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Author Topic: Console versus Lamphouse - any suggestions? Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 01-09-2007 12:42 PM                     Ken, the components that a console replaces are the pedestal, the Lamphouse and the power supply. The projectors/automations and most anything else that can be thrown into a console make no difference. I don't find anyone's console to perform as well in the lamphouse department, even with the same optics...the alignment is much more difficult to get right....if close is all that is desired, then consoles can do. I like the support of the pedestal better for the projector...less flex...especially compared to those consoles that use aluminum plates for the projector support plate. As to rectifiers...there are many out there why necessary buy the one that comes in the cabinet with the lamphouse and pedestal? As for service...yes you can change individual components but I find that physically, it is often much easier to work in separates though there are some exceptions. For all their extra girth, consoles don't bring any performance improvement to the table.  |  IP: Logged Jack Ondracek Film God Posts: 2348 From: Port Orchard, WA, USA Registered: Oct 2002 posted 01-09-2007 12:57 PM                        quote: Steve Guttag For all their extra girth, consoles don't bring any performance improvement to the table. Maybe they were the result of a sinister plot by the manufacturers, to make it easier to sell "plug n play" packages. I remember how quickly a VIP console could go into a booth... though that says nothing about how well the attached projectors usually worked.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 01-09-2007 06:25 PM                     It isn't a plot. It has to due with time and in particular...time on-site. Furthermore, it has to do with skill too. With a console, you reduced the burden on-site by not needing as skilled a technician or the coordination of trades furthermore, you place much of the installation burdon on the manufacturer. A friend of mine took it so far that just about all functions were in the console. The electricans were given a large JBox on site so that as each piece of the theatre was installed, the wires could be landed. Things such as overhead lights, masking motors...projector power....you name it. Then the console comes in with a pig tail with the greenfield attached with wires just numbered....all you have to to is match the numbers in the Jbox (everything was on terminal blocks)...turn on the power and whola...you are up and running. The manufacturer was also responsible for pre making all of the audio interconnects between the console and the sound system, if the sound system was not in the console. This takes the local tech's skill out of the equation until such things as tuning and plate cutting are needed. It also speeds up the install in the, always rushed, last few weeks. Anyone at one of the former Crown Theatres can see the results of that. It is understandable why consoles are so popular...there is no plot...it is what the exhibitors and probably most installers want. It just isn't the best way if performance is your goal. To comment on Richard's column comment...yes, the European equivalent to the separates is the column where everything appends to the projector mechanism (or builds up from under it). I will say one of the flaws of the Column system with an unsupported/none precision adustable lamphouse is getting that lamphouse properly aligned....you loosen its mounts to move it up/down and then you screw up the pitch until you retighten to see where you are. We have a nifty device that will support the lamphouse and allow us to crank it up/down and then tighten it in place but without that one has a succession of approximations. I prefer adjustable lamptables on the pedestal, myself. [ 01-09-2007, 07:44 PM: Message edited by: Steve Guttag ]  |  IP: Logged Richard Fowler Film God Posts: 2392 From: Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA Registered: Jun 2001 posted 01-10-2007 09:01 AM                     Steve, that is one hassle regarding the optical bench in the lamphouse in the Column set up on Kinoton. One of their European distribitors use their own version of the lamphouse in which the optical bench has X/Y/Z settings with great leeway and lock without tools.  |  IP: Logged Chris Erwin Expert Film Handler Posts: 195 From: Olive Hill,KY Registered: Oct 1999 posted 01-10-2007 10:01 AM                     In a D/I I wouldn't think of a console unless it was a second story booth. I've seen many consoles angled "down" but not many "up". (consoles are largely children spawned of the multiplex)The consoles I've seen in D/I's have mostly been second story booths and they are setting about level. Look in the picture warehouse.  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 01-10-2007 01:22 PM                     I service a small drive-in in my area that they have a CFS 4000 console running a 4k bulb shooting through an XL .. and this unit replaced their old carbon arc systems a good number of years ago. Being on the floor since the entire building is rather on the smallish side, I suggested to the owner to keep the booth floor more clean that it is now - like mop the concrete floor almost on a daily basis - due to the main exhaust fan sucking in so much dust (being the yard is just dirt and gravel) and getting that vertical mirror and the angled mirror coated of dust more than normal. I also had to take my compressor out there, pull the panels off to chase out the dust very good and shoot out the exhaust stack as well.  |  IP: Logged Gordon McLeod Film God Posts: 9532 From: Toronto Ontario Canada Registered: Jun 99 posted 01-10-2007 02:46 PM                     Also with a console many expensive components are grouped very closly togather and an electric malfunction (the type with flames) can damage far more equipement than with seperate base and racks  |  IP: Logged Justin West Master Film Handler Posts: 271 From: Peoria, IL, USA Registered: Jul 2001 posted 01-10-2007 06:37 PM                     I'm siding with the "anti"-console crowd, here, Barry (not that the posters dislike consoles) because I agree that component access, line of sight or angle concerns, besides cost are in the favor of the separates route. Especially if the guys building their drive-in are newcomers to the industry, better for them to see it all naked in front of them...so they can see and learn how it works...and what can go wrong. I'd bet you could assemble some quality used/rebuilt lamphouses/projectors/soundheads/pedestals/platters in no time... whee! Wish I were there!  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 01-10-2007 06:46 PM                     I can live with either and have done an equal number of both. It is really all based on what the customer can afford anbd what he is wanting to achieve form a technical standpoint. Although I used to I never put audio gear in consoles any longer... there just is not enough room for todays typical system. Gord, Never had any flameout of any simgle component ever damage any other piece of gear in an "all in one" console system, even in the firey Kniesley consoles that never happened. Mark  |  IP: Logged Stephen Furley Film God Posts: 3059 From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England Registered: May 2002 posted 01-11-2007 06:31 AM                     quote: Mark Gulbrandsen Although I used to I never put audio gear in consoles any longer... there just is not enough room for todays typical system. I've only ever run a pair of consoles a couple of times, and these had no sound equipment in them. Does it ever cause problems with noise pickup from power supplies, ignitors, etc? Obviously, you've got the advantage of a shorter cable run from soundhesd to processor, but against that you've got the close proximity of the pre-amps to possibly noisy power equipment.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 01-13-2007 12:57 PM                     Stephen, I never had any noise issues. Its just a matter of applying proper wiring and grounding techniques. In the States Cineplex Odeon did most of the 1980's installs with all in one consoles. Usually utilizing Super Highlites or X-90's with all the sound gear mounted in below. Today I still service many of those old systems and they have never been a problem noise in regards to audio... The biggest problem with them was the crappy Strong High Reactance rectifiers that devloped loose windings on the transformer cores and buzzed so loudly you couldn't stand to be in the same building with them... those rectifiers generally got replaced with switchers. Mark  |  IP: Logged

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