I did a combo experiment one time. What I mean by that is I put some small, wide dispersion speakers at a normal listening distance in a small room. I crossed them over pretty high, about 600 Hz, to some larger ported speakers which were within 1 foot of each ear, off to the sides. Those were attenuated and time delayed to match level with the smaller speakers. The result was that when I sat in the sweet spot right between the bass speakers the bass was very full, rich and smooth, but seemed to be coming from the soundstage in front of me. If I got up from that chair and moved away it sounded like there was virtually no bass in the room. It was really a very compelling sounding arrangement, allowing me to experience solid bass and a soundstage that seemed to fill the room, without much in the way of room interference muddling things up in the lower midrange and bass. It was also good for not bothering other people with bass. One downside was the need to sit fairly still and be well positioned between the bass speakers. Slight movement toward one speaker or the other would cause a rapid change in relative level between the left and right ears.
I think it's time I try repeating this experiment with my current setup.