Experts Can Hear the Difference

The most dynamic sound systems in Orange County theaters, as chosen by head technicians for the major chains:

* Edwards Cinemas: Theater No. 1 at the three-screen Edwards Newport Cinemas, 300 Newport Center Drive, Newport Beach. The 1,400-seat theater (Edwards’ largest) is equipped with three formats including six-track Dolby Digital and eight-track Sony Dynamic Digital Sound.

Edward’s next best are theaters 2 and 3 in the same building, each with six-track Dolby Digital.

(Source: Kurt Shawn MacFarlane, Edwards’ director of engineering)

* Century Theatres: Theater No. 6 at Century Cinedome 11, 3001 W. Chapman Ave., Orange, with six-track Dolby Digital. Second best: Theater No. 1, same building, SDDS.

(Source: Cinedome head projectionist David Irish)

* AMC Theaters: Theaters five and six at AMC MainPlace Six, MainPlace/Santa Ana Mall. Each of the 436-seat theaters (the largest that AMC operates in Orange County) uses the SDDS format.

(Source: Mary Oyler, director of facilities and engineering, AMC’s west division)

* United Artists: All the theaters in the eight-screen United Artists’ Brea Marketplace, 965 Birch St., Brea, and nine-screen United Artists Movies in the Buena Park Mall have the same sound system: Digital Theater Systems, a six-track digital format.

(Source: Ben Droste, chief engineer for UA’s western region)