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Megasound

Megasound was the name of a movie theater sound system created by Warner Bros. and was officially deployed during the early 1980s. Warner Bros. used it to provide deep-bass enhancement to premiere engagements to only a handful of their features, including:

  • Altered States (1980)
  • Outland (1981)
  • Superman II (1981)
  • Wolfen (1981)

Theaters equipped for Megasound had an additional battery of speakers, consisting subs and horns; usually all were placed on the stage, behind the screen. This system also came along with extra power-amps and specialized processing equipment. Megasound selected soundtrack events with lots of low-frequency content (thuds, crashes, explosions, etc.) were directed to these speakers at very high-volume, creating a visceral-effect intended to thrill the audience. Megasound has been best remembered for its infrasonic rumble capability.

Megasound was similar to MCA/Universal's Sensurround. However, unlike Sensurround, Warner Bros. never attempted to market Megasound to other studios as a high-fidelity, high-impact bass enhancement sound system.