I’d asked the same question once to a friend, “why do these assholes use such huuge subwoofers in thier little cars? Doesn’t it make them want to vomit from the thumping??”
The answer surprised me, but made sense: they can’t hear the low-end bass, because the wavelength of the sound can’t fit in the car. e.g., a 40hz sound wave is a couple of dozen feet long (or something, it’s late and I forget the math when I’m tired) so someone in a teeny car literally can’t hear the lowest frequencies.
My buddy (an MSEE) related the following to illustrate his point: in his college days, he and a friend had obtained some huge woofer and were storing it in thier dorm room. For kicks, they hooked up a test signal generator, and fed it tones from way-high to sub-audible (engineering students just know how to party, no?). At sub-audible frequencies, say 30hz, they watched in amazement as the woofer floofed in/out but no audible sound (that they could hear) was produced.
A few minutes later, someone from halfway down the dorm comes pounding angrily at thier door, yelling “cut it OUT!!”, apparently because thier room was getting the crap pounded out of it, where my friend could hear nada in the vicinity
So, apparently only the folks NOT in the car can actually hear the sub-thump. Which makes it all the more senseless.
The bass thump isn’t for the passengers, it’s for the pedestrians. It’s the call of the urban wild, the current equivalent to “Hey good looking, we’ll be back to pick you up later.” And ironically, the sound that makes all heads turn has the same effect on stomachs.
I spoke to Bluto the day after I posted my previous rant, and he was very apologetic–apparently, he had used “party” as a verb a bit too vigorously himself, and was passed out in his bedroom. He promised to move the subwoofer, and I think he did.
However, he and the boys from Phi Tappa Keg and the girls from their sister sorority (not sure which one–whichever one has all the blondes with midriff-baring tops and ugly sandals who drink Bud Light from the bottle held daintily by the neck between the thumb and first two fingers) were at it again last night. The music was more manageable, but there was a lot of loud chatter and the occasional “Woooooo!” that frat boys seem to involuntarily emit from time to time.
I’m not going to get too pissy about it, since it didn’t go on too late and I don’t have to be at the hospital until 7:30 or so these days. Still, I’m worried that it might become habit.
Fortunately, Tamara got up to leave this morning at 6:00 and had to wake him up to move his truck and let her out. I’m thinking that if we do just exactly that every time he throws one of his loud bashes, eventually we’ll put a stop to this shit Skinner-style.