Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater How loud is your theater?

And I don't mean your home theater! I'm talking about your local theater. I have been told that I play movies at home much louder than the theater does. With the exception of a recent demo, I usually run at 80-85 dB with dynamic peaks at 98-102 dB, give or take. Being the curious, scientific type I had to find out what the local theater was up to. So we went to see HP V last night and while the previews were running I pulled out, much to the complete embarassment of my wife, my RS meter. So during the movie I checked several times what I considered normal volume dialogue and background levels as well as the more intense, loud scenes and sure enough, I'm right on with the local theater, which happens to be brand new and state of the art. I did notice quite a bit more bass in the vocals than I get at home, and it's not because Harry is older.

My wife thinks I'm a *total* geek. I think this behavior, while maybe not normal, is something many of us have either done or wanted to do. So what do you think? multiple choice, up to 3 choices
	The Mrs. is correct, you're a total geek
	Cool, but still geeky.
	Totally awesome, I have wondered about or done this myself.
Votes accepted starting: 07/26/07 06:57 AM You must vote before you can view the results of this poll.

Yeah Scott, the Mrs. is just part-way right about your geekiness, so I voted the 2nd choice. In case you didn't see it you might be interested in Alan's answer to a question about appropriate sound levels which appeared in the March Audiofile and which described this test of sound levels in commercial theaters in Canada.

The first rule of Geek Club is that you shouldn't care what other think about you being in geek club.

Measure away, whether it's cool, awesome, or not.

Just be careful what scenes you pull your meter out in. Pulling out a long cylinder like object with a large foam bulb shaped head can make for an interesting silhouette in your hand during a dark love scene.

Were you measuring dBA or dBC?

The dB meters I'm familiar with would not be mistaken for an indiscretion.

Power my Brother! Wave that Geek Flag high!

I did the same thing but embarrassed my wife further by moving around the theater to get readings.

We saw Harry Potter at the theater, the first time we've gone since about five years ago, and I actually blocked my ears at a number of points when music was playing. It was WAY louder than we play movies at home!

....I'm still in my LOW 60s so I want my hearing to last at least till I get older!

My home system so completely destroyed what we heard at the theater that we went a couple days later to a different theater to see if it were a fluke.

...and we only have M50s in a sucky room with an M3 for center and surrounds. And a little 12" sub with only 275W.

Pirates 3 was better at the new theater, but I still came away with a renewed respect for my humble system.

In both cases there were voices through the subs and inferior surround at the show.

Even the Wife commented on how much better the Pirates theme sounds on our home system than at the theater!

...yeah; it surprised me too!

My extra crappy room with an axiom setup totality blows away the 1 major theater in Charlottetown, An Empire 8 so it's not a small complex.

My dialog is way clearer and I hardly ever hear surround sound effects at the theater. I hear so much more at home.

Now to be fair to Empire, I recently went to one of their Theater complexes in Halifax and I was hearing all sorts of wonderful surround effects. A very noticeable posative difference over my home town.

At home I normally run movies set to 75db if people want it really loud (Big action movie) and less (65) for normal movies. This is probably conservative for most of you but 75 is pretty loud in my little room. Also, at 75 I still get quick peaks to 100-103 in really wild scenes. (Slow & C) I'm thinking I get this wider range because of the relatively small room.

Andrew,

What kind of equipment do you have?

Thanks. And what is the volume of your room and how far away do you sit from your fronts?

I guess it's not totally small at apx. 14' x 13' x8' = 1456 cubic feet. It probably just feels smaller because it's square and basement. Probably places the couch at 10' or so from the fronts.

besides being almost square, it gets worse. It's finished but not much more to help with sound quality. Drywall over concrete for outside wall with a large window. Front and back walls are drywall to adjoining rooms with no insulation, 4th is a mix of stairway, outside wall and an adjoining room. Still no carpet, still no drapes. Not much to break up the sound except a couch, coffee table, bookshelf on a sidewall, 2 normally closed doors and an open stairway.

Oh, and my pride and joy... A color likeness of me, my wife and our pets done as Simpsons characters.

Someday I'll start work on the 'intended' HT room but for now these speakers still amaze me even in what should be a TOTALLY nightmare room from what I have learned here.

By the way, what are you thinking?

I'm always curious to hear what kind of gear and environment others have so that I can make a mental comparison with my own.

I personally find that surround effects and centre dialogue are highly dependent on the movie. Some movies, I don't have to touch my calibrated settings at all. And for others, I have to turn up the surrounds, the centre and sometimes even set the centre to large.

How about you? Do you have to tweak too?

Your comment about the last 5 or so years is very interesting. I'll have to see if that holds true as I watch movies.

By the way, my set-up is also calibrated to an almost zero reference level as I have all my speakers almost equidistant from my sweet spot. And I too have a very bright room but only 4,000 cu. ft. with a centre turned up to 2.5dB most of the time.

You don't have speakers listed under your name.

Mojo,
To answer your question, I used to do a lot of tweaking when I first upgraded to an all Axiom system and in the middle times when I had a mixture. I am now extremely happy with all speakers calibrated equally with the exception of the center at +2. It's only really required for poorly recorded movies but I don't like to have to analyze a movie when it starts and think about weather I should reset stuff. Lazy maybe, but I like to think I just prefer to not be distracted with the extra thoughts every movie and get right into the story.

Even still, I occasionally find with some movies, that my mind eventually drifts away from the story and I think "Man! this movie sucks for surround effects." I used to stop and turn up the surrounds a bit but now I just blame the movie. I'm confident that if they engineered it well, I'll hear it well. If they sucked when they engineered the sound, I can't be bothered to compensate and I will just place it in my mental "Do not buy or rent again" list.

I don't know how much bass or sound effects are lost in my square, very reflective room but since I don't know what I'm missing, I'm still extremely happy.

I know what you mean by getting lazy. But the again, I paid somewhere close to eight grand for all my gear and I want to make sure I am getting every penny's worth each time I listen/watch.

I take comfort in knowing that it could have cost more had I decided to spring for this .

I'll lend you my spare if you want to try it out.