Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff from house stuff works dot com
Speaker 1: where smart Happens. Hi Marshall Brain with today's question, where
Speaker 1: is the best place to sit when you go to
Speaker 1: the movies? This is one of those questions that can
Speaker 1: divide friends. You like to sit down front, but your
Speaker 1: companion wants to sit in the back. You both have
Speaker 1: good arguments for your side. At least these days, the
Speaker 1: choice is more enjoyable to make Because of improvements in theaters.
Speaker 1: Seating in many theaters today is much more comfortable than
Speaker 1: it was just a few years ago, when most theaters
Speaker 1: had small, hard seats with short backs and fixed arms.
Speaker 1: The only adjustment was whether the seat was up or down. Today,
Speaker 1: the seatbacks are full height, and both seats and backs
Speaker 1: have thick cushioning. The arms between the seats lift up
Speaker 1: out of the way and have cup holders built into
Speaker 1: the end of them. Quite often the seatbacks rock slightly
Speaker 1: to give you a little more freedom of movement. Probably
Speaker 1: the single biggest improvement in theater seating has been the
Speaker 1: introduction of stadium seating. With stadium seating, the rows are
Speaker 1: arranged on a series of terraces or steps instead of
Speaker 1: the fifteen degree floor slope that you find in conventional
Speaker 1: movie theaters. Stadium seating allows each row to sit twelve
Speaker 1: to fifteen inches higher than the row in front of it.
Speaker 1: It also means that virtually every seat in the theater
Speaker 1: has an unobstructed view of the screen, even if the
Speaker 1: theater is packed. Preferences very but there is an optimal
Speaker 1: place to experience the sound system in most theaters. Choose
Speaker 1: a row about two thirds of the distance from the
Speaker 1: screen to the back of the theater. Try to sit
Speaker 1: one or two seats from the exact center of the row.
Speaker 1: The reason is that most sound technicians check the audio
Speaker 1: levels from the center seat, about two thirds back from
Speaker 1: the screen. Since the sound from the right and left
Speaker 1: speakers are equalized for the center, you want to sit
Speaker 1: slightly off center to enhance the stereo effect. Be sure
Speaker 1: to check out our new video podcast, Stuff from the Future.
Speaker 1: Join How Staff Work staff as we explore the most
Speaker 1: promising and perplexing possibilities of tomorrow. The How Stuff Works
Speaker 1: iPhone app has arrived. Download it today on iTunes.