurately clarify my feelings on the matter. You will almost certainly find it more agreeable; apology for my hastiness.
I love the 3.6 & find all or most other Thiels I've heard good to great. Admittedly, part of my current infatuation w/ standmount monitors is because I owned a few dozen much larger than average floorstanders for several decades & no reference caliber standmounts till a couple years ago.
Beyond that, smaller speakers have shorter internal dimensions that resonate at higher frequencies. Internal damping materials (foam, cork, poly fill, fiberglass) are reasonably efficient at damping higher frequencies while conversely, no material I am aware of can damp low bass frequencies (hence the endless disagreements what to do about this problem vis a vis room modes). This is probably the most significant physical advantage a smaller speaker has over larger architecture. Shorter panels are also easier to control panel vibration.
In addition of course is the disappearing feature you mentioned, though I certainly agree Jim seemed to have this down about as good or better than anyone else.
Finally, there's the simple preference of cosmetics & physical effect in the room, though again, as far as midsize floorstanders go Jim had that feature pretty well figured out.
