Adapted from Marvel's comic book series, this wows right from its pilot episode. Sound effects from shots fired between the moving car and motorcycle immediately draw you into the scene with every impact clearly heard. Tires screeching seamlessly draws the perfect curve from speaker to speaker. Just mere minutes after a chaotic exchange, a huge contrast in the absence of sound will have anyone jump out of their seat when a shot from a sniper delivered through your channels.
This cult-classic is definitely one to play if you want to gauge the overall soundstage of your surround system. It features a balanced sound design that does not overpower either channel even if you decide to blast your speakers in the iconic $5 milkshake diner scene. The film enjoys overall atmospheric subtleties that inject life into your living room. Directionality in dialogue is remarkably produced with utmost clarity. Soundtracks in this provide the extra dose of overall era immersion the film is set in.
A community favorite, this movie is no stranger to surround movie buffs! It features EVERYTHING a surround sound fan can ever ask for – plus, a healthy dose of nostalgia that firms this film as a classic surround sounds movie go-to! The VR car racing scene that Wade competes in literally had us bopping our heads to the “Joan Jett & The Blackhearts – I Hate Myself for Loving You “whilst, marveling at the whirring vehicle transformation from the surround speakers. Background revving is noticeable clear in their respective distances and as the cityscape transforms, your surround speakers will highlight all the motions while your subwoofer(s) will play complement in the final thump, before the gun fires from top-down to signify the start of the race. Motors speeding and revving will drift around you and cause literal goosebumps. Listen up for the familiar clinking sounds of coins collection from arcade games and feel King Kong’s wrath filling your floor with warm undistorted bass
Armed with a star studded cast, featuring Dwayne Johnson, Gal Gadot and Ryan Reynolds, this Netflix movie became the most watched film on Netflix during its debut weekend, and for good reason! The movie's huge production budget translated into fast-paced, yet entertaining action on screen that makes great use of your surround speakers, as a tussle ensures in the fight to claim ownership of a priceless bejeweled art piece.
Playing with the simple concept of replicating and pacing sounds, each voice that plays through your surround channels creates a whirlwind that unknowingly pulls you into each character’s mind through the different stages of their addiction. The accompanying soundtrack enhances each experience just enough to tug onto your heartstrings to feel the pain and ache. No elaborated visual effects are needed, but just really good mapping of sound effects to produce a hauntingly surreal experience that will stay etched in your mind for days to come.
Deservedly a 2019 Oscar Nominee for Sound Editing and Mixing, Roma stands out as one of the best recently released movies for surround sound. Throughout the entire movie, it is obvious that the directors paid close attention to ensuring that the sound followed the motion. In our first recommended scene, pay attention to the sounds of the gunshots from the left and right of you, following which, the scene becomes a social gathering with lots of chatter from your rear speakers, making the scene sound very realistic as though you are there. In the second recommended scene, pay attention to the echos inside the tunnel crowded with cars, as well as the many car honks from all around you. The third scene that we have recommended is the most impressive one. Set at a beach, you will hear ambient sounds of the waves and breeze from all surround speakers. As the character ventures further into the sea to find the child, the scene gradually intensifies with the sea becoming increasingly tumultuous. From behind, you will distinctly hear the angry waves constantly moving between the left and the right. Before you realize, you'd be at the edge of your seat.
Used correctly, salt enhances flavor, and this movie, embodies it to give the word, “action” a touch of its excellence. From heroic stunts across fast-moving vehicles to seemingly impossible escapes, you will find yourself absorbed into the action, especially with the lifelike sounds of smashing windows and gunshots whizzing past you from all your available surround channels. Keen and active dialogue comes through your center channels to provide a well-rounded surround experience.
This scene is perfect for any surround system. Not only is it one of the most iconic war movie scenes of all time, but it is also widely accredited to be one of the best works of surround sound engineering. As the scene begins, the large sea waves result in deep rumbles of low frequencies. As it switches to the soldiers inside the boat, you will hear the spacious ambient effects of the sea all around you. During the battle, the sounds of bullets whizzing past you, flying debris, stunning explosions, soldiers shouting frantically and heavy machine gunfire from various firing points nearby and faraway will keep you at the edge of your seat.
With both Shang Chi and the villain being skilled in weaponry kung fu, the whoosh of powerful-packed fist and dagger battles, energy, and magic-based effects, as well as it's resulting carnage will show off the might and finesse of your surround sound system. Widely recognized as one of 2021's successful movie blockbusters, this is a movie not to be missed!
Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining is a timeless (and aesthetically pleasing) horror classic that showcases the director’s signature use of timing in sounds to ramp up fear and escalate emotions. No matter the scene, a sense of space can be detected, and with the carefully planned sound timings as well as the little ambient details present before the growing dominant sound travels from the surround speakers to the frontal array. You will find yourself biting into your nails, as you come face to face with the Grady Twins, stand before the blood elevator, or even the frightening Room 237. Its dramatic shift from ambient to frontal not only accelerates menacing situations but keeps you glued no matter how much you try to look away.
While gun fires and explosions are expected in this white knuckle thriller, this classic war-on-drugs movie springs an element of surprise in absolute surround immersion. Numerous action driven scenes note not only thumping soundtracks that increase your heart rate, but also, subtle kicks of atmospheric directional sounds that challenges your surround speakers to pick up and create the claustrophobic environment you see on screen. High-contrast moments in sound dynamics will bombard your environment with maximum blows through the available speakers. It truly tests how well they can handle sharp sudden blows in frequencies while preserving the sounds’ pristine clarity in the respective channels.
Disney is known to pay very close attention to creating a realistic soundscape for every animated movie, and SOUL is no exception. Leveraging on Dolby Atmos, SOUL makes full use of every speaker channel to engulf you with lush, ethereal ambient cues that virtually seem to transport you out of this world. Every musical note is beautifully rendered through your frontal channels, going in sync with the main character's deft finger movements. So much attention has been given to the original musical scores for this movie, that it's musical scores have already won multiple awards for being some of the best musical pieces ever created for a movie.
Effortlessly twirling in to demand the very best from your surround system, this restoration of the old-time favorite is bound to make your feet tap and lips sing. The original 6 track recording is further expanded to demand more out of today’s spatial sound technologies. You will notice that the frontal array has distinct sound object placement that provides your ears a map to track whose voice belongs to whom in the video presentation. Musical notes that flow through your drivers are filled with vigor and energizes the room to create a shoulder-to-shoulder comparison with the on-screen mood. It is a remastered nobody asked for, but desperately in need of, and we are glad, someone took up the challenge of taking this happiest feel-good film to better heights!
Loaded with a ton of in-air action, the whole movie swings in at full force with superb coordination between what is on-screen and what is translated through your surround system. With discrete surround speakers, you will be able to discern every motion, no matter the distance. Every mechanical whirring impresses with clarity through the surround channel. Finishing off with a bang, the final encounter with The Vulture will utilize every known channel to send all objects’ sounds (from the explosion) to its respective position, filling your soundstage with not only just in-air atmospheric debris but also, resounding rich rumbles from the ground. This will definitely satisfy your craving for spatial surround effects.
Hailed as the “Greatest Spidey Movie of Them All” by Rolling Stone, the surround sounds is just as reflective of its stunning visual. It gave us hair-raising and ting-a-ling sensations at the movie peaks and with every build-up, footsteps, and echoes that are lucidly produced by your surround speakers. If you have overhead or up-firing speakers, prepare to dodge the webs that are shot in the air, towards you and feel Spider-Man swinging past you. Not leaving music lovers behind, the soundtracks that accompany this movie will have your feet unknowingly tapping to the thumping rhythmic beats from your subwoofer(s).
Netflix takes Korean dramas to new levels with this original. Hundreds of people are forced into playing a twisted series of games for survival. The winner walks away with a huge cash prize - but everyone else dies with each round. Murderous gunshots are fired within the first round of games, and the sound of bloodspills and blood-curdling shrieks will echo through every speaker channel, evoking chills down your spine.
This delivers exemplary surround audio in J.J. Abrams’s attempt to conclude decades worth of the Star Wars universe. Apart from the signature sound effects that we love from their plasma-powered lightsabers, this movie serves up an additional challenge for your surround system through Rey’s and Kylo Ren’s high energy lightsaber battle in the midst of a howling thunderstorm. Environmental sounds and sparks from the clashing lightsabers are clearly transmitted through the surround speakers, turning your living room into the battle scene. Leaving no channels idle, the thunderous thuds made by both are noticeable through your subwoofer(s) even with huge crashing waves stealing the spotlight.
This scene has everything and will put your sound system to the ultimate test. At the start, the intense music, workers walking intently with fast, heavy footsteps and echo create a spacious soundscape, making you feel like you are in the middle of an immense basement compound with the anxiety that something devastating is about to happen. As the reactor powers up, you will hear a cacophony of ear-splitting screeches, static, electric shocks and metallic clanks that gradually build up to an epic explosion, pushing all speakers and subwoofers in your sound system to overdrive. Watch this at your own risk.
Good news, the movie that is considered the paramount building block for today’s superhero movies, just got a massive upgrade in sound. Each detail receives an appropriate amount of sound treatment that immerses you through your surround speakers even more than before. A noticeably wider soundstage is present in this remastered piece and that has certainly brought out the realism in every dialogue. Low-frequency effects from crashing cars and building falls are comfortably pressured, while background panic screams are layered tenderly on top to give meaning to “Sound that you can feel”. Heroic fly-ins from Clark Kent, will most definitely have you say, “It’s a Bird”, “It’s a Plane”, “Oh, it is just really good surround sound.”
The foreign mercenaries hired by the CIA quickly find themselves vastly outnumbered against a country-backed military group, with much more firepower than imagined. The soundscape comes with a complex array of effects, utilizing every speaker channel to reproduce the sound of heavy arms and explosions that constantly bombard your room at almost every turn of the movie. Quieter scenes recreate the sound of panicked movements, dialogue and breaths of these mercenaries, as they struggle to complete the mission and fight on for their survival.
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