Why the obsession with the lowest octave

Mine goes to eleven!

I'd agree that quality of bass, and control as well as balance, is all very important. Just because a speaker can reproduce down to XXhz does not mean that it does a convincing job in portraying those lower frequencies and the instruments that produced them. I think this is one of those things that reveal the limitations of graphs/numbers/measurements in telling the whole story. Here's where having two ears comes in mighty handy, and gives you a better idea of what the speaker in question is capable of. As far as why such a stress is put on it, one need only take a listen to a system that really gets that right can bring to the table, in order to understand why it is so coveted in spite of the fact that the majority of what we listen to exists on the middle rather than the extremes. It brings in one of our others senses big time (touch/feeling) and connects with us in an almost primordial way. I think it is also VERY difficult for a speaker/system/room to do well, so when that is done well, it's pretty amazing to experience.

The 1036 is a bigger and more expensive speaker. The 3 db down point on the Electra 1037 BE is 33Hz in its test in HIFI+ issue 52. As it has 3 8" woofers rather than the 2 of the 936 [ according to Audiogon Blue Book] and costs roughly twice as much it is hard to see how the 936 could have better bass. When we say that a speaker has response to a given frequency we mean that it has a flat response to it; my REL subs produce audible output at 15.5 Hz but I don't regard them as going that low. To get a speaker that is only 3 db down at 28 Hz takes either size of money or both. The Wilson Sofia 3 just manages 3.5 db down at 28 Hz and it is an exceptional performer in the bass.

It feels SOOOO GOOD!

The male fantasy/obsession with bass reproduction is directly related to male hormone, muscle mass, guy stuff in general. If you notice most remasterings boost the bass. because it is the in thing. Sort of like car 'maximum decibles' contests. Guy thing.
By now you can see i do not share the interest in giant balls/ bass. In fact i despise it.
So for one vote back to normalcy. Where car crashes (in movies) do not ALWAYS cause massive explosions, and low frequencies are reserved for things like the space shuttle taking off.
..and perhaps a few (very few) organs.

Because part of the music occurs there normally with a good recording or live and this is the " high end" audio site where everything that you can or should be able to hear matters.

Having said that, it does not in practice really matter to many.

I could live without it if I had to but prefer to not.

Elizabeth is probably on to something with the "guy thing" assessment.