We hadn't been to the movies in about 2 months, instead just opting for watching movies at home, enjoying the new home theatre setup, until we opted in the last week to go see Godzilla, X-Men: Days of Future Past and Amazing Spider-Man 2..
The first two we watched in Fourways mall - the premier cinema nogal, which sorely lacks bottom end and has an anemic mid-range, always giving the impression that the system is turned down or severely under-amplified - especially in the front stage.
Amazing Spider-Man 2 has been relegated to the tiny Cinema 1 at Sandton City... a cozy affair with probably 60-70 seats in total, with decent bass, but a downright painful range otherwise, biased toward the front right for some reason.... it's like they damaged the front left speakers, and turned up the right to compensate - only to drive it well into the realms of distortion whenever the soundtrack really got going - which is a pity, because it's incredibly dynamic and busy during the action scenes. It's like a drunken deaf teenager got fiddling the volume knob, found the point of full-blown can't-hear-jack-shit distortion, before dialing it back half a notch and partying on till he passed out.
The loudness that really annoys you, is actually nothing other than distortion.
Honestly, I'm really hoping for both X-Men and Amazing Spider-Man 2 to get a Blu-Ray release soon... I'd love to make a comparison on the HT system at home while it's still fresh in my mind.
Maybe even Godzilla (as terrible as it was) could somehow make more of an impact when the audio gets the opportunity to shine...
In short, am I becoming a home theatre snob? As in, one of those guys with a souped up golf that claims he has a better car than a Ferrari.... or is the sound in our Cinema's here just really kak?
Honestly... I've never noticed this until now... going to the movies was mostly a wow experience, but now I find myself nit-picking about the sound. :whistler:
The first two we watched in Fourways mall - the premier cinema nogal, which sorely lacks bottom end and has an anemic mid-range, always giving the impression that the system is turned down or severely under-amplified - especially in the front stage.
Amazing Spider-Man 2 has been relegated to the tiny Cinema 1 at Sandton City... a cozy affair with probably 60-70 seats in total, with decent bass, but a downright painful range otherwise, biased toward the front right for some reason.... it's like they damaged the front left speakers, and turned up the right to compensate - only to drive it well into the realms of distortion whenever the soundtrack really got going - which is a pity, because it's incredibly dynamic and busy during the action scenes. It's like a drunken deaf teenager got fiddling the volume knob, found the point of full-blown can't-hear-jack-shit distortion, before dialing it back half a notch and partying on till he passed out.
The loudness that really annoys you, is actually nothing other than distortion.
Honestly, I'm really hoping for both X-Men and Amazing Spider-Man 2 to get a Blu-Ray release soon... I'd love to make a comparison on the HT system at home while it's still fresh in my mind.
Maybe even Godzilla (as terrible as it was) could somehow make more of an impact when the audio gets the opportunity to shine...
In short, am I becoming a home theatre snob? As in, one of those guys with a souped up golf that claims he has a better car than a Ferrari.... or is the sound in our Cinema's here just really kak?
Honestly... I've never noticed this until now... going to the movies was mostly a wow experience, but now I find myself nit-picking about the sound. :whistler:
