hmmm dunno - i've ALWAYS gravitated toward smaller drivers - like 5" ... might not have the VOLUME of bass but they certainly have the right 'thwap' ...
A driver can produce low frequencies by having either a large cone surface area (in a large box) or a long-excursion suspension (in a smaller box).
If I'm not mistaken, and generally speaking, a small long-excursion woofer produces more harmonic distortion and more intermodulation distortion and compression at lower listening levels and is less sensitive.
The only reason for the existence of small long-woofers is the demand for small speakers. But you also need a big box to produce low frequencies hence the crutches (TL, bass-reflex) which have the welcome side effect of increasing sensitivity a little and easying the load.
My view is that sound should be produced by a driver and
fitness for purpose is the key here: tiny tweeters, mid-sized squawkers and large woofers...and sub-woofers for
sub-bass.
This image was taken from a vintage Kef user manual:
P.S.: dividing the spectrum over different dedicated drivers or ways reduces intermodulation distortion and ensures that each driver is operating within it's optimal range (avoiding nasty break-up resonances and the need for complex notch-filter with the bonus of a smoother off-axis response).
I'd say that the sweet-spot is a 3-way speaker though one would really need 4 ways (and a large) to accurately cover the whole 20Hz to 20kHz audible spectrum.