Good Sound in Theaters (1 Viewer)

[Gary Silverman]

After seeing The Matrix Reloaded when it came out, I came to the conclusion that I really like the the sound of my home theater. I enjoyed the big screen at the movie theater, but wasn't impressed by the audio. Maybe it's the theater I went to. When I bought the tickets for Reloaded, I asked about the sound in their theaters, and the 16 year old told me not to worry, all the theaters in their complex were, like awesome, dude.How can I figure out which theater to go to in my area that has an incredible sound system? I guess there's always word of mouth, but it seems that most people I talk to aren't into the sound like I am.

 

[Eric Samonte]

That's one of the reasons why we almost never go to theaters anymore unless my 8 y/o son wants to watch a kid's flick. We just wait for it on DVD and watch it at home. While the screen isn't as huge, the sound definitely is better than most movie houses.

 

[Chad R]

A new 18 screen AMC opened up near me and the sound there is wonderful. I'm not positive, but I think they have DTS (AMC used to be big SDDS supporters but I think that enthusiasm has waned). Either way, the sound there was excellent for T3 (wish movie wasn't so damnn cheesy).

 

[Gary Silverman]

Okay, let me ask the question to people who ARE into the sound in a movie.
Where's a really good sounding theater around here?(Fort Lauderdale area)

 

[Josh Sieg]

When I saw Dumb And Dumberer, the sound was horrible. There was absolutley no rear channels.

 

[rick stein]

I had a multiplex open up recently near me.The screens are huge and it has stadium seating but they only have dolby digital and no subwoofer.All the money they spent on the picture and seating and then they really dropped the ball on the sound.What a crying shame.

 

[Jan Strnad]

In multiplexes, deep bass can be a problem since it leaks easily from one auditorium to another. Sounds like a great opportunity for someone to hook up bass shakers to every seat, though!

Jan

 

[Claire Panke]

Chad, I have a friend who is a manager at AMC. They're putting DTS into their new theaters...they found they had lots of problems with SDDS, including drop outs and defaulting to mono. My friend's theaters have Klipsch speakers...when installed, they set sound levels pretty carefully.

Our new and refitted AMC multiplexes up here (Indianapolis) are mostly DTS.

Keresotes and Regal have most of their auditoriums installed with good sound systems and subs, but not all. And yes, you can hear "booms" and "thuds" occassionally from auditoriums next door.

I always ask specifically what system is in use in a particular auditorium if the film is surround intensive. Sometimes it's posted at the ticket office.

TO the teenage drones working there, "digital" is awesome, period.

 

[OcieB]

i saw the hulk in a local pacific theaters theater... and the sound went in and out the whole movie. First it sounded fine, but then it lost all the umph that i have come to like. my friend went and asked what was going on and they said "we dont know its been happenening all day." im glad the theaters employ knowledgeable people! im seeing T3 today, in a different theater, hopefully the sound will be good.

 

[ThomasC]

Anybody here who lives in Columbus, OH, or the general vicinity who hasn't gone to the Arena Grand (downtown) yet should go. I've never been to a disappointing presentation. It opened in the fall of 2001, all 8 theaters are THX certified with Dolby Digital sound.

 

[LaMarcus]

Yeah ThomasC I read that on the thx website that columbus has a thx ceritfied theater. I may have to go up there next time i see a movie. Because when I saw the matrix reloaded I was so disappointed not to hear any bass. I was wondering what was going on with the subs. But reading this I see that some theaters may not be using them. That's a shame.

When I watched Lord of the Rings: Two towers at home I could not believe how much bass was in that movie, I'll bet I'll be just a suprised when I get Reloaded.

 

[Nate Nelson]

TO the teenage drones working there, "digital" is awesome, period.

I used to be one of those "drones" not too long ago :frowning: The reason most of us don't know what the theater is using is because we're never told. I have never been to a theater yet where the sound was "amazing" I've always prefered my "cheap" Klipsch + SVS setup. The best theater I've been in sound-wise was the IMax downtown here in Indy and even then, the volume was a little too quiet for my taste...The ONLY thing keeping me from staying home is the big screen....if I have a 65" T.V. I'd hardly ever go out....sometimes it's nice to be wrapped up in the atmosphere, but I'm kinda bitter because I just finished my second viewing of T3 and was very distracted by this loud black women sitting to the left of me

 

[Carl Johnson]

I was a drone too back when I was a projectionist (7-8 years ago). I was never educated as to the difference in sound formats, as far as I knew stereo was ok, Dolby stereo was better and SDDS kicked ass. I left the theater to work for Circuit City in the home theater department and even then I didn't know very much about this stuff, all that information came years later thru hanging out here at HTF

 

[Russell B]

We have a signature 16 theater and i believe all screens are THX. Edwards Stadium 21 has SDDS, DD, and DTS.
There are also a few United Artist theaters and one of them has 5.1 but not sure which certification they have. The other two don't have 5.1 at all.

 

[Jack Briggs]

Los Angeles, of course, is the exception to the rule. We have many, many commercial cinemas with excellent sound systems, my favorites being Grauman's Chinese (main auditorium, the "famous" one), The Egyptian, Arclight's Cinerama Dome, the Mann National, the El Capitan, the Academy's Samuel L. Goldwyn screening facility, etc., etc.