Well, ears can hear what, 20hz to 20,000hz, and then it's all feel? So if he is good to 50, he is missing some low end. Adding in budget though, that makes a difference. A crossover and separate power amps starts adding up. Boxes with crossovers sounds like the answer, though room size can dictate what you need. I have not played "compact" ever in my life, so I don't know. The last band I was in had 18" subs, Peavey 3020 combo cabinets and tweeters on top of that, and each stack was 6 feet tall. We ran our own crossover and 3 stereo power amps. (I loved running the PA in stereo. Some of my string patches had panning built in and to hear the sound pan back and forth through the fronts..... loved it.)

Again comes down to your preference and where you play. We couldn't have played 90% of our rooms with a compact system. Your application may be different. In our 30s and 40s we played in a different era when there were music clubs. Now it's restaurants that have music after dinner and won't let you set up until 8pm. (But start promptly at 9!!!) Thus the "PA on a pole" era.... Geeze, we ran 1000w in our MONITORS!

I am using the new 1040XTRAEZ form this year. It has just 2 lines.

1. How much did you make in 2023?
2. Send it to us.