Just what exactly is THX?

No, not the movie, that...thing we usually see before the movie starts. I know it has to do with "superior picture and sound", but what is it and how does is work? Does is happen during recording, storing, or replay? Answers people?

 

Well it comes from the Tomlinson Holman's Experiment, who designed the sound system for Lucas. It was originally designed for sound delivery at movie theatres, so that audiences could hear the sound the exact way it was heard during the mixing stage. While it does have a lot to do with the recording and mixing (how dialogue, sound FX and music are mixed and separated into channels) it's also about delivery. As such theatres have to have the necessary equipment and instalations to reproduce the sound faithfully, such as having the proper speakers and sound speakers to separate properly the channels, have no echo, etc.

There a bit more of info at the THX website as sound is not my area of expertise. THX has expanded its goals (home entertainment systems, computer sound, etc.) since then.

 

Thanks!