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Gordon mentioned that he was not a fan of center surround. Ours have been a cost effective step up from mono. What is your favorite systems and why? As I come at it from the cheap side of town what's your least expensive best options. Foir us we have two Ultra Stereo center Surrounds and one Kelmar mono and no one ever complains about the Kelmar. We're installing the Ultra surround right now on our 3rd Belfast screen and all I notice is that it just is not that great a big deal. And: if the center speaker is off for any reason it is awful. The Kelmar is never awful. No balance, no A chain, just turn it up and it works.

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Knowing that almost every film today is mixed with at least three channels behind the screen, and surrounds, I feel "cheated" with anything less than that. Not every theatre can afford to "Do Digital Right", but IMHO, a mono or a front/rear system does not meet today's expectations of having at least three channels behind the screen, plus surrounds. Even the lowest cost "home theatre" systems offer that much!

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John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services
Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Eastman Kodak Company
Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Telephone: 585-477-5325 Cell: 585-781-4036 Fax: 585-722-7243
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Website: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

Mike,

I understand you when you say that you don't get any complaints on your mono sound system and you don't see the difference on the Kelmar surrounds. We were also where you are - people would even comment that they could understand the dialogue at our mono theater which they could not understand at other theaters. That makes you think that you don't need to change. But we gradually began to realize how much of the sound track we were missing. When we decided that upgrading was necessary we also decided that putting in a sound system that was merely adequate for today would probably not be our best investment. (Remember that we have lots of competition and we knew that sound systems will continue to be upgraded. We didn't want to be left in the dust again.)

A properly installed and calibrated digital sound system is awesome compared to the excellent mono sound that we used to have. We can tell the difference immediately- even from outside the theater. Only talkie movies are about the same as our old mono system. When we bought the system we knew that it would probably not pay for itself by bringing in any more customers than we had before, but it was necessary to continue doing business. I hope that you will eventually find room in the budget to upgrade to a digital system, believe me you will be very happy that you did.

I know I sound like an idiot for confession of our sound level. Based on my observation what people notice and respond to most: clean screen, good presentation, clear sound, comfortable seats, not too hot or cold, clean and friendly atmosphere. I agree that great sound is important and desired but imho it is not as noticeable as a dirty screen, scratched prints, oddly focused, in a sticky floored bad seat house.

What';s involved in updating our Ultra surrounds? Or is it the whole ball of wax?

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It depends on which model you have
If you have the JS serries all that is involved is
Matrix Card
2 more EQ cards
amps and speakers