Agreed. "One octave above your speaker's roll-off point" is pretty absurd. That's going to put you up at 100-120hz for a lot of bookshelf speakers if not higher.
Even an 80hz crossover point is, IMHO, too high most of the time. With a typical 12dB/octave crossover slope, that means your subwoofer will be playing audible content up at 160hz, which is very localizable and right in the middle of the male vocal range.
There are exceptions, such as perhaps if you're running multiple subs, steeper crossover slopes, etc.
But even moving from a 80hz crossover point to a 60hz crossover point makes a tremendous difference in my experience, assuming your bookshelves can play strong down to 60hz.
Totally agree... for listening material that has content down at 20hz.
Here's the counterpoint though: most music won't contain bass anywhere near that deep, and all but the most meticulous subwoofer setups will not be able match the cohesion of a 2-way or 3-way speaker... and many can play down into the 30hz or even 20hz range. So that's where the "subwoofer or no subwoofer" choice gets tough.
Such speakers generally cost an arm and a leg in the commercial sphere, but can be had for cheap in the DIY world like the Classix II or Amiga kits.
Assuming you set up the sub (or subs) properly using modern technology such as REW for measurements and DSP for EQ and crossover, it is fairly easy to get a correct blend between subs and main speakers.
It is, however, impossible to get your average high quality three way speaker, let alone a two way, to the full frequency range of music without either cutting off the lowest notes, compressing them or distorting them.
Even if your sub set-up is less than ideal, the above errors are fare more audible (to me) than potential group delay or phase errors.
I currently have smallish mains (KEF LS50s and R3s) but I have owned many 'full range' speakers from Wilsons, Genesis and APogees on down. None of them have failed to be improved by proper subs.