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