Brainstorm; I think this is the best post that anybody has ever made on the audioreview site here. You have given the members of audioreview a tremendous insight that is nothing less than a phenomenon of a movie theater that I doubt few knew even existed including myself.

During the 1980s, Fox opened up a few THX multi-cinemas in the S. Florida area. I saw three pictures in those theaters which I will discuss shortly. I never heard any great sub-woofer type bass in these theaters. The left and right walls had 4 speakers each. The back wall had 4 speakers. They looked like some kind of three-way jobs that were inverted, that is that the woofer was on top and the tweeter was on the bottom. This was however in one of the theaters, one of the other's I am not too sure what they had. Up front, I could hear left, center and right stereo sound.

THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS---The audio was stunning on this film , particulaly the battle scene near the end of this movie. The whole theater was engulfed in surround sound with bullets and explosions coming from a multitude of points around the theater. In the early part of the film, one see's a cable car approaching and I could actually hear that car pass me by as smooth as silk as the 4 right side speakers handled the action so perfectly as in real life.

I was using a simple passive surroud sound circuit based on Dynaquad. After seeing this movie, I wanted to see if I could make a version of this THX that I heard in that theater. I did create a passive 5.0 channel system that created stereo separation in the surrounds based on a Dynaquad circuit and powered by a NAD receiver. I eventually listened to THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS at home on this configuration. The cable car did pass me by on my right rear speaker but it was not as dramatic as the 4 speakers in the theater that handled that particular sound effect. The same with the battle scene but only because of the lack of a multitude speaker set-up for the home which would have been impossible to do. However, the circuit on its own merit was fantastic.

INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE---A THX theater is only as good as it is properly calibrated. I do not think this theater was becuase the surround sound seemed so one sided to one side of the theater. I have this movie on Laserdisc. Those sections that have good surround sound in this movie to play well but overall this movie is not a surround sound wonder. The dvds of these films as far as the audio goes are worthless with the so called 5.1 sound that they have on them.

STAR TREK V---I only heard one instance with a space ship flying over my head to the rear speakers in the theater. Again, I do not think the theater was adjusted properly. I also do not think that this movie is any wonder in the surround sound area either, though the film is very entertaining.

STAR TREK 3---I did not see that in the theater. It was the first movie on Laserdisc that had digital sound. The digital sound left alot to be desired. The analog track was fine. There is alot of surround sound in this movie particulaly near the end. Played great on my dynaquad system with its analogue track.