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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
czarivey
4,494 posts
 
Movies today ain’t worth attention and spending money in the movie theaters. They are mostly made for mentally depleted. Forget about sound.
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
14,147 posts
 
Whatever happened to Smell-o-Rama? But seriously Ridley Scott's Promethues in IMAX and 3D was AWESOME. Some others I think deserve the big screen treatment include No Country for Old Men, Under the Skin, The Martian, Flight, Gravity and Birdman.

77jovian
271 posts
 

$8 for a small, stale, popcorn, really?

The whole movie theater experience has, for me, become so unpleasant that we go only if a movie deserves the big screen treatment, like Geoffkait said, or it's a movie I'm not likely going to be able to see otherwise.  Recently, we saw "The Maltese Falcon" on the big screen.  Before that, a collection of Oscar-nominated short films.  Both were good theater experiences.  In general, though, the oppressively loud sound and cheesy digital "filming" and special effects have turned us off to modern cinema.

77jovian
271 posts
 
Oh, yeah, forgot to mention the 20 minutes of extra-loud previews of films I would NEVER want to see.  We try to pick only theaters where you can buy a reserved seat.
czarivey
4,494 posts
 
I only go to independent movie theaters where they broadcast non-commercial movies. The auditoriums are very small for 50 people maximum and from anywhere the sound and picture is good.
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