Why are subwoofers so polarizing?

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.

Wolf,

Have you tried room correction?

Marty

I haven't tried room correction because the room my hifi occupies doesn't need it, for me less is better (my dual mono preamp has source, level, and muting...that's it), and I don't trust robots. The room has plenty of furniture and a padded large rug, an angled tall ceiling, windows that are far enough away to obviate reflections, and any standing wave bass issues are nowhere near my listening spot. The main speakers sit on chopping blocks with vibrapods under them to keep the wood floor from adding back any pesky resonance (an experiment that worked) and my only adjustment is a tiny bass level tweak when I think it's called for (the front firing sub doesn't sit on anything but small floor scatch preventing felt pads and the vibrapods keep it from polluting the mains...at least in theory, and it sounds great)...like with very heavy bass lines that get in the way, or when cranking the thing up a bit. Otherwise it's a sweet sounding and accurate system, and I like a little "room tone" in there...makes it sound more alive.

Wolf,

In this game personal preference trumps all, but my own experience with Audyssey has been revelatory. It's unequicovocably been the single biggest improvement that I've made in my system in the last decade +, and not by a little. I guess that I've embraced the robot and now we live together very happily. Mixed marriages can work - tho I'm sure they're not for everybody.

Marty