You can’t compare a speaker with a subwoofer. Each of them has its distinctive role in a home theater. That’s why you can’t say which is better because they don’t have one role to play. Because speakers tend to play 40Hz to 20kHz and the subwoofer plays from 14Hz to 39Hz. The sub can go to 100 Hz but not recommended above that. As you can’t compare an airplane with a car in the same manner you can’t compare a subwoofer with a speaker.