I'm not sure the bending force on a small cone caused by the surrounded is actually a thing. Smallers cones are vastly stiffer than large ones and the resonance of the surround is so far out of the pass band of a woofer as to make no difference. What's more, several small drivers in a column behave as a line source simulating a woofer that is tall as the array in it's directionality.
I think the bottom line boils down to the size of the space you need to fill and the listening distance. For small and medium sized rooms, several smaller drivers in a more narrow enclosure will yield better imaging just because narrow speakers do that better. If you can get further away from the speakers and reduce their angular size from your listening position, then larger drivers might be the ticket.
I think the bottom line boils down to the size of the space you need to fill and the listening distance. For small and medium sized rooms, several smaller drivers in a more narrow enclosure will yield better imaging just because narrow speakers do that better. If you can get further away from the speakers and reduce their angular size from your listening position, then larger drivers might be the ticket.