Last night I was in a local pub(working, doing live sound, I even passed the alcohol test going home :) ).
 
During the band brakes the bar-owner used his sound system, nothing wrong with that, but there was so much low from the sub it hurts.
I think a sub should add something, not be in front anyway.
 
Is this normal nowadays? To sort of make up for the lows ppl are missing listening to their earplugs connected to whatever?
 
Could be I missed something, has happened before : )
 
 

I don't think it's you. I've made the same observation countless times - even with Cirque shows.
 
Nowadays, they put so much emphasis on the low end that the sound becomes absolutely congested and unbalanced - sometimes enough make me feel dizzy, literally.
 
I guess I am too sensitive to that stuff, but I really need the rest of the frequencies to place everything into context, relatively, otherwise I start feeling physically ill - head spinning and all. If those subs are upfront, it's a bit like I'm being held upside down underwater.
 

I suspect the preponderance of poorly balanced satellite/sub systems, "mega-bass" boomboxes, and ridiculous car systems have led many to believe that "lots of random, severely unbalanced (and probably distorted) bass is a good thing".
 
We went from having little or no low frequency response available to the masses to having LOTS of narrow band, low frequency, boomy disasters. And lots of people actually are under the impression that the same stuff that sounds horrifying to me is actually desirable.

It makes music unintelligible. Which isn't a problem for most people these days because what music is all about is already unintelligible and superfluous to them in the first place. 

One thing I learned when doing my PhD work is that the brain actually uses the very high frequencies that we supposedly can't hear.  Of the many "experimental" devices that I've got to play with, one is an Echofone.  I know people who have used them to listen to classical pieces with MUCH better ability to immediately play the piece afterwards.  It's on my (long) list of things to try once I can get my studio and other stuff completely back out of storage and set up.  This device utilizes frequencies in the 100,000Hz range and was originally designed to help people trying to figure out how dolphins and porpoises communicate.
 
On the other hand, I've also read about experiments that Tesla (et. al.) have done with low and very low frequencies.  Most of these proved that they can be very destructive.  YMMV.
 
I think the current trend started due to the Fletcher Munson effect (which I just happen to have a document about right HERE ).  When playing music at lower levels, the human ear loses (not looses Steve  ) both high end and low end which is why they added that Loudness button to car stereos.  Unfortunately, stupid kids some people started using it even when they were already listening to the current trash music at ridiculous higher volumes and it caught on (probably because it annoys adults).
 
Another thing I've learned is that, even if a tune sucks, if it has a good beat that people can feel, they can't help but want to move (or try something approaching dancing) to it.

Mooch danced on his couch for the Coffee House when I spent the night there a while back.
 
I was playing an acoustic guitar.
 
Imagine what would have happened if I had been playing the bass.

bapu
Mooch danced on his couch for the Coffee House when I spent the night there a while back.
 
I was playing an acoustic guitar.
 
Imagine what would have happened if I had been playing the bass.

Whoa!  You play bass???  Cool!

drop the bomb philpu

I playz da Alembic bazz

I have an old-timer view and glad I control
how much bass is in what I listen to.