for a variety of reasons:
-- I really like closed loop control (have much more confidence motor did what you told it to, unlike steppers)
-- I have experience with commercial servo controllers and don't like any of them (MEI have been the best so far, but aren't distributed and are pricey, especially their XMP series)
-- I'm interested in precision motion control, and servos provide this (e.g. with 4000 count encoder and 10 pitch lead screw you get 40000 counts / inch or 0.000025" position resolution). I'm planning on doing a general purpose motion controller, but I do have some nice LinTec and THK ball screw stages to play with....but haven't finalized the initial project yet.

BTW, the initial servo amp design is done (but not by me), but needs refinement. And, as far as small goes...well, I'm looking at something in the range of 10 - 15 A at 48 - 80V, which isn't super small (about 5/8th HP to 1 5/8th HP). My current motors, however, are only 40W are so with a 500 line (2000 count) encoder.

Tony