THX cinema with pro cinema audio gear

[creamygarlicdip]

How come you prefer laserdisc over something like blu ray? Is LD more faithful to the theatrical release?

 

[Andysu]

How come you prefer laserdisc over something like blu ray? Is LD more faithful to the theatrical release?

i think the laserdisc doesn't bs as much as the blu 4k . the specs are fine or blu 4k its the studios i don't , no longer trust . they are messing it up and even some laserdiscs can be just as equally messed up as well . i feel i get a , flashback with the laserdisc . it's not a totally perfect disc format . i know the blu 4k whatever is but fed up with , near field mixes on these overrated atmos movies of old movies with atmos branded on the box , and the sound mix is dreadful . half of the quality of the sound has been thrown away ?
reduced dynamic range .
reduced stereo width
frequency response filtered thus doesn't go down lower anymore where the blu disc may and the dvd makes the atmos remix even sound shameless and the laserdisc with some AC-3 puts blu atmos 4k of same movie to utter shame for sound . and the studio is to blame with soundmixer also to blame as they are now only catering these discs for those rubbish soundbars .
often missing sound stem tracks are so faint they don't tamper match LCR very well and any damage to the print with missing music/sound-fx has gone unfixed from the dvd to the blu to 4k unfixed where the laserdisc retains the original mix in , english , where's with the dvd blu 4k the undamaged missing music/sound-fx can maybe only heard in another language expect for english .

so , yes fed up with blu 4k atmos mixes . even new atmos mixes are most of all time are rubbish mixed with the overhead surrounds . only small tiny fraction have even possible wowed me . so back to the laserdisc future . until blu 4k and these soundmixers , pull up their socks and stop this near field mixing i may consider take the format serious again .

 

[Andysu]

me and , Sooty hyped it up . disappointing movie and atmos .

 

[AdamG]

me and , Sooty hyped it up . disappointing movie and atmos .
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Agreed. One of the absolute worst Atmos mixes ever made. Becomes unbearably loud and distorted seems baked in. I don’t think I made it past the halfway point. Just crap!

But, Sooty looks Super cat cool.

 

[Andysu]

Agreed. One of the absolute worst Atmos mixes ever made. Becomes unbearably loud and distorted seems baked in. I don’t think I made it past the halfway point. Just crap!

But, Sooty looks Super cat cool.

i only played that disc once when released 2016 . they make those outfits for dogs and cats . he never liked it , no cat would but dressed him for few minutes then took it off . i recall seeing superdog in dc comics .

 

[Peluvius]

My THX home cinema inspired by the Empire Leicester Square.

Always wanted THX pro cinema which is different ballgame to home consumer THX.

Always wanted a Dolby Stereo CP200 which is regarded as the best cinema processor made even still to this day found only in Selected Theaters.
Always wanted JBL professional cinema.

What I couldn't get at reasonable prices is the JBL Urei 6290 amplifiers, some people are asking way too much for them that is discontinued and no longer supported by JBL Harman international, unless really good and can service the parts with new components. So I went for more powerful and class-D amplifiers that are cheaper.
JBL 4647 with JBL 2226 15" bass drivers the cab boxes was mega ultra cheap so I grabbed all five cos I knew I could have a better five screen matrix.
JBL 2380A horn with JBL 2445 compression driver which is not all far off from the ones I heard with a JBL 2360A thou are about usable down to 250Hz.

Only thing I don't have is duel 35/70 projector even thou offered 35mm Vic V, with red Dolby digital LED and low powered lamp house for £250.00 years ago and the Vic V, in it's day was 35 grand.

Still issue with 35/70 is the colour fading and then stuck with a dud that will still play unlike Waner bros HD-DVD discs that are useless! Storage of film prints must be kept in ideal temperature conditions, and frankly my dear, I just don't have the space room for film prints and often some sellers are bit greedy in the prices so it is a no from me.

Laser 4k projection on 120" acoustical transparent screen will suffice it starts up fast and powers down fast as well.

The other side of it most some Laserdisc with theatrical mixes beats any blu/4k disc, day and night. So least I have media disc formats and even some few VHS leftover.
Laserdisc is still in use here and very little use 4k gets played now cos of the studios making it a laughing stock with bad transfers just so they can ridiculously Milk consumers, which I don't find amusing at all. HD-DVD is no no from me, won't be buying anymore HD-DVD it is a dead format. VHS doubt I be buying any VHS only what I have kept over the years will suffice for some playback (very rarely here). Laserdisc/DVD is still a format I will buy depends on the rarity of the item, bluray/4k is format I have steadily backed away from due to applying upmixes for Dolby Atmos just so studios can yet again Milk consumers who don't know what to look for and listen for.

But does all this make my life any happier? No it doesn't it is just an immaterial entertainment and that is all it is and will be. I rather have cats to pet than my home THX cinema.
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Sooty 2009-2020 dearly and sweetly always will be missed.

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Magic

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Bear

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Main Cinema processor system and consumer AVR with some players in the room - Laserdisc players are kept in the kitchen so the noise floor will be silent when they are in use.

DOLBY STEREO® CP200 a must have if your an original Star Wars fan thou I personally find Star Trek movies sound better. Dolby Stereo CP200 was released March 1980 and was discounited around early 2000's and servicing or parts for it a little later so it stood test of time cos it was best processor ever made for 35/70. It took me months to find the rest of the units to fully complete the CP200 and it stands at least 28" high.
Dolby CP200 control unit
Dolby CP200 processor unit with Dolby A-type cards and be switched around for Dolby SR cat 280t cards.
Dolby CP200 accessory unit also has extra Dolby NR card slots
Dolby CP200 MPU-1
Dolby CP200 PS1B power supply

Dolby CP500 in the lower part of the rack
Dolby SDU4 x2 for five screen matrix - of inner channels left-centre right-centre / inner channels can also be used as stereo for non-sync music to set the cinema tone just like, well is the cinema or can be used as stereo on outer channels L R.
Dolby CP45 used for main surround fader for side-surrounds or surrounds and can be used as decoder for Below Surround that places sounds below the seating.

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Sony SDDS DFP-D3000 great for use as auxiliary processor and even has a built in matrix surround decoder and many more channel formatting to switch channels around which the Denon AVC-X8500H can't do.

Behringer MDX4600 x2
Behinger DCX2496 x4 and fourth is in amplifier rack
Two of the DCX are used for Left Centre Right the second DCX used for Left-centre Right-centre and SW left and right at front of the room
Third DCX used for extra SW that is middle placed behind the screen and other at back of the room and can be switched to play the SW with the other JBL subs or used for Surround Bass Extension to give a lot more lower end to the surrounds. Also bass shakers for Irwin rocker seats, seat-buckets and on the floor as well.

Behringer DEQ2496 for use with Dolby Stereo Lt Rt


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Main rack for the 38.000kw THX sound system - Laserdisc players are in another rack tower with Lucasfilm Ltd THX Sound System crossover/monitor 3417 very rare to get one of these now.

Behringer EPQ304 for use with JBL screen HF horns
Behringer inuke D3000 for use with JBL SW 4645/C
Behringer NX3000 for use for JBL screen bass drivers and some JBL 4682 TCB SW
Behringer NX D3000 JBL control SB-2 with control 1 for Below Surround matrix
Behringer DCX2496 used for the side surround channels each has its own feed to the Crown CTs8200 so I can make quick Re-EQ turning depending on the movie mix playback to cut back on mid or highs or give it a bass boost or a gain level increase to suit the movie best playback possible.

Dolby SA10 for use with Atmos decoding and expansion of the substandard Atmos x6 channels up to 12 channels playback depending on the encode/decode of the mix. This gives me new channels that are placed between each height 1, 2 and 3 that I call DOG channels Dolby Overhead God and some Extra channels that are placed on the floor that sounds like a vertical circle effect for each zone.


Crown CTs8200 use for side surround arrays just like at a cinema. Back surrounds. Other CTs used for Overhead surrounds up to x9 Overhead surrounds are used here with Extra channels as well that are placed on the floor. JBL 8330 mkII JBL 8330A JBL control 1,

Alesis RA300 bass shakers for seat buckets - other RA300 for floor shakers

Up to 157 speakers 38.000kw THX.

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Was Sooty a Burmese? Young at 11. I had a spectacular Burmese that was 18. Wonderful creatures.

 

[Andysu]

zoomed in on THX amp return of the behringer epq304 left channel for hf horn . flat response of course this curving around on this picture .

no smoothing

mic close to projection screen so no other room interference so it's close to the screen with JBL 2370A horn with JBL 2445 CD . frequency is a mess (any speaker will be a mess) all those frequencies need to be leveled evenly for HF horns , L Lc C Rc R that can take hours or days to 1/3oct with PEQ with some narrow or wide Q bandwdith , to achieve even frequency . i use the pink noise while zooming in for 1dB steps so i can tackle the problematic frequencies .

it's far from flat . the Amp frequency is flat enough there is enough power for the amplifier to get the HF horn to where i wanted to be .
the rest is when the other mic placed around the seating ? where do i place it ? what angle do i place the mic at ? do i use the boom stand so mic is placed in fixed position ? our own heads/ears never are we still we move about . point is the screen channels have to be equally frequency balanced then the sound of , movie or music maybe the sine wave tones then all look even ( that's with mic up close to the screen ) . how it sounds with rest of the room as there are seats , acoustical treatments on the walls ceiling , carpet tiles and other obstacles obstructions that will , will change the frequencies . if i can get it flat with where the microphones ecm8000 are placed then i should get a good results .

the screen with speakers behind it make it awkward with frequencies being boosted or lowered enhanced or subtracted .
where to place the microphone ? i place direct middle of the HF horn . and moving it few cm or inches or mm each way left/right or up/down may zero in on the frequency but still looks imbalanced . if i used the mic at seating area also how many mics used ? to getting this solved ?

temperature be it outdoors or indoors changes the frequency by subtracting lower the frequencies down . gosh , got take that into consideration . this why cinemas keep the auditoriums temperature controlled .

No EQ

EQ 1/3 and PEQ bands but far from flat . i may run out of PEQ filters , for the DEQ / DCX 2496 . the FBQ 2496 are not connected to the system and no rack space in any of the racks . otherwise i can gain extra 20 PEQ filters or daisy chain A and B for 40 PEQ filters or daisy chain two FBQ for 80 PEQ filters which should be more than enough to get flat speaker output response . the inverse inside the amplifier will be total opposite unless passive filters are made and that is a lot of passive filters . passive filters will cost a bundle and the stacks of them would be larger than FBQ 2496 as well as heavier than the single 1U frame unit . but won't require powering to providing the EQ PEQ filter . cons : is it would take many to address EQing the speaker . pros : if i wanted to change the frequency easily addressable . where with passive filters that to be made and complex .

would the autoEQ get it better if i tried using that again with two mics up close to the screen one for HF horn one for LF bass so i can trick the autoEQ into thinking its looking at speaker further away in the room . i would have to have lot of mics for the screen channels as autoEQ will do 6ch if i tell it to . then i can check the results . even if they are good i can't use it . i like to use " five screen wide matrix " when i like ? if the signal frequency is imbalanced the decoder will , the sound would be a mess . as the signal eclectically has to be balanced .
i have bundles of oynko avr i can use if they can be used with 8ch inputs to outputs . they are large heavy and certainly no space to fit them as i'm sure they'll do half of it the rest i use outboard EQ PEQ .

 

[Andysu]

dracula 1979 scope 2.35:1 / Dolby Stereo 4.2.4 / lucasfilm ltd THX sound system

sort been after this version for quite while .

no cue dots on this pressing must be interpositive

decent pressing a little edge enhancement

colour is as director , john badham wanted with pale colour .

i can see fine hair details and this is laserdisc . no need to upgrade it .

Dolby Stereo is fair decent mix with little dialog pans and some occasional voice panning . a faint distortion that i noticed but could be transfer .

OBE had enough bass extension that was pleasing .

john williams score with the LSO London Symphony Orchestra , famous for the six star wars scores , except for those rubbish mary sue star wars that didn't use the true star wars sound of the LSO , not many star wars fans know that fact !

i can watch this again . even if its the open titles or end credits . cracking good . laserdisc rules .

 

[Andysu]

original , grease 1978 lp soundtrack . a bit greasy as it often slips . i think i have to adjust the weighing balance on the tone arm . otherwise it seems okay .
what ? tell me more , tell me more ? it has a hit of this lp distortion like sound that doesn't bother me . tell me more , tell me more ? a few hopelessly devoted snap crackle and pops doesn't bother me . tell me more , tell me more ? it was cheap . maybe £5 more than the retail 1978 . tell me more , tell me more ? what more ? well it does kinder of skid occasionally side 1 middle of the lp like actually skidding around on ice with some grease . have to readjust the tone arm weighting balance . tell me more , tell me more ? no . no more .

the voice pans with summer nights i can hear panning left to right with centre phantom or listening in Sony SDDS ( matrix 6 )

 

[Andysu]

laserdisc
dracula 1979 scope 2.35:1 / Dolby Stereo 4.2.4 / lucasfilm ltd THX sound system

colour as director john badham wanted . blu versions had the colour levels raised which not all bad . guess director wanted a sort pale colour sort like black/white with hint of colour tone .

scratch marks look nice.

no que dots so this would be interpostive version

Dolby Stereo is okay sounding with few dialog pans now and then and some other voice panning .

john williams score for the opening end credits is great sounding with " star wars LSO " .there is hint mild distortion i can hear as well as on hd version 4.2.4
movie played back though Dolby Stereo CP200 on JBL professional with lucasfilm ltd THX sound system , gave dracula a low end bite.

maybe best laserdisc got in last few months been on the waiting list for since 1980 when saw it on VHS p/s rental .

 

[Andysu]

Bear being typical to tapping Magic with his while snowshoe fluffy paw .

 

[Andysu]

arrived week so ago only tested it tonight . realistic leaf tweeter
REW frequency sweep .
done few listening tests with the spy who loved me 1977 and alien 3 1992 cat scan scene with sci-fi sound/fx sweep up to 18,000KHz
compared to the JBL professional cinema pa 2445 2380A the tweeter4 doesn't stand chance due to low sensitivity it doesn't mean it doesn't work . careful setting up with the leaf tweeter or maybe arrays or line array line source ? or what ever .

started frequency sweep 700Hz 22,000KHz but the pc is still stopping around 20,000KHz as setting on pc not sure which is preventing the sweep to going to 50,000KHz .
i used the output from centre channel HF of the THX crossover system and added extra 800Hz -24dB on the DCX 2496 to prevent any mid frequency as the leaf tweeter won't handle below it's technical tolerance range .

i'm sure i was also seeing harmonic frequencies with sine wave tones .

compare leaf tweeter 10min 00s to JBL cinema pa horn 10min 50s with 1Khz -24dB and then put the full range output back at full on the DCX back to the THX sound system 11min 45s . JBL cinema pa horns rule . clearly hear difference .

 

[staticV3]

started frequency sweep 700Hz 22,000KHz but the pc is still stopping around 20,000KHz as setting on pc not sure which is preventing the sweep to going to 50,000KHz .

Please send a screenshot of your REW Soundcard settings

 

[Andysu]

i think it is setting in the pc soundcard ? that maybe preventing the frequency sweep going above 20,000kHz .

 

[Andysu]

i don't usually buy disney products anymore but noticed this , " star wars clone " had been released several years ago . still have the region 2 dvd , that is slightly cropped on the scope aspect ratio with a guess i say i can see about extra 10% .

formatting for five screen wide - overture plays on LCR narrow and main feature in five screen with mono discrete left-half right-half sub , then Bear got near to event horizon sub bass

feels like sensuround meets THX sound system . what they call this , a sub bass black hole stretcher ?

 

[staticV3]

i think it is setting in the pc soundcard ? that maybe preventing the frequency sweep going above 20,000kHz .

Correct. When using Java, all audio will go through the Windows Mixer and Resampler.
If you select 88.1kHz in RWE, but your DAC and ADC are set to 44.1k in the Sound Control Panel, then you won't get more than 22.05kHz.
To fix this, use ASIO instead. See here

 

[Andysu]

Correct. When using Java, all audio will go through the Windows Mixer and Resampler.
If you select 88.1kHz in RWE, but your DAC and ADC are set to 44.1k in the Sound Control Panel, then you won't get more than 22.05kHz.
To fix this, use ASIO instead. See here

it's a no , no go here . doesn't enable one way or another . i had no sound pink noise output when tested . so switched back to the previous settings .
please , do a video of your set-up including the avr type model how it is all set up to your pc and pc sound card settings as well . that way maybe can get mine set up to work in exact same way . screen captures at this time are not working .

 

[Andysu]

testing marantz 1050 amplifier with JBL 4312 , Magic prowling

 

[Andysu]

new Dolby cinema processor coming soon next week .

a few items before it arrives .
2m db25 multi core screened cable to be cut into 1m lengths for input/output .
4 way db25 multi switcher .
db 25 solderless male and female connectors .
rca to bnc connectors .

 

[Andysu]

familiarising myself with the new Dolby cinema processor before it arrives for a smooth installation .