10.2 is twice as good as 5.1!

I was told that IMAX theatres use 10.2 surround sound. I remember the first time I went to an IMAX in my hometown of Bristol, it was quite an experience.

After some Googling, I found out a lot of interesting information about IMAX theaters, and how they can achieve that chest rumbling bass, as well as the precisely positioned high pitched tweets.

I came across an informative website known as in70mm.com, on which I found these snippets of information.

This article I was reading was written in 1997, and seemed as though it might be slightly out of date here and there. It did state, that "Each channel consist of JBL speakers model 2404 H tweeter, 2445 J driver, 2123 H midrange and 2245 H woofer".

Obviously, in our project we're not looking to produce particularly loud sounds, but highly positional sounds. Bass is something to take into consideration, as even though frequencies which humans can't hear, they can still feel, at high enough amplitudes. These feelings will certainly add to the experience of the ride.

I quote from in70mm.com:

"Most newer IMAX films are now using the IMAX digital sound DDP designed by Sonics. DDP is short for Digital Disc Playback. The system is a digital sound source specifically made for IMAX. Sonics uses compact disc technology to create the highest quality sound delivery possible today. Wide frequency response, dynamic range and the accurate perception of time are the attributes of DDP. A frequency response of 20 – 20.000 Hz is maintained over the entire audio spectrum of ten octaves. Six octaves is found in conventional cinemas. Three CD’s are used for each soundtrack, one CD for every 2 channels. The audio is sent to the Sonics TAC-86. From the TAC-86 the signal is sent to the computer-controlled 1/3 octave equalization unit, developed for IMAX. This unit matches the sound system performance to suit the acoustics of the particular theater in which it is installed. The equalization can also be used to compensate the response of particular films for optimized playback in a particular theater."