IMAX sound

[Luca Sorazzi]

Hi to you all, I am new here and I hope this is the right section. I don't work in the theatrical industry, I am just someone passionate about. I am Italian and live in Italy, I sometime go to the "only laser" IMAX in Italy, Uci Orio IMAX , a dual laser 1.90 screen, almost 30m width screen, massive.

But lately I am noticing some small squares in the middle of the screen. Reading online it seems it's a screen shaker problem, is the only fix a total changing of the screen?

Also sound is sometime a tad too bright or metallic with dialogues which become unintelligible in the mix of action and soundtrack, with a kind of lack of bass. For example this was noticeable in furiosa. Also a bit of reverb too

I tried some other IMAX in other countries and they sounded better. I emailed imax quality and they have always answered gently but never really fixed these two problems. Is the IMAX sound always like this? I know it's usually very loud and there it's very loud.. just I feel like some IMAX sounds better than others otherwise I wouldn't explain how bfi IMAX or AMC Lincoln are so famous.

[Terry Monohan]

Welcome Luca to this great movie theatre site. Every IMAX Theatre I have been to seems to have different sounding speakers. The cheap small screen Mini Imax screens are the worst in sound quality. These are put in former larger auditoriums spaces in multiplex cinemas just trying to make more money by saying IMAX. The sound leaks over to the next cinema. They are not the single big screen semi curved original 70mm film IMAX screens from the past.

That look that you tell about do you think It is a pixel lost projection problem or the screen Itself. The sound may be some broke speaker cones. Many older IMAX Theatres don't have good speakers for the surround channel. Most just have two big speaker boxes aimed down in the back ceiling corners.

It's always great to see a 70mm IMAX film on a large screen or a 3D IMAX movie with a nice size screen.

If you ever go to Hollywood CA check out the Chinese Hollywood IMAX Theatre on Hollywood Blvd. They are one of the few IMAX theatres with slow moving presentation curtains and have a great stage /surround stereo mix.

[Luca Sorazzi]

Welcome Luca to this great movie theatre site. Every IMAX Theatre I have been to seems to have different sounding speakers. The cheap small screen Mini Imax screens are the worst in sound quality. These are put in former larger auditoriums spaces in multiplex cinemas just trying to make more money by saying IMAX. The sound leaks over to the next cinema. They are not the single big screen semi curved original 70mm film IMAX screens from the past.

That look that you tell about do you think It is a pixel lost projection problem or the screen Itself. The sound may be some broke speaker cones. Many older IMAX Theatres don't have good speakers for the surround channel. Most just have two big speaker boxes aimed down in the back ceiling corners.

It's always great to see a 70mm IMAX film on a large screen or a 3D IMAX movie with a nice size screen.

If you ever go to Hollywood CA check out the Chinese Hollywood IMAX Theatre on Hollywood Blvd. They are one of the few IMAX theatres with slow moving presentation curtains and have a great stage /surround stereo mix.

Thanks! Yeah I will go there one day. Unfortunately a vacation there from here, with Italian wages, it's pretty expensive but it's on my radar when I will have the possibility. I would also love to visit bfi IMAX since it's closer to me

[Marcel Birgelen]

It's an IMAX Laser setup, so I guess it already has the 12-channel sound system? If not, that very well may explain the sound issues. I've always found the IMAX 5.0/6.0 setup to be rather lacking. To me, the setup had more the vibe of a live concert than that of a proper cinema.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

I have stopped going to Imax completely unless it's film. The digital stuff is a joke and the sound has become inconsistent. It was not that way when it was a film based system. Like most of the rest of you the last one I saw was Oppenheimer at Regal Opry Mills. They did a good job presenting Oppenheimer.

[Marcel Birgelen]

Well, I think the last location in Europe that shows IMAX on film is the BFI IMAX in London. If not so, please let me know what other locations do still show 15/70 IMAX in Europe.

While the current biggest IMAX-branded screen is apparently currently in Germany, it never opened with a 70mm IMAX projector.

The IMAX DMR stuff never really caught on around here, I'm not entirely sure why, but I've heard that availability and costs of DMR prints always has been a problem, including extra costs for dubbed and subtitled versions, which didn't make rotating the print around between countries a viable option. Most of the original 15/70 locations have since closed or have been converted to something else over the years. A notable exception seems to be the venerable IMAX in Brussels, which, after being closed for years has been showing movies again for a few years, but all of them digitally.

I remember that 20 years back in Berlin, there were 3 15/70 IMAX locations in a 5 minute walking distance of each other, of which one a Dome/"flat" hybrid. None of them have survived until now. The only IMAX currently operating in Berlin seems to be a converted "PLF IMAX" of recent vintage and probably never has seen a film projector either.

Also, I've never seen the big appeal of watching a movie in scope on a giant, unmasked 1.43 screen. It reminds me of watching scope movies on an old-school 4:3 TV, no matter how big that TV was, it still felt cramped: Slit-o-vision. Why pay premium for such an experience when I can have an equally big picture in a proper 35/70mm cinema with a huge common-height screen? At least I don't pay to get distracted by this massive, unused screen real-estate...

[Tony Bandiera Jr]

<snip>
Also, I've never seen the big appeal of watching a movie in scope on a giant, unmasked 1.43 screen. It reminds me of watching scope movies on an old-school 4:3 TV, no matter how big that TV was, it still felt cramped: Slit-o-vision. Why pay premium for such an experience when I can have an equally big picture in a proper 35/70mm cinema with a huge common-height screen? At least I don't pay to get distracted by this massive, unused screen real-estate...

That, and as to the original post, IMAX sound has always sounded bad to my ears. Overblown (as in WAYY too loud, and for the record, I love Dolby at fader 7), often lacking in clarity, "honky" (bad horn loading effect), and anemic surrounds.

I think a lot of it stems from the terrible behind the screen speaker placement, usually way too high, too far apart (the "holes in the middle" effect) and poorly aimed....plus the speakers are often not in line with where the average actor's mouths are in most shots. And the oversize image means the single speakers used for each channel present Slit-O-Sound sound imaging to go with Marcel's Slit-O-Vision.

[Tony Bandiera Jr]

I have stopped going to Imax completely unless it's film. The digital stuff is a joke and the sound has become inconsistent. It was not that way when it was a film based system. Like most of the rest of you the last one I saw was Oppenheimer at Regal Opry Mills. They did a good job presenting Oppenheimer.

Has become? It has been that way since the beginning. See my post above for the other sound issues....

[Gordon McLeod]

Original IMAX theatre created their own soundsystems often repurposed cinema speakers. Imax bought a Alabama company call Oxmoor and created Sonics that did all Imax systems for many years with proprietary processing and speakers. The speakers were a frazier design with much upgraded JBL components The Amps were Bryston 4B with a custom crossover built in and the EQ was a Oxmoor multipreset digital eq. Very good sounding and very free from failure
With the advent of IMAX multiple a lower cost system was developed using Yorkville Sound speakers and amps

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Has become? It has been that way since the beginning. See my post above for the other sound issues....

I never had any awful film based experiences... Chicago, Toronto many, many times, Boise, Seattle, Los Angeles, Kennedy Spacew Center, and a number of others... They all sounded very good.

[Steve Guttag]

I've never been a particular fan of IMAX's sound. Given the size of their traditional screen, the 3-4 speakers ALWAYS had very apparent holes in the sound. Even 5 across would have been too distant, in most cinemas but they just had 3 and the 4 was just for "top" for those movies with say a rocket shooting off...as in "To Fly." The two surrounds, one in each corner, was also woefully inadequate to convey a surround like effect.

As to their current 12-channel system...I haven't heard it to comment. But their classic system never did much for me. It was big and loud but with inadequate directional cues to convey a believability that matched what was on screen.

[Marcel Birgelen]

As to their current 12-channel system...I haven't heard it to comment. But their classic system never did much for me. It was big and loud but with inadequate directional cues to convey a believability that matched what was on screen.

In their "medium-sized" converted "PLF" screens, their 12-channel audio system actually sounds pretty OK to me, comparable to a good 7.1 system I'd say, only often driven way too loud to my taste.* The additional channels never really added any extra immersion for me. For their original 15/70 locations, those traditional "museum" locations with 1.33 screens, based on the sample size of 4: not so much. I guess I actually prefer the old system in those kind of rooms... Their 12-channel system somehow feels completely underpowered in those huge rooms.

Even though I know that IMAX monitors if somebody turns down the volume, I know a few locations where the volume has been turned down due to massive customer complaints. I often think that IMAX confuses quality with volume...

[Bobby Henderson]

I wish AMC & IMAX would upgrade the sound system at the IMAX-branded house they have here in Lawton. The room is bigger than average compared to other IMAX digital theaters (over 550 seats, screen at 70' wide, if not bigger). The 5.1 audio system is loud enough, but surround coverage isn't great. They have two big speaker enclosures in the upper rear corners of the room.

IMHO, IMAX should go with the 12 channel sound system in all locations regardless if the digital projectors are the older Xenon variety or some breed of single or dual projector laser. The additional surround speakers would help fill the really bad audio gaps. Dolby Cinema setups (and other Atmos setups in general) do far better if the sound systems are properly configured and maintained.

[Marcel Birgelen]

I think my biggest gripe with IMAX isn't even so much that they've moved on from being a big-format film-company to something of a self-managed PLF franchise for the exhibition industry, but that they've moved from a company that used to be very open about their technology towards a company that's more about windowdressing than anything else. If the hosting theater isn't forthcoming in sharing any technical details of their IMAX theaters, you're essentially left to your own devices. IMAX does not specify anywhere on their website what kind of technology they're using for a particular location.

So unless the franchising theater is willing to tell you, you have no clue what screen size a certain location has, what kind of projection technology it uses nor if it's using its old 5.0/6.0 sound system or the newer 12-channel system.

[Luca Sorazzi]

Thanks for all the replies! Actually I know now they're even selling IMAX laser xt with 6ch and not 12ch. It's basically a cheaper version of IMAX cola (single laser). I haven't tried it but quite sure the difference are minimal in the image, probably just slightly less contrasted and bright but it's a bummer that this version is often sold with the 6ch so not overheard speaker and I am speaking about very new IMAX auditoriums so built this year or last one.

Speaking to sound, near this huge IMAX Uci Orio, there's also arcadia Melzo sala energia with tmos. It sound amazingly! My only complaint there is that sometime I feel like sound level is not loud enough. And huge screen with masking, about 30 metres width (100 ft), Similar size of IMAX Uci Orio. They also screen movies in English with subtitles, while IMAX Orio is sadly just dubbing till now but I hope they will start to add some more O.V version even there. Arcadia Melzo sala energia Is also famous for still having a working 70mm projector other than their laser projector for digital. Living near Verona I sometime do my 1h drive to arcadia Melzo or Uci IMAX Orio but yeah on sound quiet better arcadia till now. I have even read it's one of the biggest Atmos in the world