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The Sad State of Movie Theater Sound Systems

In the last 2 weeks I have done something I haven't done in many years,go to a movie theater to see  new releases.First was the latest Star Wars & then at a completely different theater the new Dawn of Justice.In BOTH theaters the sound level was WAYYY to loud,distortion was running rampant in both cases.The highs were tipped up & brittle,mids had ABSOLUTELY no organics & bass was booming & 1 note to the MAX!!!If I hadn't paid well over $10.00 per ticket I would probably have walked out of both theaters!So for those of you who regularly go to movie theaters is this the norm or is Seattle just too tight to spend on the good stuff?
freediver
kijanki's avatar
kijanki
4,413 posts
 
My wife and I went to see the movie, that had a lot of special effects. Volume was set so low that we couldn't even hear dialog. People started yelling but there was nobody in charge.  We went outside to find manager.  He explained that there is nobody there in the projection booth since it is controlled by the computer.  He wouldn't even know how to make it louder.  He gave us free tickets, but we wasted whole evening.  Never again.
effischer
555 posts
 
As kijanki noted, theaters are largely automated now, and many of the settings are done by set-up techs that are not on-site.  I ran into a similar problem when I went to see Rush in Toronto.  They started running a kiddie movie and ended up having to move us to an entirely different theater.  Nobody could re-initialize the system.

Fortunately, we live in a small town and our 8 screen multiplex recently got someone who at least knows how to set focus and sound level.  Star Wars was quite impressive, and we'll go see other new stuff as they come in.

Automation is great.  Until it isn't.

jafant
19,041 posts
 
Agreed
it is automation and quite possibly some form of "streaming".
At the lowest entertainment factor, it should be criminal!
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
The Golden Age of theater sound was what, forty years ago?  Sound familiar?
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