Nice post on movie theaters, xr100, thanks. A favorite subject of mine!
I'm a movie nut and I did an extensive, intricate renovation to produce a projection-based home theater room. It's quite cool: acoustically beautiful sounding, a large 12 foot wide top quality screen with automated 4-way masking, so the screen actually can change in to any shape or size to accommodate various movie aspect ratios. I use a JVC projector that has the highest contrast ever measured for a projector, and the room has black velvet curtains that pull around all the walls to create a "black box" effect which maximizes image contrast/quality and makes the room "disappear" so you just have this big immersive image floating in front of you. And of course, a very nice surround sound system.
What I'm leading up to is that friends and guests who watch movies in the room freak out. They've never experienced anything like it in a home and they all say the same thing: If I had this in my home I'd never go out to the movies again. Why would you?
And when I tell them I still prefer movie theaters many are somewhat baffled.
But I do. Almost every time. Why? I'm generally not a home-body. I like getting out, having experiences. I grew up with going to the movies as one of the most exciting things in my life. I spent lots of time in those huge line-ups for the opening of the original Star Wars movie, all Spielberg's movies, really all the cultural phenomenon movies. It was a ball being surrounded by the buzz of people who were just as eager as I was to see the movie.
I still find that sitting watching on a giant screen in a dark room full of people all there to commune on the same experience, plus the getting out of the house thing, is a richer overall movie-watching experience for me. Contrary to what some guests presume, and to how many home theater addicts think, I didn't build my home theater as a replacement for movie-going, but as a fall-back for all those movies I couldn't see in the cinema (either new, or classic).
That goes even for drive in movie theaters which are, technically/objectively crap compared to my professionally calibrated high-contrast home theater.
Which, in my mind, relates to a point I've been making...
Hmm, I'm not quite seeing how this is analogous to vinyl, though.
.......
As a primary means of regularly listening to music? Hmm.
If the system was the one that gave you the most joy with your music, why wouldn't it be the primary listening system?
Like going out to the movies, the whole experience of buying and owning and interacting with a physical music collection, and using a turntable etc, creates a richer overall experience that makes me keep going back to it, even over the technically superior digital experience.
I used to go to movies with my best friend. I was a "people guy" who loved going out. He was a "get off my lawn" guy who bedgrudged anyone for impeding his experience. In movie theaters I'd be absorbed in the movie and I'd be shocked out of my seat as he inevitably yelled at some guy opening a snack three rows away to "keep it down!" Eventually we always had to sit at the very back of the theater, lest anyone end up behind us distracting my friend. And then eventually only mid or late day shows, with the fewest people in the theater. Finally, we just stopped going to movies together. I wanted more "normal" movie going and engagement, his sensitivity went the other way to where he just found going out to movies intolerable.
And so, with vinyl, people's sensitivities...and hence evaluations...are going to vary. I don't like noisy vinyl and have no romantic feelings for crackle and pops. At the same time I am sure that I'm less distracted or bothered by some of the noise than some here; where I'd be focusing on the "good" things I like about the music and sound quality, others would be sensitized to the record noise and say "no thanks!"
So which is the "right" way to enjoy music? It seems to me: The one in which you personally enjoy it most. Which will vary of course in what one person zeros in on as important to them, or intolerable to them, vs someone else.
For me the overall experience of listening to my music via a physical vinyl collection isn't just a little better...it's MUCH more engaging and fun.
That makes it an entirely rational, justifiable pursuit, just like someone for whom driving a motorcycle engages them more than driving a car.
As to sound quality, I've gone through that a lot before here. But as I've said, though the technical fudges required to get music on and off vinyl would seem on paper to give digital a huge sonic advantage, in practice, generally speaking, I don't find the divide between vinyl (good vinyl) and digital so wide. In fact, I often enjoy and prefer some of the vinyl. Today I compared my digital copy of Rush's 2112 with the re-mastered vinyl release and there was no big obvious sonic benefit in the digital version. In fact, I actually preferred the sound of the LP version. (Seemed more present and punchy). And it's not like I'm coming to this with cloth ears. I'm a lifelong audiophile and I have worked for 30 years in professional sound, and I've always had top of the line digital playback for my music. A lot of the time I'm spinning vinyl I'm not suffering sonically for my nostalgia; I'm hearing damned impressive and engaging sound quality too! I simply would not be buying much vinyl if the sound quality were routinely obviously sup-par or unsatisfying. But with my vinyl collection I find I get both the physical fun and my jones for good sound satisfied.
(And I still very much enjoy my digital music too...which I was listening to as well today).
Cheers.
