Kex, I was very suspicious of the 8" driver just as you are BUT after listening to the Monitor 3 IMHO they are at least to me better sounding. True the midrange was a lil tighter and more controlled on the mini but not by much. The mini sounded a lil strained listening to the same material at the same volume level and in the same environment. I went back a forth all afternoon yesterday doing several A/B comparisons. The monitor 3 presented a much larger sound stage and remained very well behaved. It was the closest to the Studio 20 that I have heard to this point. Sure the 20 was better in every respect especially imaging but what amazed me more was it being a smaller speaker than the monitor 3 yet still outperformed it. As you know I am no expert but I was extremely impressed with both the studio 20 and the monitor 3. Have never heard the monitor 5 so have no opinion either way. To me, the towers did not offer any significant advantages over the monitor 3 other than a little bass extension. Guess I prefer a bookshelf type of speaker over towers---too bad I am discovering this now......lol. Anyways, thanks for the input.
Phil