Everything you say is true. It is just the perspective which one looks at the problem that is different. I like thinking of the problem as voltage division without any change to the driver properties because it lets me visualize the next level of complexity.For example, say I have a speaker that needs 2 ohms of series resistance and a baffle step correction of 6 ohms of resistance in parallel with a 2.5 mH inductor. What is the diferences between having a 2 ohm resistor in series with the baffle step circuit in series with the driver or the other way combining the 2 ohm resistor with the 6 ohm parallel resistor to form a new baffle step circuit. This is a real world problem. Thinking of adjustments to the Qes does not help you get a feel for the results. Thinking about voltage division as a function of frequency provides the insight needed to visualize what is going on with this more complex circuit.
I like thinking of the series resistor in terms of voltage division so that I understand what is going on with the speaker.