Quote:
Originally Posted by ZoetMB
While I agree that 70mm discrete sound in roadshow theatres in the 1950s/60s sounded spectacular for the time, I doubt very much that it "created wind in the theatre". While loudspeaker systems of that time were far more efficient than today's models, I'd be surprised if total output from all amplifiers was more than 200 watts in that era (although you could drive an Altec-Lansing Voice of the Theatre speaker with a 1-watt transistor radio). Combined with the fact that the 5 channels were mounted behind the screen and that surrounds of the day were very small speakers, you were more likely to feel wind from the air conditioning (or someone blowing cigarette smoke on the back of your neck) than from the sound system.
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The wind came at the same time during the showing (you may know the sequence I mean --
not the chariot race) all of the times I saw
Ben-Hur in 70mm, afternoon and evening, cold weather or warm. The wind came from the front, dead ahead. The concrete floor also shook in a very obvious way during that sequence in the rows near the screen (~~ 9th row).
In a
much smaller 70 mm theater in San Francisco (the St Francis), they used 125 watts per channel RMS, for a total of 625 watts from the 5 front channels combined. The amps were by Ampex --at least they were embossed with the Ampex name, and Ampex was retained to do much of the original 70 mm Todd-AO theatrical sound. I assume in the larger theater (the Coronet) they used for the 1959/1960 70 mm showings of
Ben-Hur, even bigger amps were used. It's my understanding that
Ben-Hur tended to play in theaters that were originally equipped by Ampex for 70 mm Todd-AO, even though BH was in Camera 65, and the speakers used were often James B. Lansing -- there is a picture of one of these speaker systems on the Lansing Heritage website in an article that discusses 70 mm Todd-AO and JBL.. They were fully horn loaded, and the bass horn had a large flat surface to either side and above and below, that was part of the actual box, and served to provide additional loading. The JBL ones I've seen had this loading surface, while the Altecs had a different way of achieving a similar effect -- they had large, braced plywood "wings" to either side of the primary speaker enclosure. At the Coronet, the surrounds were in the ceiling, of all places, and were large wood enclosures pretty much flush mounted in the ceiling, with the approximately 1" wide front wooden edges just barely protruding from the ceiling. They were about 2.5 feet by 3 feet or more across the downward facing front (mouth) of the enclosure. My audiophile friends and I spent much time staring at them, and finally brought a pair of binoculars, to take a closer look. They looked a lot like JBL C40 (or C34, but I doubt it) rear loaded horn enclosures with each having 15" woofers (which those two enclosures would usually have). While it is true that some ordinary CinemaScope theaters would often have very small surround boxes with a 15" D130 or similar crammed into them, they didn't have near the impact that the ceiling horns had at the Coronet. There is the sound of splintering wood in the first half of
Ben-Hur that apparently came from the left behind the screen channels and also from the surrounds. People in the audience could be seen leaning to the right to dodge the impact. Very funny, but dramatic.
IMO the analog magnetic sound for the early 70 mm films was actually better, warmer, and more dynamic than in the later films, right up to and including IMAX -- this even though the old speakers started to roll off just below 40 Hz. THX moved away from horn loaded bass, and, IMO, lost some impact
above 40 Hz, but still in the bass range. To me, the sound for
Ben-Hur,
Oklahoma!,
Around the World in 80 Days(1956),
South Pacific, etc. was much better than the sound in
Star Wars, or
Close Encounters, for instance.
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) I would have all my UCEs displayed in a special location...maybe even pull out some of the lobby cards etc, I don't know. I would definitely have a few choice movie posters on the wall...but I'd have something special for the UCEs. That stuff is really cool -- and in the grand scheme of things, they cost just a little more than the plastic budget package. Not always...but you know what I mean.
That sounds awesome!
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