Worst sounding cinemas in Westover Road, Bournemouth
So I’ll start off with the “Odeon” screen #1 as had a new “dts XD-10” installed back in 2005 and along with the “Dolby CP-500” and “QSC” amplifiers and “JBL 8330” surrounds 16x around 1999...
...for “Star Wars episode 1 the phantom menace” in screen #1 the largest auditorium in Westover Road, and saying there auditorium as a totally new sound system that has only been done to 70% that’s poorly to say, but this cinema is not necessarily the best sounding one around leave that one to the THX cinemas.
And so to tonight’s “Batman begins” sounding so poorly and sitting there with the sound level meter in my hand and switching though the ranges from 100dbA weighting with most at 90dbA weighting on the loudest parts like action scenes was unbearable, and sounding only half of the event it should live up to in this poorly engineered site for sore ears, the bass range what bass range?
With Bass range SPL levels reaching 110dbC weighting at certain frequencies between 50Hz and 100Hz I would say, with the lowest frequencies between 20Hz and 50Hz creating a flabby sound of distortion due to the old Altec A4
which are around 40 years old this has to be a joke, they where great in there hay days of the 70mm “Todd-Ao” six-track and “Cinerama” road show events limited to the technology restraints that where available for that era.
But with today’s technology moving faster than a speeding “virgin” train during the afternoon rush hours, this is not workable with today’s digital domain sound systems with clearer sound wider dynamic range and more audio Channels to blow most stereo sounding sound systems out of the water.
The lowest frequency was near to cracking up which I first noted back in 1999 with “The Matrix” this was around three weeks before “Star Wars Episode 1” was about to play in this not so digital ready, which was clearly rushed with out the best minds giving there best to make it a cinema event for the 21st century not a hyped up piece of junk?
Newer JBL 5000 series would have been in order hear, like the JBL 5674 which is a three-way design
these highly engineered loudspeakers will put a punch of cinema sound on your lap and in your chest, and with better frequency range down to 35Hz-16KHz -10db frequency response 45Hz-12.5KHz +- 3db and with a SPL at 143db LF 140db MF and 137db HF, and program power rated at 2.4Kw each these beauties will leave the Altec A4 in the dust.
On top of all this there is no dedicated sub bass in this cinema call it 5.1, and if the LFE has been down-mixed and sent to the Altec A4, then there not doing a good job at reproducing it with added distortion values that make me cringe thinking any moment there going to give up the ghost, well I hope they do and it will be a shame to miss it like to be there when it does happen?
Because I’ll say what I have been always saying for the past 6 to 7 years get it done right, not half right totally right, for today’s demanding sophisticated listeners, not that hay day sound from the 1960’s please.
Anyway I'm note sure if there is anyone else on this forum that lives in Bournemouth that has been to this cinema in the last few weeks and paying £6.80 for the poorest sounding joke of a cinema, this is why I don’t go twice anymore to see the same film anymore, even the IMAX cinema across the road looks awesome and sounds awesome leaving the Odeon and the ABC totally in the dust, though it looks like the IMAX may close down due to negative attitude from the Bournemouth people, well hell most of them are seniors any way, yes come to Bournemouth and retire next to the beach with lovely golden sand full of broken bottles no better than a mine field.
Anyway it will be sad to see the IMAX close down, they say there refurbishing the cinema if this is true, which is not I have not seen any work crews going in or out of that cinema since admissions have declined, and all the staff laid off, and this cinema site why it’s practicably brand new, it opened in the late of 2000 and I know for a fact it will only take a few weeks at the very least not a few mouths of nothing going on?
If any cinema auditorium that needs total refurbishment then it would be the Odeon and the ABC, which is nothing more than a none eventful cinema experience now, in whole and in part a rip off.
And some of the public should be made aware of this the hundreds that have home cinema them self’s as well as sounding far better over what we can do in the home cinema arena, over these donkey cinemas lead by a group of donkey projectionist, and I was a projectionist once for UCI and Warner village cinemas UK, UCI which is only 6 miles away from Bournemouth doesn’t sound any better, over the Westover Road cinemas, while Warner village did can't any of these engineers get it sound right.
Anyway that, concludes this for the mean time I’ll be biting more into this later, so if any one likes to say a word on this make it negative as these cinemas have been so, so, so, so, slow at getting anything done about the sloppy sound and the seating don’t just put new ones in the centre part of the cinema the sweet spot and calling for a higher prices just to sit there compromising the seating positions, is what i say, the seating arrangements is out of order hear, and I should mention this one as well, for gods sakes get some one in to clean the carpet, man it's crawling towards the exit to breath it is smells like wet stale fish there most be billions of germs crawling within it err....
