I have, several times by morons that thought it sounded pretty good...in my opinion...every time it sounded like utter crap. Only a fool would think this sort of set up is anything resembling "professional."

Pre-amps for microphones and pre-amps for projector soundheads while similar are not identical, even when both are of high quality...how many of your mic pre-amps have slit-loss correction? Mic pre-amps worked OK in the days of mono where HF response was poor (as was LF response, but I won't go there) but are totally unsuitable for the current Dolby-SR encoded films.

Then there is the noise reduction...consumer doesn't have it and most cinema equipment has poor quality versions of it. High-quality Dolby-SR is very special indeed and can make all the difference in the overall sound quality.

The pro-logic stuff can be delt with by consumer stuff but as others have pointed out, the delay on the surround channel is often inadequate. Lastly, the B-chain for consumer is often inadequate...I don't know of any consumer level stuff with either 1/3 octave EQ or 5-band parametric. Sure you can add this externally but to use good quality EQ (RANE, Klark-Technik and the like) will set one back enough to nullify any alleged cost savings with the consumer stuff.

In short, while using a genuine cinema processor for cinema sound isn't essential, it sure makes it a whole lot easier and I have yet to see anyone do it well any other way for a conventional cinema. Then there are all the other features catered to cinema like switching via automation, dealing with non-sync, multiple projectors or having one's favorite digital sound built-in.

Steve

It has been 3768 days since the last post.

 |  IP: Logged

 |  IP: Logged