;)
Visitors have all sort of expectations of the room before they see a movie:
"I could never hear the difference - I'm just not that particular."
"I just don't like to listen to things that loud"
"I could never run anything that complicated"
Almost 200 people have seen movies in the theater for Charity events (raising over $20,000 for area charities.)
To a person, the reports are "amazing", "wow" and "I want one". It's far less involving experience than bringing someone out sailing or to a vacation home yet much more intimate than going out to a restaurant - it's a great way to entertain new and old friends.
The seats are more comfortable, the room quieter and the audio clearer but, at it's essence, the room delivers the cinema experience at home - with a pause button and volume control.
A quiet room - and this room is quieter than a recording studio - lets the loud portions be quieter and the dialog come through clearly without boosting the volume. The perfect balance of the room lets the music, sound effects and dialog come through exactly as the sound engineer intended.
From THX:
THX Certified Screening rooms blend the acoustic performance and aural impact of a THX Certified Cinema in a smaller room—ideal for critical screenings, business presentations, focus groups and editorial reviews. THX defines every aspect of sound and picture quality in its screening room program, from sound isolation and reverberation management to room acoustics and screen positioning.
Throughout the screening room construction process, THX provides extensive design consulting services. In addition, THX conducts onsite calibration to ensure the equipment is performing to its full potential.
Today, THX Certified Screening rooms are found at the Mayfair Hotel in London, the Sharp Screening Room in Japan and the Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, Calif.
This room was the model for the screening room certification program. The room was designed by Tony Grimani, one of the top small room acousticians in the world. THX peer reviewed the design, added some detailed requirements and reviewed and approved the entire audio + video signal path. During and after construction they made onsite visits and the calibration + certification process was very extensive as key procedures for analyzing small rooms were developed onsite.
The room is now the model example for THX's program as well as the Triad CinemaPlus program:
Sound & Video Contractor Article