Actual cinema speakers (1 Viewer)

[BradD]

What brands/types/number of speakers compose an actual movie theater sound system?

 

[Daniel Hawl]

Good theater : http://www.klipsch.com/product/produ...px?line=cinema
Bad theater : www.jbl.com

 

[BradD]

Thanks for the response.

Anything other than JBL and Klipsch?

 

[Khoa Tran]

actually at my local theaters, the one with klipschs sound horrible but the theaters with jbl thx sound GREAT

 

[AaronJB]

I just got a pair of JBL S38IIs and I'm in love (Yes, I know they're not unbelievable/expensive speakers, but for someone on a budget, they're pure bliss)

 

[Gary Shipley]

Any theater I've ever been in has had JBL and they have ALWAYS sounded great. I also have JBL in my home theater. They ,by the way, also sound great.

 

[TanT]

Just got back from LOTR movie. The ones I saw are EVs for the surrounds. Don't know what behind the screen though.

 

[Khoa Tran]

probably EV, usually theaters contract out to only one company....electrovoice has some nice speakers too =)

 

[MichaelSLB]

I have to agree with Khoa... my local THX theaters with JBL
speakers sound the best. Simply phenomenal.

I always try to go to ONLY THX certified theaters, as I
find that they usually sound drastically better than non-
THX certified theaters. And they are almost always equipped
with JBL's, from what I've noticed so far.

Michael

 

[Brett DiMichele]

Daniel,

I am going to quote you verbatim.

"I am a Klipsch fanboy"


Yep that says it all...

 

[Mark Danner]

Umm did I read the specs right? The lowest the Klipsch subs hit is 34hz and the JBL's go down to 22hz.

 

[EdNichols]

Somewhere I read that JBL is in more theaters than anyone else. I know the theaters where I live has them.

 

[Deane Johnson]

Back in the 40s, 50s and 60s, the Altec-Lansing A7 "Voice of the Theater" was the legendary theater speaker. It was discontinued in the early 70s. Altec speakers and amps were pretty much the standard of the industry at that time.

Interestingly, Altec has just announced they are once again going to manufacture it for use in high-end home theaters. This speaker system just screams "theater" and I sure wish I had the means to have a big enough HT to house some of these.

http://www.alteclansing.com/legacy/index.asp

In case you're not aware, the JBL speaker line was started by James B. Lansing. He was the Lansing in Altec-Lansing, and apparently they split up. The JBL speakers, after they split up, sounded very much like the Altecs.

Deane

 

[GrahamJW]

I was a movie projectionist in a movie theatre and JBL speakers along with Crown amps are pretty much the standard in the mega-plexes these days. They usually have clusters of 18 inch JBL subs behind the screen etc.

I actually worked in a movie house that was mono and they had one huge (about the size of a fridge) Altec-Lansing speaker and as Deane mentioned their logo was "Voice of the Theater"

One other movie house that I worked in had Boson Acoustic A70Ts for surrounds. That movie house did an upgrade and I actually ended up with 4 of those A70Ts that I currently use as mains and rears in my HT. They sound great (at least to me anyway).

The surrounds and centres they use in movie houses aren't much different from the speakers that are used in home theatre...pretty much the same impendence and specs…

Cheers..John

 

[Khoa Tran]

at my local theater, AMC 30 at the block....they turned up the subs REALLY REALLY hot...during music passages at the beginning before the feature, you just heard boom boom boom it's really annoyying....luckily during the movie it doesn't sound like that....just pure earth shaking bass....=) oh yeah all JBL btw

 

[Kenneth Harden]

OK:

-JBL Pro (JBL Pro) states that:

"...its easy to see why today more than three quarters of all cinema loudspeakers sold worldwide come from JBL Professional."

So they have 3/4 of the market share. That statement has been on their site for years, and I have never heard that statement being attacked.

-Klipsch (Klipsch Cinema)

Looks like nice stuff, but they have only recently started to break into the real high-end market from what I have seen.

-EAW (EAW)

These guys make a ton of different stuff. They have some funny jokes and stuff on their site.

-EV (EV)

They too make lots of stuff.

Thats about all I know of. JBL Pro really is the Microsoft of the cinema world.

I own a 4648A-8 cinema bass cab and when I needed help with it, they did not screw around. These guys know the trade and actually help you. I would gladly do business with them again.

 

[Craig_Kg]

Down here, most cinemas use a local brand (Krix).

 

[MattBu]

*cough* $4300 EACH for those Altec voice of the theater speakers. That's quite a chunk of change, even for a nice horn speaker.

 

[Deane Johnson]

And, to make it seem even worse, I bought one brand new in 1965 for $350.

 

[Chris Quinn]

Indexed for inflation that $2055 today.