My main speakers are Ohm F5 with 12" drivers. Retail is ~ $6K. I paid half that after discounts and trade ins.
In my other smaller room I have tiny KEF ls50 metas and a powered sub.
Both are well set up and do the job well.
What’s best? As usual, it all depends.
If you are on a budget and room is not large, KEF ls50 metas + sub(s) are a good way to go.
Larger rooms will almost always cost more to cover properly. You will want somewhat larger mains depending on how loud you need to go but other than that, the problem can be solved equally well either way.
IT just has to be done right no matter which approach is taken. That is always the case.