I've done small-ish venue (200 to 500 captive suckers!) sound design/production/mixing for decades and the key to bass is balance...1000 watt 18" subs can be mixed in there with great results exactly like what I do in my home system if you simply apply the same esthetic...make sure they aren't "noticed" by being very careful with levels...that makes the audience feel better than they actually should as hey, they don't deserve me...
Audiophile Bass?
I was reading an article about spikes vs. rubber feet and the author mentioned what he called "audiophile bass". His assertion was that the bass that audiophiles pursue is not real life bass. One comment from the article (paraphrasing) states that when you listen to bass at a live performance it will not be the tight, clean bass that you will hear from most audiophile's systems when they are playing music. The discussion in the article was that in order to get audiophile bass you would need spikes to reduce the transfer into the floor (because of the very small contact points). The rubber feet will cause the bass to be less clean and tight. I tried this on my system and he was right, with the rubber feet the bass was definitely boomier. But I do prefer the spikes. I like to here the notes on a bass guitar, it's not enough that it is just bass. Have any of you had similar experiences?