That's a good point avast, however I don't know if you need to be an engineer to find a good setup with a good crossover. Doesn't speakers from one manufacturer usually work well with their subs? Even if not then you can always experiment to see what sounds best.
Thanks wiggles, however one problem with a forum such as this is searching for non specific things returns 5000 hits, that's no joke. Certain threads alone have several thousand replies. And really I don't have that much time to spend culling the results, it's just easier to ask the specific question again
However I think I agree with you, for a specific price point I'll bet that a carefully chosen bookshelf+sub combo can outperform a lone floorstanding.