An academic question: Is the need for high power and/or a huge speaker in order to "move air" so that low frequencies can be heard caused by the need to compensate for the ears' inadequate air conduction to the ear-drum?
The Fletcher-Munson effect?

Another memory check:

Do you recall, from the early 60's, a project in one of the electronic hobbyist magazines called "The Sweet Sixteen"?

Sixteen run-of-the-mill small diameter speakers were mounted in a single large enclosure. The thought was that together they could move a lot of air with little distortion because the cone movement of each speaker was reduced. My neighbor at the time built one and I remember that it sounded really good.