The worst "sound system" (widely conceived) for me is the nerve-ripping sound of the brakes of the trains for the Frankfurt subway system (and do these subway drivers have heavy feet!)--the screech can even make the nerves in my teeth hurt on a rainy day. What is curious is how people in the subway try to talk to me through my earplugs (never travel without them), almost magnetically drawn to me for directions and random remarks. There must be some comfort in not being heard. And, to top it off, when the brakes are in high screech mode on the train what does a pale-faced traveller inevitably do, with a look as if they are about to faint or fall dead in suffocation? They open the windows to get some fresh air (one cannot underestimate the irrationality of the German compulsion to "air things out"--the "Beluftungs-Prinzip"), as if there were fresh air 50 ft underneath Frankfurt! Nobody minds as the stale stink of rotten stagnation seeps in and the loudness of the ear-piercing screeches increased to ear-damaging levels. What a rant!
The worst sound system
Our group from work went to a bar here in Chandler AZ for beers and wings and they had their the music (sic) cranked upwards of 90db, it was hard to talk over. The speakers were "kick boxes" like designed for between the back seat and the rear cab of a pick-up truck hung on the wall about five feet up, piezo tweeters and all. The sound coming from these things was enough to cause mental distress, boom, boom, screech, screech, lord only knows what kind of crappy electronics provided the drive to these things. I won't even call them speakers and nobody seemed to mind the terrible sounds in this bar except me. I mean, this was so bad I wanted to leave immediatly but I did stay for a couple of beers and the wings. But, that got me to thinking, who put this crap together and why do all of these people sit in this place and either enjoy or put up with this sound? I will never go back to this bar just because the sound is the worst I've ever heard.