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Author Topic: Getting New Amplifiers Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-12-2012 10:45 PM                     Tim, you're not really hijacking this thread because your story is similar to mine. We've both got asshole bosses who hire dipshit technicians then leave the mess for us to clean up. The CP650 processor and the DCA amps really are as good as it gets but you MUST install and calibrate the equipment correctly or else it will sound like shit. No two ways about it. Do you use Dolby Digital and/or DTS? Do you use analog, optical sound? First and foremost, get the equipment hooked up correctly. Next, do an A-chain calibration. First in the projector then work back to the processor. The mechanical adjustment is critical to getting it right. There's no amount of adjustment that can be done at the processor to compensate an F-ed up sound reader. When that's done, go to the processor and tweak that up the way it's supposed to be. Done correctly, it's basically one continuous process. If your equipment is otherwise in good working order an A-chain should take you 15 minutes from start to finish. After that, touch-ups should take only a few minutes. Next, get your digital readers working the way they should be. Use an oscilloscope. The DRAS software was meant to be used as an adjunct to the scope, not to be used in place of a scope. After that, set your digital/analog frame offsets. Get it so you can't tell the difference in the lip sync when you switch between analog and digital. Finally, calibrate your B-chain. Set your sound levels, calibrate the processor's RTA to the microphone input. Then do your house EQ. If you do this all correctly, an untrained ear would not be able to tell the difference between analog and digital sound. You should be able to switch back and forth between formats and nobody in the audience will notice. Even a trained ear would have to listen carefully to tell the difference between analog and digital sound. I don't know how to advise you on getting your bosses to do the right thing. I have actually had shouting matches with my boss, stamping my feet, pounding my fists on the desk and he still refused to listen. Luckily he's not the boss anymore but the ones who run the place now have gone from idiot to ignorant. I don't know which is worse. I don't know your skill level as a technician. I can't advise you to do the work yourself. Regardless, I think you should still study up and learn how to do A-chains and B-chains. If for no other reason than to help you know if any tech your boss does hire is doing the job correctly. It's bosses like ours who make guys like us go on rampages and shoot up our workplaces!  |  IP: Logged Tony Bandiera Jr Film God Posts: 3067 From: Moreland Idaho Registered: Apr 2004 posted 02-13-2012 01:33 AM                     Tim thanks for the reply, and what Brad and Randy have said are spot-on. Until you get a competent tech in there who knows and cares about what they are doing your sound will continue to be crap. It's not the equipment, it's the installer. As for the issues you've experienced with the monitor, are you sure you were sold NEW equipment and not someone's cast-offs? The DCM/DCA series are pretty bullet proof and QSC has about the best quality control of any company (not to say that the occasional defective product or component doesn't slip by) but to have two bad DCM's in a row is very suspicious. I don't know if you or the "techs" are the ones who set up the monitor but I am willing to bet someone missed a step and forgot to save the settings before disconnecting the laptop. If you do not do the disconnect correctly it will revert to default or previous settings or corrupt the settings file. If I weren't on the far side of the country I would come by and do the setups for you to save you the grief.  |  IP: Logged David Zylstra Master Film Handler Posts: 432 From: Novi, MI, USA Registered: Mar 2007 posted 02-13-2012 12:48 PM                     Actually, if I am not mistaken Tim is the owner. Tim - I'll send you contact info via PM of someone I use when I need 35mm work done, hopefully he is not one of the ones you used (although I know he is not in love with Ashleys).  |  IP: Logged Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-13-2012 05:30 PM                     quote: David Zylstra Actually, if I am not mistaken Tim is the owner. If I made incorrect assumptions, my apologies. I am getting battle weary.  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 02-13-2012 06:23 PM                        quote: Brad Miller They either don't have the know-how or are too lazy to do the job right. Simple solution to that, and it works pretty well -- tell them to get their sorry butts back in there and fix it. Add that they don't get paid until it works correctly and you are HAPPY. Nothing like holding up a paycheck to make someone jump to.  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 02-14-2012 08:07 AM                        Re: Ashly. There are many models as there are with others. Some use switching power supplies thta produce artifacts that can kill a hf driver or "blow" a monitor. The FET/FTX amps must really be bad, that is why the UK studios have standardized on them. I personally sold in excess of 6000 FET/FTX and WE don't have problems (other than the noisy switch/pot problem.) That is why we made a drop in replacement for the "bad" crossover. Louis  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 02-14-2012 08:51 AM                     Yeah...they drive on the wrong side of the road and use positive-ground electrical systems too. They also talk funny so they probably don't notice how nasty they sound.  |  IP: Logged Sam D. Chavez Film God Posts: 2153 From: Martinez, CA USA Registered: Aug 2003 posted 02-14-2012 10:27 AM                       Actually, they know exactly how they sound and they trade on it. Never tell a Brit they travel on the wrong side of the road or prepare for a lecture on how they were driving while we were fending off arrows, etc. BTW, a large part of the world drive on the left side. India, Australia, Thailand, Japan, China, etc.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 02-14-2012 11:55 AM                     And they all are on the wrong side! Being wrong longer doesn't make one right!  |  IP: Logged Sam D. Chavez Film God Posts: 2153 From: Martinez, CA USA Registered: Aug 2003 posted 02-14-2012 12:10 PM                       Oy, getting into a pedantic discussion with a man that has taken to signing his own posts at the bottom as if we don't all know who he is... Seriously dude. Dial back the ego a bit. A little obnoxious goes a long way.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 02-14-2012 02:17 PM                     Oddly enough...I didn't put my name at the end of any of the recent posts...it is more of a reflex thing...like putting a period at the end of a sentence.  |  IP: Logged Sam D. Chavez Film God Posts: 2153 From: Martinez, CA USA Registered: Aug 2003 posted 02-14-2012 02:32 PM                       Actually, you did sign on the relay post earlier today. I guess I objected to your recent comments on the reverse scope lenses to the effect, don't listen to all those previous posters. I was not one offering an opinion, but having you come on like that stifles other posters. You are occasionally wrong you know.  |  IP: Logged Gordon McLeod Film God Posts: 9532 From: Toronto Ontario Canada Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-14-2012 02:53 PM                     Steve wrong omg steve be wrong I am shattered will probably have to go to the pub for the rest of the day  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 02-14-2012 04:51 PM                     On the Reverse Anamorphic thing...that one I make no apologies on...the "advice" was flat out wrong. A beef I have with some is when they offer "advice" on things they really do not know anything about or feel the need to empty their entire knowledge base on a post in the hopes that some of it, accurate or not, may help. Reverse anamorphics suffer from uneven light and barrel distortion. They have but one purpose, to get very long EFs where the lenses designed for normal anamorphics fail. That is, in a 70.6mm OD lens, anything over 140mm will be slower (less light efficient). In the example Scott provided (150mm versus a 75w/reverse), the light loss would be negligible on the 150mm compared to the image distortion and lack of uniform light that the reverse would bring. The posters prior to me seemed to miss all of that. There is no way they have ever run target film or measured the light to come up with their "advice." I think Louis' post pretty much summed it up too. The most popular users of reverse anamorphics is going to be Drive-Ins were the benefits will often overcome the downsides (they almost always need a VERY long lens)...once upon a time there were 101.6 dia lenses (4") to get f/1.7 out of them primarily for Drive-Ins. The Old Kollmorgen-Kaska KA299 anamorphic (4") was indeed a reverse, primarily but could be used as a forward (had threads on both ends)...again for Drive-Ins. But this example was just a 150mm...not exactly pushing the envelope of anything. If my slamming discouraged the sort of posts I saw...good. Those sort of posts, in my opinion, don't help, they mislead. I don't do it that often but if one posts something that just blatantly wrong, I have no problem calling them on it. on things they really do not know anything about or feel the need to empty their entire knowledge base on a post in the hopes that some of it, accurate or not, may help. Reverse anamorphics suffer from uneven light and barrel distortion. They have but one purpose, to get very long EFs where the lenses designed for normal anamorphics fail. That is, in a 70.6mm OD lens, anything over 140mm will be slower (less light efficient). In the example Scott provided (150mm versus a 75w/reverse), the light loss would be negligible on the 150mm compared to the image distortion and lack of uniform light that the reverse would bring. The posters prior to me seemed to miss all of that. There is no way they have ever run target film or measured the light to come up with their  |  IP: Logged Tony Bandiera Jr Film God Posts: 3067 From: Moreland Idaho Registered: Apr 2004 posted 02-14-2012 09:10 PM                     ^^^^ WTF? Methinks Steve-o has been lifting a few too many before posting that.  |  IP: Logged

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