Small bass drivers vs big?
I could always listen to a Rogers LS35A on cuts I know well, and let that memory fill in the bass. Probably why a lot of subless planars didn't disturb me. That Gradient woofer the one used for Quads and ML CLS's, that's a fine very quick producer of bass. Probably not enough volume to satisfy folks used to horns, but certainly enough for the lower efficiency high end crowd.
My current speakers give pretty loud clean bass (to me, since I don't listen with peaks over 94 db at my ear ever, and usually 88 or so) to about 48 Hz (two 7" and a port), and my HE-500's can give a decent account of itself at 30 Hz. Less so with the rear screens off.
I haven't heard any compression drivers in some years... but if Joni Mitchell seems to have a head cold, or be 20' wide - not for me.
Problem with a big say 15" woofer with a cabinet is that if its a pair and the rest of the speaker is physically attached to it, it's a heck of chunk of the front of the listening stage to give over, big baffles are tough to hide. If its a single sub loaded into the best spot in the room for flat bass and the Q is .707 or under - congrats, that's a heck of a woofer. But if its some BIC 5 wannabe with a Q over .9 - then our tastes are far apart.
While my current towers have a pair of 20cm bass drivers, some of the best sounding towers I've ever heard only had 3 115mm bass drivers. If anyone ever gets a chance to listen to a pair of Raidho D3.1's (or 2.1's even the 1.1's are quite impressive) I definitely recommend it...