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Topic: The story of "Sensurround" and "Sensurround Plus"?

Thomas Hauerslev
Master Film Handler

Posts: 451
From: Copenhagen, Denmark
Registered: Aug 2000

posted 03-28-2001 01:46 AM

If anyone have some good stories related the side effects of the Sensurround sound system, I'd be happy to include them in the article.

One story from the 3 Falke Bio in Copenhagen was about Liza Minnelli. She was rehearsing a concert, but was interupted frequently because "Earthquake" was thundering in the cinema next door.

Btw the cieling lamps in the cinema, had to be secured from faling down during the performances.

I'm certain there are many other colorful stories. Bring them forward, please.

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All my best
Thomas
..in70mm - The 70mm Newsletter
www.in70mm.com www.dp70.com www.70mm.dk www.hauerslev.com

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Gordon McLeod
Film God

Posts: 9532
From: Toronto Ontario Canada
Registered: Jun 99

posted 03-28-2001 09:10 AM

At the Pendale cinema the sensurround for eathquake killed the goldfish in a adjoining petshop

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Greg Mueller
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1687
From: Port Gamble, WA
Registered: Jun 99

posted 03-28-2001 09:42 AM

One of the most interesting aspects of the senssurrond "experience" was watching the crowd reaction. I saw a couple people get up and run out of the theater in fear! Really!
The down side was going to a movie in a auditorium next door.

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Greg Mueller
Amateur Astronomer, Machinist, Filmnut

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David Hitt
Film Handler

Posts: 9

Registered: Jan 2000

posted 03-28-2001 11:36 AM

Here is a link to the U.S. reissue patent to the Sensurround system:
http://www.delphion.com/details?pn=USRE030278__

David

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Christos Mitsakis
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 242
From: Ag.Paraskevi, ATHENS, GREECE
Registered: Sep 1999

posted 03-28-2001 12:31 PM

During the first run of Battlestar Galactica (when I was then just a little spectator)
there was a warning before the feature that the theatre personnel was not responsible if something happened to the audience due to the film's exessive bass. The film was not recomended for people with heart problems and for those easily scared by sudden increase of the volume (especially in the low area).

FYI. Sensurround is mentioned (and I think with complete filmography) in the Carr Hayes book "Wide Screen Movies".

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Edwin Graf Diemer
Film Handler

Posts: 47
From: Red Bank, NJ, USA
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 03-28-2001 05:32 PM

Once I was relief manager at the Branmar Theater in Wilmington, DE, which had shown all the Sensurround films except for "Battlestar" ("Midway" played for several weeks before the first-run of "Rollercoaster".) You could still see the cracks in the projection booth ceiling from the process, and when the theater closed in the late 80's, the monitor rack used was still at the side wall of the booth.

[ 02-15-2009, 08:07 PM: Message edited by: Edwin Graf Diemer ]

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 03-28-2001 06:18 PM

In Billings, Mont. there was a 3-screen theatre, called Cine 3 which was built with a couple of retail storefronts in the same building. (The theatre is now a 7-plex, the store areas being used for more auditoriums. It's a Carmike dollar house now.)

Anyway, they opened Earthquake there. One of the storefronts was occupied by a knicknack/china shop. Needless to say, the morning after opening all the wall mounted breakables were in pieces on the floor.

For the rest of the run, that store had to take down all of their wall displays every night and put'em back up the next day!

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Thomas Hauerslev
Master Film Handler

Posts: 451
From: Copenhagen, Denmark
Registered: Aug 2000

posted 03-29-2001 01:15 AM

I recieved an e-mail last night from a gentleman in England who's wife got a nose bleed watching "Earthquake" in Sensurround!

------------------
All my best
Thomas
..in70mm - The 70mm Newsletter

http://www.in70mm.com
http://www.dp70.com
http://www.70mm.dk
http://www.hauerslev.com
http://hjem.get2net.dk/in70mm

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John Eickhof
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 588
From: Wendell, ID USA
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 03-29-2001 01:57 AM

I helped on the installation for earthquake at the Crest Theatre in Reno, NV. we built custom inverted reflex radiators in the back corners of the main floor and the balcony,(these had an array of 8 each 18" loudspeakers and the baffles were 8 feet wide by 9 feet high and reflected off the corner walls of the building) and used two of the large semi-portable
cabinets in front of the stage on the floor. All used Cerwin-Vega 18 loudspeakers with about a 2.5" excursion! We fed them with CV 2200 amps. (The electricians ran in a 100 amp sub panel to feed the sound!)The theatre was equipped for 4 track 35 mag for the voice tracks, the effect was triggered on the optical track with a tone burst at variable level, operating a variable tone generator feeding the amps with a warble frequency of about 5-45 cycles at levels from 0 to + 80 db at amp outputs!
Needless to say, opening nite (Friday) I was
called in to turn it down as it set off alarms and did slight merchandise damage at the Zales Jewelry store next door! The Crest was an 850+ seat house with full balcony.
If I can find the job sheets and installation info, I will send it to Brad to post. It was a fun job!! The film ran for 12 weeks! However, it was the only film in sensurround ever to play in Reno.

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John Eickhof President, Chief Slave
Northwest Theatre Equipment Co., Inc.
P.O.Box 258
Wendell, ID. 83355-0258
208-536-5489
email: jeickhof@nteequip.com

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Matthew Bailey
Master Film Handler

Posts: 461
From: Port Arthur,TX
Registered: Sep 2000

posted 03-29-2001 08:17 AM

I wonder what the Sensurround titles would
sound like if re-released in THX.

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John Walsh
Film God

Posts: 2490
From: Connecticut, USA, Earth, Milky Way
Registered: Oct 1999

posted 03-29-2001 06:22 PM

"I wonder what the Sensurround titles would
sound like if re-released in THX."

No different... THX is a good system, but it was not designed to reproduce the high levels of exceptionaly low frequencies Sensurround did. John Eickhof (and other people's) post gives a good idea of the special equipment that was installed all just to produce freqencies below 45hz or so.....

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Thomas Hauerslev
Master Film Handler

Posts: 451
From: Copenhagen, Denmark
Registered: Aug 2000

posted 03-30-2001 01:05 AM

Does anyone know the difference between "Sensurround" and "Sensurround Plus"? I have only seen adverts for "Zoot Suit" presented in "Sensurround Plus". I guess that was the only title in that format.

Are there any US cinemas with an intact Sensurround installation left today?

Does anyone recall how the experience was advertised in newspapers, on posters and on marqees? In Denmark, Sensurround presentations was somtimes advertised with warnings if you had heart troubles.

Best wishes for the weekend and thanks for your input on this thread.

------------------
All my best
Thomas
..in70mm - The 70mm Newsletter
www.in70mm.com www.dp70.com www.70mm.dk www.hauerslev.com
hjem.get2net.dk/in70mm

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John Eickhof
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 588
From: Wendell, ID USA
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 03-30-2001 01:10 AM

All I can say was in the case at Reno, the projectionist, Tony Enos consumed a lot more alcohol on the job than normal to try and numb his headaches from the constant rumble and vibration in the booth! I remember taking my girlfriend to see earthquake there, and she complained about a sick stomache! We were in the balcony and it felt like it was a roller coaster at times! I now think the warble generator ahd found a couple of resonant frequencies that rocked the building more than it should!!
I personally have never heard of 'Sensurround Plus'

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John Eickhof President, Chief Slave
Northwest Theatre Equipment Co., Inc.
P.O.Box 258
Wendell, ID. 83355-0258
208-536-5489
email: jeickhof@nteequip.com

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Greg Mueller
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1687
From: Port Gamble, WA
Registered: Jun 99

posted 03-30-2001 10:14 AM

Thomas
I think the "heart trouble" warning was just marketing hype. There have been a lot of dumb films like William Castle films that had goofy gimmics and warnings like this. Kind of the PT Barnum effect. I can't recall the name of the film but one of them had in the advertising that a nurse would be standing by in the lobby "for the faint of heart". I love that kind of stuff
But anyway I think in the advertising of Earthquake, it was "Presented in the miracle of Sensurround" or something like that.

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Greg Mueller
Amateur Astronomer, Machinist, Filmnut

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Darryl Spicer
Film God

Posts: 3250
From: Lexington, KY, USA
Registered: Dec 2000

posted 03-30-2001 10:56 AM

The senssurround title that I know of are Earthquake, Rollercoaster, Midway and Battlestar Galectica. Does anyone know if there were other titles?

If you want to know what the films sound like without sensurround you can find them on DVD. Essentialy they are all mono with no apparent adding of any bass extension.

I would probably think that the closest you could get to sensurround is the Imax sound system when the space shuttle launches. It is recorded at max setting.

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