Martin Dew spent years inside Lucasfilm at the THX division — the organisation that George Lucas created specifically to ensure that Star Wars was presented the way he intended it to be heard. Martin is a former THX executive, now a Steinway Lyngdorf enthusiast, and he sat down with Atif to share what he learned about the relationship between cinematic audio and the acoustic environment, and why he believes RoomPerfect represents something genuinely different from other room correction approaches.
The Lucasfilm Origin: Why THX Exists
George Lucas didn't create THX as a business. He created it because he was frustrated. When Star Wars opened in 1977, the technical achievement of Ben Burtt's sound design and the Dolby Stereo mix was being undermined by theatres with inadequate playback systems. The opening Star Destroyer sequence — designed specifically to feel like the ship was coming from behind the audience overhead — was failing in rooms that weren't properly calibrated or acoustically prepared.
THX began as a solution to a specific problem: how do you present a film optimally when you can't control the environment it's shown in? The answer was a standard — a certification program that defined the minimum acoustic, technical, and physical requirements for a cinema to legitimately present the best possible version of a film's sound design.
"What Lucas was trying to achieve with THX was not the software or the means by which you play back multi-channel sound, but the environment in which you play back multi-channel sound. That was key — creating the ultimate environment for listening to and watching a movie."
Martin's Path to Lucasfilm
Martin trained as an actor in the mid-1980s, graduated into some acting work, and then found himself consistently drawn back to a different interest: the optimal presentation of cinema. Not the performing of it — the presenting of it. He'd collected Super 8 films as a child. He'd always been the person who wanted to show films properly, with the best picture and sound possible.
He contacted the THX division and expressed his interest. They told him he'd need a green card to work in the States. Two years to the day after making that decision, he walked in the door as a THX employee. The path required patience and legal process, but the goal was specific and he pursued it.
At Lucasfilm, he worked alongside LucasArts (games), Lucas Licensing (the most commercially successful division, generating revenue from the Star Wars brand), and Industrial Light & Magic (visual effects, then around 1,200 employees). THX's focus was entirely on the presentation environment — defining what a properly presented film should sound and look like.
The Steinway Lyngdorf Assessment: A Former THX Executive's Perspective
Martin's evaluation of Steinway Lyngdorf carries the weight of someone who has spent their professional life thinking about optimal audio presentation. His specific observations:
On spatial performance: He describes awareness of a soundstage extending in both horizontal and vertical planes simultaneously — noting the extraordinarily accurate placement of a drum track within that space. "Extraordinary accuracy and dynamics, and to get that kind of performance from such a tiny speaker is quite revolutionary."
On bass integration: Martin's most specific observation is about how the bass interacts with the rest of the frequency spectrum. He describes the bass as "invisible" — not in the sense of being absent, but in the sense of being seamlessly integrated with the midrange and treble rather than existing as a separate, locatable event. This is one of the most demanding aspects of any audio system to achieve: bass that reinforces the musical picture without drawing attention to itself.
"The integration of the bass is definitely reasonably unique. In my review I called the bass 'invisible' — because you literally can't place it. It's just natural and alive."
On RoomPerfect: Martin places Steinway Lyngdorf's RoomPerfect specifically against other room correction systems (mentioning Dirac and Odyssey). His assessment: RoomPerfect operates at a qualitatively different level — the system appears to model what's happening inside the acoustic space rather than simply compensating for measured anomalies at specific positions. The before/after difference is "night and day."
The Value Calculation
Martin's final observation is one of the most pragmatic in any Steinway Lyngdorf conversation. He acknowledges that "yes, you certainly pay for it" — but frames the cost against the R&D investment: "whatever intellectual resources they've poured into developing that system, in terms of man hours and intellectual resources, I would say it's at a different level completely."
This is the analysis of someone who has spent years evaluating the relationship between technological investment and outcome quality. The price of Steinway Lyngdorf reflects what was spent developing something that works differently from everything else — not a premium for the badge, but a reflection of genuine engineering depth.
Key Takeaways
- ▪THX was created because George Lucas's audio design for Star Wars was being compromised by inadequate cinema presentation environments — not a product, but a standard for the environment
- ▪Martin Dew's specific Steinway Lyngdorf evaluation highlights: spatial accuracy in both horizontal and vertical planes, "invisible" integrated bass, and RoomPerfect's qualitatively different approach to room correction
- ▪His characterisation of the bass as "invisible" — natural and integrated, not locatable as a separate event — is the specific signature of a well-calibrated system with properly integrated subwoofers
- ▪RoomPerfect's night-and-day pre/post calibration difference places it in a different category from Dirac and comparable correction systems in his assessment
Frequently Asked Questions
What is THX and who created it?
THX is an audio quality certification program created by Lucasfilm in the early 1980s, driven primarily by George Lucas and sound technologist Tomlinson Holman. The name comes from Lucas's first film, THX 1138. THX established technical and acoustic standards for cinema rooms — defining speaker placement, frequency response, crosstalk levels, and environmental noise floors — to ensure that a THX-certified cinema would present the film's audio as its creators intended. The program later expanded to home cinema equipment certification.
What did Martin Dew do at THX/Lucasfilm?
Martin Dew worked in the THX division of Lucasfilm, initially in marketing before moving into the technical and certification aspects of the programme. His work involved the promotion and implementation of THX standards internationally, working with cinema chains and equipment manufacturers to achieve and maintain certification. He also had interactions with other Lucasfilm divisions, including the Star Wars archive, and describes a small role in the Special Edition of The Empire Strikes Back (1996).
What does "invisible bass" mean in an audio context?
"Invisible bass" describes bass reproduction that integrates seamlessly with the midrange and treble so that the listener experiences it as part of a unified sound image rather than as a separate, locatable low-frequency event. Well-integrated bass enhances the sense of size, weight, and foundation in the music without making you aware of where the subwoofer is or making the bass feel "detached" from the rest of the sound. This requires correct subwoofer integration, crossover matching, and room correction to achieve in a domestic environment.
How does RoomPerfect compare to Dirac Live and similar room correction systems?
All room correction systems attempt to address the acoustic anomalies caused by a room's geometry and surface materials. The key difference is methodology. Dirac Live and similar systems measure from a small number of positions (typically one to five) and optimise the frequency response at those specific points. RoomPerfect measures from many positions throughout the room and builds a model of the room's acoustic character, computing a correction that works consistently across a wider listening area. Martin Dew's assessment — based on professional experience with audio presentation environments — is that RoomPerfect achieves something qualitatively different, effectively making the room "disappear" rather than merely compensating for its worst features.
Was George Lucas involved in THX's day-to-day operations?
Lucas created the conditions for THX and drove the initial vision, but day-to-day operations were managed by the THX team. His involvement was primarily strategic — identifying the need, funding the development, and maintaining the standard's relationship to Lucasfilm's identity as a company committed to technical excellence in filmmaking. The practical work of certifying cinemas worldwide and developing the residential THX standards was managed by the technical staff, including people like Martin Dew who specialised in the presentation and marketing of those standards.
