Which Hi-end monitor for near field listening

I have auditioned the Focus 788's and the new smaller 68SE's. While they can sound musical, I found the smaller ones slightly lacking in low-level detail retreval as compared to my 97 db efficient ribbon-tweeter speaker (I suspect due to the lower efficiency and second-order crossover). Morever, I do not feel the Focus lineup will work with SET- they need more power IMO.

HOWEVER, I DID enjoy he 788's VERY much in a BIGGER room, and at higher volumes- once cranked a bit, the sound very good (and that was with a 25-watt Air Tight ATM-4 believe it or not), and that was an INCREDIBLY musical combo- I could live with it actually.

I find this thread interesting though, as I am moving next week, and looking for a pair of speakers for a second bedroom system with the EXACT same room size- except I want high efficiency for an SET amp...

Marco, I've compared them SR17 with many. The spec and actual don't match. The SR17 doesn't go as deep as the ATCs. I have the passive SCM10s driven with 60 Watt/ch tube amp ( the tube amp sound better than 5 high power SS amps I've tried.) and my friend bought the Silverline so we can compared. He dumped the silverline after 2 weeks. It was very disappointing. We had high hope on the SR17 since many folks give such a high mark. From the spec, they should be very easy to drive and match well with most of the amps. They just sound thiner than what we would like. Also, the lower frequency is just not there. Lack of clarity and no punch. You would wonder where is the bass as it claims 38 Hz vs 55 Hz of ATC. Again, these are just our opinions so you can choose whatever you prefer.

Beheme, I think neutrual sounding mid is the best : )
Most of monitors has good sweet spot for mid. Some just sound less weight than the other. As far as tweeter choice goes, I think the crossover design in these speakers is probably more critical than the tweeter themselves. However, if I have to choose, I'll probably go with silk dome type or ribbon type for the small monitor speakers. They're more easy on my ears.

Any correlation between sensitivity and tonal balance? over the years, I found most high sensitivity speakers I listened to to be rather "thin" but again they were mostly French: JM Lab, Triangle, Cabasse...and other in the 86-89 db to be thicker Sonus Faber, Dynaudio, Audio Physics, Opera...is there any correlation? should I continue my search toward higher sensitivity (92-94db) monitors then...and go silk / ribbon tweeter? Any recommendation that would meet both?

No correlation between sensitivity and tonal balance.
It has to do with crossover design again.
I'm using 94db large coxial speakers on my second system and they sound very full.
My friend using 100+ db JBL and Altec horns and they sound just fine too.
It really depends on room accoustics and size limitations to determine what's the right speakers for you.
If you insist on getting high efficiency speakers ( 92db + ) then you can look into something like Reference 3A MM DeCapo.
Due to the physical space and tonal balance of the speakers, I would generally choose the speakers first and then find the right amp to match. This makes things easier.