Motion Picture Herald (May-Jun 1946)

V Remote Control Operation aulodrape CURTAIN MACHINES Now more than ever exhibitors are appreciative of the many exclusive features of AUTODRAPE Curtain Machines. Investigate their other advantages. AUTOMATIC DEVICES CO. 1033 Linden St. AUentown, Pa. Export OHice: 220 W. 42nd St., New York City Also Manufacturers of AUentown Steel Curtain Tracks and Curtain Machines TUBE TYPE ECTIFIIRS for supplying ail projection arc power requirements. EFFICIENT DEPENDABLE NATIOHAL THEATRE SUPPLY ^»i.iw^«(,»l.ii...i.s.iiiiii.i.»i»<wfl."».».V^ "THEKE'S A BKANCH NEAK YOU" SOUND TROUBLE-SHOOTING CHARTS $1.00 postpaid QUIGLEY BOOKSHOP Rockefeller Center, New York 20, N. Y. formation about the workings of my equipment unless it is someone who I know will benefit from knowing. "The projection room is a place of mystery to the average moviegoer. I'd like to have it remain that way. "Thank you for this chance to tell you my reaction to your article of March 9. Your ideas are more than welcome to me, and your column is a grand place for discussion." The small theatre circuit in New Jersey which invites the public to look over its equipment and learn how the show is put on, and on which we based our first article on this subject, has been very successful in theatre operation. Likewise, Mr. Hoar and Mr. Nile have been equally successful in their enterprises. So here we have two very successful exhibitors in disagreement on the subject, and we shall leave it to our readers to decide for themselves which is the better policy to pursue. There is one way to find out which plan is the better, but we are not able to offer a conclusion because we have not made the test. The job of the theatre and its staff is to provide enjoyment to the moviegoers. Therefore, it seems to us that if letting the patrons in on our secrets will lessen their enjoyment of future shows, these tours of inspection are certainly bad business. But on the other hand, if the knowledge of our secrets will increase the future enjoyment of these patrons, then there seems to be no good reason to keep the secrets. How can we find out what bearing such knowledge might have on the future enjoyment of the theatre patron? Why not pick a few friends who are steady theatre patrons, but who know nothing of our secrets, and show them around on one of these tours. Then, several weeks later, interview them and get an honest opinion from each one of them as to whether his new knowledge has increased or decreased enjoyment of motion pictures. We once had a very good friend who wrote a book on the secrets of movie production and exhibition, and the subject was presented in a very novel manner. We were thrilled when we read his manuscript and were very enthusiastic about the prospects for the success of the book. However, after completing the book, our friend, who was connected with our industry, decided not to have it published because he feared that he would be doing the industry a disservice for the very reasons that are advanced by Mr. Nile and which were believed by Mr. Hoar. We disagreed with him. Reporting a Comparative Speaker System Test Run In view of the interest in new models of equipment which some few manufac turers have so far been able to bring out, we believe many of our readers would appreciate a report on a test run we recently conducted on Altec-Lansing's "Voice of the Theatre" horn system. The theatre selected for the test contains 800 seats and is of average dimensions. The existing sound equipment in the theatre is a late model high-quality installation, and the theatre has sound that has been considered excellent. In order to make the test more interesting for the management of the theatre, we arranged a switch whereby we could, by pressing a button, change the sound at will from the regular theatre speaker system to the Altec-Lansing system. Because of the use of the existing speaker system during parts of the test, the previously established amplifier frequency response was maintained for the old speakers, and equalization was changed automatically as the horns were switched. In doing this some compromise was necessary in the equalization desired by the Altec-Lansing engineers for the new horns, and the new equipment was presented at a slight disadvantage, but the Altec-Lansing engineers were willing to proceed on this basis in order to give the theatre management the benefit of the "switch-over" test. To balance the volume in the auditorium when the sound was switched back and forth between the two systems, it was necessary to reduce the amplifier output 4 db. when using the new speakers, which confirmed the claim of Altec-Lansing that their system was more efficient. In this case the increase in efficiency was approximately 125%. In other words, it would have required an amplifier with a power output of 50 watts to obtain the same volume on the regular system that could be obtained from an amplifier of 20 watts power with the new speakers. In this particular theatre the amplifier is more than powerful enough to give excellent results with either speaker system, so the added efficiency was not of value here; but with the trend during the past few years toward more power because of changes in recording, there are probably many installations which could take advantage of this added efficiency. A low-frequency resonance in the regular theatre system was absent from the Altec-Lansing speakers, and a difference in the high-frequency results was evident, which was favored by some of the technical observers. One could not listen to the test without being impressed that the "Voice of the Theatre" is a very high-quality equipment. It represents advances in design and results which should greatly improve the sound in any theatre that has old obsolete speaker equipment, and should compensate for lack of power in the amplifiers of obsolete equipments where it is difficult to get a high 38 BEHER THEATRES. JUNE I, 1946