For bass speakers (well below 100 Hz) the critical parameter is how much air volume you can move around at a specific frequency.
- You can use a single medium size speaker with a long throw
- You can use a speaker with a large code (250 - 500 mm). The problem is how to make a solid cone acting as a rigid piston.
- Use multiple smaller units, but the problem is "fingered" angular response at higher frequencies.
There is also the general rule of speaker box volume, lowest frequency and efficiency, you can optimize one with the cost of the others.
When the available power these days costs practically nothing, you only have to optimize between speaker volume and lowest frequency response.
IMHO for typical home applications, a subwofer in the middle of the room is the best solution, in which all three alternatives above can be used with two or even five speakers for directivity.
Now the question is, where should the cut-off frequency between the subwofer and the rest of the speakers should be located, perhaps between 50 and 150 Hz depending of the room size. Moving it up to 150 Hz would allow optimizing the mid and high frequency response in small cabinets.