Why are subwoofers so polarizing?

When I use a sub, I try to set it so it sounds right with the more bass heavy recordings first. That means it may do little or nothing with other recordings that do not have much going on in the lowest octave. IT seems to be a reasonable and relatively easy strategy to take that works well for me. The goal is to help when appropriate but not try to make something out of nothing if its not there in the first place. Good full range recordings can benefit greatly from a well set up sub, but many recordings may benefit just marginally or not much at all really.

"Knob Turner Syndrome"... named after the famous recording engineer.

For me sub integration was making a detailed primary adjustment to obtain a flat room response, time, phase, Q, etc., using the on board Velodyne DD Plus manual Room Optimization program.

Six subsequent presets are adjusted with slightly different settings to accommodate a few common shortcomings in recordings to my taste. With the exception of phase and gain I don't use the presets that often. Some of those late 70s early 80s poorly compressed recordings can benefit from a little kick in the slats.

Speaking of PA mixing, I live near the Greek Theater at UC Berkeley, one of the most forgiving and acoustically amazing venues on the planet. I'm amazed by how horribly this place gets reinforced time after time.

Not long ago The Fleet Foxes headlined a show there and made mention of the venues acoustical reputation. This was one of the most stunning mixes I've heard at the Greek. I wanted to congratulate their sound crew but there was nobody behind the board during or after the show.

I think digital room correction devices are like asking a robot to select my food. I don't trust 'em, but that's just me.

Hipper live sound companies often use an Ipad or some such wireless thing to mix from wherever they need to in a venue, which could explain the lack of bodies at "the board"...sneaky. I am always mystified by inexcusably bad live sound, and I think it's due to idiocy and lack of supervision.

I am always mystified by inexcusably bad live sound

Agree! Many o' times I'd been tempted to bonk the guy running the board on the head with a longneck brew and take control myself. I swear these guys are deaf sometimes.