|  IP: Logged

 |  IP: Logged

I regret that you have not had the opportunity to hear an HPS-4000® system for yourself. I am sure you would be impressed as most are. It is indeed the most powerful system on the market today. While any system could equal the acoustic power of an HPS-4000® system, we are the only company that ensures that every installation has at least four times the output required for the loudest peaks of a digital soundtrack. This specification is met in every channel, including the subwoofer. The HPS-4000® reference system in Framingham has an acoustic output equivalent to nearly 13 symphony orchestras. The Waikiki Theatres 1 and 2 are currently the largest with an output of 14 1/2 symphony orchestras. The largest ever built was equal to 20. Motion picture soundtracks require this kind of power if they are to be heard without strain or distortion. Another benefit is reliability. In the 20 years since their introduction, no HPS-4000® sound system has experienced a driver failure.

Four times the power may seem like a lot, but it's only 6 dB -- or about the difference in raising your voice. It's really about the least amount of headroom one can get away with, particularly if one is designing a sound system with equalization.

As to the "couple of dozen" installations: I wonder when I hear this (this is not the first time) if those couple of dozen include the 60 plus systems in Hawaii or the over 70 systems in Illinois? I actually do not keep track of all the installations. For instance, when a circuit is sold and the new management is not interested in quality sound, I loose track of the systems involved when I know they are no longer properly maintained and have no hope of ever sounding the way they should.

As to how our sound systems compare, you should read what customers and others have written at: http://www.hps4000.com/pages/comments_.html

I hope you get a chance to hear one someday. If you are ever in Boston, let me know.

John F. Allen

As I remember, the theatre I did was called the Cooper 7. I believe it was in Littleton, but I'm not sure. It was many years ago. The theatre was round. It was the first time I used my surround array formulas developed for a round room. Coverage was ± 3/4 dB. Not too bad.

The system sounded great. The round room was not a problem for us due to the superior coverage patterns of our speaker systems. We opened with a 70 MM print of GHOSTBUSTERS.

Ultimately, the theatre was sold and the system was replaced. As I said, when theatres get sold and the new owners don't care about quality sound or don't know what they have, I typically loose track of what happens. I understand that the system that was installed after that was, at best, about 1/8 the acoustic power -- hardly enough for 70 MM or digital.

At any rate, if you heard the system I installed, it would have had to be before 1985, I would think. Even then I can't be sure if what you heard was what you should have. The theatre did not remain on the active list very long. Is the theatre still open?

 |  IP: Logged

 |  IP: Logged

 |  IP: Logged

The theatres in Hawaii and Illinois are fully functional and very well maintained installations, I am happy to say. In fact, the technicians who maintain those particular theatres are among the best around. I actually get to visit the Illinois theatres at least once a year, because the owner wants me to personally check things out for myself. In Hawaii, I get to see some of those theatres when I am there: typically once a year or so.

There have been somewhere between 250 and 300 installations over the years. The fact that I can only recommend about 1/3 rd as being properly maintained is sad. But as things go, 1/3 rd is better than some others might claim. I am certainly not alone in wishing things were better.

THX boasts that every auditorium meets the standards of the screening room the films were mixed in. That way if you see a film in a THX certified auditorium, you are listening to the film EXACTLY as the director intended it to be heard. Personally, I have found that each and every THX house sounds completely different. I have heard some new installations that sound like pure crap, and some new installations that sound absolutely fantastic! All calibrations are performed by "professional" THX techs. In fact, some of my non-THX houses sound noticably better than my THX houses. Of course, they are all built to the same standards during construction, it's just that they do not have the "official" THX liscence.

I wish there was a prize for you. You are the very first person in 20 years to ask that question. The answer is yes. It's very important to me and something I have had to work very hard to do. Early on, I realized that the tuning and measuring systems recommended for cinema sound systems did not work. Not only did they result in inferior sound quality, but they almost never provided similar tone from theatre to theatre. What's more, the measurement system was not repeatable.

The best example of the problem can be found at the Century Plaza Theatre in Los Angeles. There are two sets of EQ cards in the large HPS-4000® theatre. One is the set I adjusted when the system was first installed. Those settings have never been changed. The other set is there because technicians cannot leave well enough alone. In the 16 years since the system was first installed, those secondary EQ cards have never been set the same way twice. Furthermore, never have they been set in a way that even approaches the sound quality available by simply using the house cards that I originally adjusted.

Because of this problem, and the fact that there is no measurement system that measures what something sounds like, I personally set up every HPS-4000® system. Generally they are well maintained. Generally the equalization is not changed. If it is, the sound system is no longer HPS-4000®.

We have four levels of HPS-4000® sound systems. The bigger ones sound bigger than the smallest. The bigger theatres also sound bigger than the smaller ones. That obvious caveat being said, the tone is remarkably similar in all HPS-4000® theatres. I know this because I hear every one, I listen to the same reference materials and make sure they sound natural. Today, we have newer and better amplifiers. This has resulted in even cleaner sound quality -- really remarkable.

Natural tone is, for me, one of the most important aspects of sound system performance. A sound system must sound natural. It comes from the adage that the best sound system is no sound system. If that is so, then the next best thing is a sound system that doesn't sound like a sound system. When I worked for the Boston Symphony and later was sound director for the Boston Ballet, we often were asked by the musicians and conductors who came out to listen, "Is it on?"

 |  IP: Logged

 |  IP: Logged

Am I wrong when I say what I think you were trying to convey was that since you are the only sound tech for HPS installations that there is more consistency from auditorium to auditorium in comparison to THX, since there are so many licensed THX techs?

Also, might I recommend you start an area on your site with a complete and current "licensed" HPS theaters list? By this I mean if something is altered (eq settings, levels, etc), then that theater would be removed from the web list. I think it would serve people better who are interested in hearing a demo without flying to the Framingham theater, Illinois or Hawaii.