I think we might agree here (?) that the disadvantage of bad sub integration could be orders of magnitude more adverse (ie very audible) impact to SQ compared to any (mostly inaudible) distortion specs. Like a flea on an elephant, imo. I just re-tuned my office with a new sub and I can guarantee that the lack of sub EQ on the overall SQ would have completely dwarfed the distortion anywhere else in the chain. Not even close; it would have sounded horrible without that tuning in the sub region, as is very common.
Yes, I missed your miniDSP (S)HD post which at $1300 is way more than I expected (and $400 more than the SVS 3000-micro SW the OP might consider). So, I wasn't considering those solutions that cost more than the SW itself which doesn't make any sense to me, but to each his own. And though the room has been referred to as "small" I'm beginning to get the idea that it might be a closet.