Small drivers vs big drivers

OK, I'm not an expert but in a review of a speaker with a 328mm base driver (12.9") it says the 2 speakers left and right together would output 1,060 square centimeters of air, while a speaker with 4 - 170mm drivers (6.7" ea. speaker, or 8 total speakers) would output 984 sq. centimeters of air.  Plus, the larger base driver lets you "feel" the base.  The review states that manufacturers moved to multiple bass drivers to avoid the crossover problems that are part and parcel of using a large diameter bass driver.  Another review of the same speaker lauded the large driver approach and claimed manufacturers have shoved the multiple driver approach down the consumer's throat and (I think thus may) have apparently sold this as  "more is better".  Now, I'm sure there are lots of tradeoffs involved and many variables, but another factor in this tradeoff is that the tall thin speakers have a smaller footprint in the living room where most are used and don't require extra cost stands.  When a speaker has a large bass driver it gets short and fat, taking up more square inches of floor space and which means it has to be raised to ear level.

Thank you @eisen0169!

With me, actually, I don't care much about the size of the speakers, I just need the sound. (My wife is going to kill me if she reads this :) )

"I work for a company the makes speakers with giant drivers. All small woofers just suck and you're a dumbass for paying good money for them."

That pretty much sums up the collective quotes and bottom lines whenever this debate comes up. Show of hands; who listens in a sports arena? Nobody? So why do you think you need speakers sized for an arena? 

"It's for the dynamics!"

Really? You listen at physically painful volume? You need a speaker that will produce 110dB at 50 away in your personal arena? 

Like that idiotic automotive quote goes, "there's no replacement for displacement", 15" woofers seem just as idiotic to me. Last I checked Formula 1 cars don't have 15 liter single cylinder engines. They have these tiny little things with a bunch of little pistons. Wait... That's because they're just trying to build them cheaper, right? Those Bugatti's are just really cheap because they're using 18 cylinders instead of one gigantic cylinder. 

Formula 1 engines don't use one giant piston for the same reason a lot of speakers don't. Large masses are much more difficult to control and replicate perfect pistonic movement with. 3 6.5" drivers have about the same area as a 10" driver but the smaller drivers are vastly stiffer and better controlled. It's a no brainier. 

Unless you're digging very low where you require the size purely to couple the frequency to the air, it usually makes sense to compromise between driver size and numbers of drivers. I personally think 2 8" drivers in a cab is a good compromise. 

@audiokinesis 

I hate to break it to you, but you're wrong about radiation patterns. At every scale where waves are radiated and observed, arrays are the preferred and dominating technique. The largest radio telescopes are arrays. The largest optical telescopes are arrays. The largest audio rigs are arrays. The largest radio transmitters are arrays. 

Your argument concerned thermal effects is a non-starter because the basis of your argument assumes one large driver with one large voice coil vs. one smaller driver with one smaller voice coil. For an array of smaller drivers equalling the radiating area of one large driver the voice coil thermal radiating area will be greater in the smaller drivers. 

Ultimately the well understood physics of arrays better supports the technology.