Should cinema be our HT reference?

--No;actually the ans.is quite simple. The # of seats dictates a homogenized version of what we have at home. Otherwise everybody seated on the extreme sides would only hear from their nearest speaker,most of the time.

Thanks. I thought I am the only one who feels this way. I always wait for the cinema to 'give it to me', but the sound just never poop out.

On your point about the picture, I always wonder about that too. The CRT projector used in the cinema supposed to have been calibrated by professionals using tools (and their eyes) to 6500K. Again, maybe it is just me, but the color to me is still not very convincing. To me, the easiest test is the color of the blue sky that we see everyday (besides red which is hardest). In a few cases, the sky's color has a touch of yellow to it which gives that 'washed-out'/old color. Even without this problem, the picture just doesn't have the needed contrast. And I always questioned whether that's the characteristic of a CRT projector with lower lumen rating or the big size of the projected picture that might have caused it. The only time that I was 'wow-ed' by a huge projected picture was my trip to Disney World last year. Three CRT projectors were used to display a Disney animation and may I say, 'WOW!!'. The picture was utterly satisfying. It is like watching a very-very good huge tube CRT TV. One can argue that animation is easy for any projector, but I have just not seen the same quality in movie theater even with animation. The difference is really night and day (IMO), and I see the dullness that you have refered to.

Well.. I am way off topic now.

Avguygeorge, that does makes sense. Now I am really curious as to how they accomplish the homogenized sound. This just sounds like a very good technique to try. If applied correctly, it may produce a very good balanced sound effect. Now I have to dig on the web for this info, wonder if they have to disperse the sound off-axis to do this. Thanks!

There is no excuse for a dull looking movie. I've seen the restored 70mm print of Lawrence of Arabia projected on a large screen. It looks great!! If they could make it that sharp and colorful in the 1950's, then they should be able to really dazzle us now..

I remember reading an article I believe by the 'Audio Perfectionist' where he discussed this very issue.

If I recall correctly, he stated that the rooms and goals are entirely different. Therefore, the application and execution thereof is entirely different as well.

And the cinema has to make many more compromises to accommodate potentially hundreds of viewers in comparison to just a handful of viewers at home.

Made sense to me.

-IMO