Does that sound rather obvious? Like do most of you prefer your own HT over the local offering as well?
It's not always been that way for me. You see not only am I a huge movie buff, but I have always been a huge 'movie theater' buff as well! Ever since I was a kid, watching 'Star Wars' for the first time on the silver screen, I've been in love with every aspect of going to the movies. So even though I've had my own HT for over a decade now, it's never slowed me down from going to the movies at all. I still visit my Cine-plex every other week at the very least.
The strange thing is, I've started to notice, during the last 3 or 4 movies I've gone to see, that movie theaters (at least the Kerasotes Theaters around these parts), just don't pump out a whole lot of bass. Which seems strange that I'm just now noticing that, because I've always been mesmerized by the way a movie sounds in the theater. It has always been my goal to try to come as close as I can to achieve the same results as they do in my HT. So why it's taken me all this time to realize that the bass in my HT kicks so much more ass than the bass down at the movie theater is... mind boggling?
It was sort of a surreal discovery to tell you the truth. The little woman and I went to see a couple flicks over the weekend, and then we came home and watched a few movies in our HT, and suddenly everything, from the opening credits on just seemed so much more ... INTENSE! I could feel everything going on in the movies we watched at home so much better than at the cinema. All of a sudden the movie theater has become hollow feeling to me. Have the tremendous bass capabilities of my Axiom speakers slowly spoiled me? That's about the best explanation as I can come up with. How else could a 33 year old love-affair with the Cine-Plex suddenly lose it's appeal like that? It makes no sense man!
And of course its really no fair. I don't know how big, or how many subwoofers they'd have to pack in a theater to be able to manage the same SPL in that large of an area as I can achieve in my living room, but it'd be quite a lot! Yes it really is totally unfair. Quite similar to how unfair it it is for my living room to try to compete with my car audio system. Obviously the smaller the area in question, the easier it is to pressurize. I'm just amazed that it took me this long to realize all of this.
I'm going to go see 'Clash of the Titans' down at the iMAX theater next weekend. Its been a while since I've been to one, so it'll be interesting to see if I'm let down by the bass there as well. As far as I can remember iMAX theaters have far superior audio systems than a standard theater... head and shoulders better. But I'm thinking it's still not going to shake me like my HT does, pulsate through my bones and give me a virtual body massage while watching a movie. I don't remember it being THAT much better.
It's sort of sad in a way. Because going to the movies has always been one of my favorite things to do. But at the same time I guess I have to say it's also pretty damn cool that HT technology has evolved to the point that I can enjoy this level of performance every single day! Aaaahhhhh, life is good
