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HELSINKI & SEOUL (September 3, 2019) – Korean moviegoers will be treated with immersion previously unheard – and unfelt – as CJ CGV opened a premium theatre boosted by FLEXOUND Augmented Audio™. The technology boosts each seat with high-quality surround sound and physical vibration.

Gold Class Wangsimni, CJ CGV’s premium theatre, reopened on August 30, is the second screen in the world with audio enhancements in every seat. The first commercial cinema with FLEXOUND Augmented Audio™ has been immersing customers since February 2019 in Finland.

CJ 4DPLEX and FLEXOUND are in talks to expand the collaboration in more CJ CGV theatres, as well as incorporating FLEXOUND Augmented Audio™ with 4DX® and ScreenX® systems.

FLEXOUND Augmented Audio™ for cinemas complements all current sound systems. The technology offers equal sound quality in every seat independent of seat location. It improves the clarity of dialogue and lower-pitched tone in a theatre. FLEXOUND requires no wearable accessories.
“We give cinema operators a high value competitive advantage over in-home-entertainment. No remix or recode work is needed as our technology complements all existing surround systems”, FLEXOUND CEO, Mervi Heinaro adds.

“Our technology is universal and can be used for a wide range of seats. Low maintenance and a long life-span are a given. We cover the whole audio range and the vibration with one Flexound module per seat”, says FLEXOUND Chief of Cinema, Mika Oesch.

The seats for CJ CGV’s Gold Class Wangsimni are developed together with Ferco Seating, a renowned seat manufacturer, who have gained FLEXOUND certification for three of their models, Premium Verona, Premium Milano and the Opus seats. FLEXOUND also has their own Finland-produced model available and other manufactures and models will be announced soon.

FLEXOUND Augmented Audio™ is designed and engineered in Finland. The multinational team started the work in 2015 to help autistic children by adding the sensation of touch to music. Now the versatile, globally unique, and patented technology can be embedded into cinema, airplane or car seats, gaming chairs, cushions, furniture and more. FLEXOUND is a member of the International Cinema Technology Association.

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CJ 4DPLEX, which is known for 4DX® and ScreenX® systems, developed this new collaboration between CJ CGV and FLEXOUND for the ultimate Sound Solution into the cinemas.

Nothing new here; they were selling pillows with speakers in them years ago and those things that hang around the neck that have speakers in them and didn't O-IMAX once had seats with speakers in them for the surround channel? Anyway, this might be a cheaper way to go than the equipment needed for Atmos systems, with the one advantage of possibly being able to control that audio per person more precisely.

In addition, they have been selling subbass "tactile" transducers that screw into the frame of seating for decades.
The AuroSound "Shaker" model
 

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Posted by Marcel Birgelen (Member # 6801) on 09-04-2019, 11:29 PM:
 
It's just part of CJ CGV's ongoing mission to earn a few extra bucks by even further "gimmickyfying" the movie going experience.

My grief with their strategy is that they sell utter crap. Their stuff does nothing to enhance immersion (that buzzword again). It's just a blatant money grab by implementing some heartless gimmicks which are more of a distraction than something that adds to the experience.
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 09-06-2019, 11:55 AM:
 
I think speakers in seats or seat rumblers create more of a distraction than a benefit to the movie-going experience. I visited a recently installed Dolby Cinema @ AMC house in Colorado Springs earlier this week to check out the 20th anniversary release of The Matrix. Unlike some past visits to other Dolby Cinema screens the theater had the seat rumblers turned off this time.
 

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Posted by Terry Monohan (Member # 8285) on 09-06-2019, 08:20 PM:
 
Maybe CJ CGV Theatres will put this new sound system in a few of the new auditoriums at the old AMC Van Ness Theatres in San Francisco they are now working on along with their new 4DX & Screen X screens, a first for SF.

The brand new do to open March 2020 SF UA Cinerworld Regal Stonestown 11 will have the same new special screens but not this new sound system. They are both in a race to see who has them up and running first In 2020.

AMC & Cinermark/Century Theatres in SF will be left behind unless they get something new put in during the next 7 months in their cinemas. They just have one or two Dolby Atmos® locations along with their Barco sound systems at Century.
 

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Posted by Tony Bandiera Jr (Member # 2365) on 09-08-2019, 11:33 AM:
 
Blah, blah, blah.... when will exhibs and chains ever learn: Gimmicks will NOT EVER bring butts to the seats, it's the severe lack of quality, ORIGINAL films that has severely shrunk attendance and grosses.

A good, solid story, with the RIGHT "gimmicks" will pack a theatre.

The absolute steaming piles of we have been getting on a regular basis ain't gonna cut it.

I won't go so far as to say the industry will die out, but the downward spiral has been going on for a long time and seems like it won't end.

I have always felt I was born a generation (or two) too late, I belong in the era of the original Roxy and the movie palaces.
 

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