Gene - thank you very much for your reply! That is the first time I've had someone give a very clear, understandable and plausible reason as to WHY a nearfield monitor would not sound as accurate when sitting farther away from it.
Without taking up too much of your time, could you elaborate just a little bit on what sort of differences are made in the cross-over? Rolling off the highs and altering the bass output a little bit - those things I totally understand, but I do not have a really good grasp on what the cross-over would be doing to alter the sound at various distances.
Last question - If I were to take a "Studio Monitor" (as in, a speaker made and marketed as "professional" rather than "consumer") that specifically says it is for "midfield" listening (I've seen this classification on speakers from brands such as Focal, Genelec, JBL Pro, etc. If it is specifically marked as a "midfield" 1-3m speaker and I use it in my home theater at that distance, is there any reason to expect that it would not sound accurate, good and essentially very close to the way it would sound in a professional recording studio with a midfield mixing position?