Disclaimer: This is a question having to do more with psychoacoustics and subjective listening, although any measure-based answer will be greatly appreciated.
I'm looking for a pair of mini speakers which sound "big", while understanding this means substantial compromises. In the early years of this hobby, when I new very little and was easily impressionable, I fell many times for the "magic" of a small pair of mini bookshelf speakers (usually ~5.25 inch woofer, ~6 inch at most), which totally blew my expectations regarding how rich and deep they could sound ("No subwoofer connected? No way!"). I suppose this would require speakers with a driver capable of big excursion, some (rear?) port trickery, exaggerated upper bass and no actual bass whatsoever. Of course, nowadays I use much larger, properly engineered speakers with a sub in my main system; however, I want to try and recreate that past experience in another room just for fun.
Can anyone think of such "magically tuned" speakers?
I'm looking for a pair of mini speakers which sound "big", while understanding this means substantial compromises. In the early years of this hobby, when I new very little and was easily impressionable, I fell many times for the "magic" of a small pair of mini bookshelf speakers (usually ~5.25 inch woofer, ~6 inch at most), which totally blew my expectations regarding how rich and deep they could sound ("No subwoofer connected? No way!"). I suppose this would require speakers with a driver capable of big excursion, some (rear?) port trickery, exaggerated upper bass and no actual bass whatsoever. Of course, nowadays I use much larger, properly engineered speakers with a sub in my main system; however, I want to try and recreate that past experience in another room just for fun.
Can anyone think of such "magically tuned" speakers?