I don't disagree with any of that. I guess my point is simply that sub+sat takes more work to sound good, where a tower is, normally, going to sound pretty good out the box. But, as you say, the lower you can push the crossover point the better. A sub+sat setup has a high (relative) cross over point, as compared to a good tower. I think (not an acoustician but I slept at a Holiday Inn Express) that holes, peaks, etc at 30 or 40hz are harder to detect than those same anomalies at 80 or 120hz. I think that is why I hear so many bad sub-sat setups. The integration of the two is more easily screwed up.
But yes, with work sub+sat can sound better than a tower of equal quality parts, no doubt. I'm surprised we have not seen the birth of satellite mids as well. Place the highs where needed and aimed as needed, same for mids, same for bass. It is done in car audio every day, and the results in SQ would blow many minds in the home audiophile world. But home P-EQ and crossover functions are drastically price limited compared to that market so I don't expect my idea to take flight soon.
