danny_boy said:

(so it was always easier to be impressed when watching such a presentation).

That's the jump I don't make. Yes, theatre sound (even normal stereo theatre sound) sounded better than mono television. But that was EXPECTED, and it wasn't new. Back in '77, when people wanted to watch a movie, they saw it in the theatre, there wasn't even a thought that it would sound like a television unless you went to a drive-in. Now, things are different and people watch movies primarily on their TVs. It's only recently that there's been any expectation of parity between TV and movies, visually or sonically or anything.

But the 70mm Star Wars mix stood out because it was clearly better than even the normal stereo theatre sound. It sounded like people's hi-fi systems. Sure that was impressive, but here's the thing--people's hi-fi systems back in '77 sounded just as good if not better than people's hi-fi systems today. So we're essentially measuring against the same yardstick as they did back then, and people today (like me) are still impressed by it, when comparing it to current sound standards. Maybe we should frame it a different way--what is it about the 1977 70mm track that doesn't impress YOU? What are you comparing it against?

Because really if we're all measuring it against different standards, that can easily explain why one person finds it to be impressive and another doesn't. Let's compare it against the Blu Ray mix for example. Can we all agree it's impressive compared to that?