Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Strong, Simplex, Millennium, and Century Projectors

This is topic Strong, Simplex, Millennium, and Century Projectors in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Carey Barber (Member # 1586) on 02-06-2009, 12:27 PM:

The only equipment I have worked with (until a few days ago) has been the "Christie package".

So, I was trying to understand the relationship between the following companies/products:

- Strong/Ballantyne
- Century
- Millennium
- Simplex

Now I THINK that Strong is a large company that owns other smaller groups (like Century). Also, Millennium and Simplex are particular Strong models.

Is this correct? Any info you folks could give me would be great.

Thanks,
Carey

Posted by Justin Hamaker (Member # 2165) on 02-06-2009, 12:39 PM:

never mind me, others have much better answers.

[ 02-06-2009, 06:23 PM: Message edited by: Justin Hamaker ]

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 02-06-2009, 01:05 PM:

You can take a peek here about STRONG products.

Posted by Ken Lackner (Member # 1002) on 02-06-2009, 01:07 PM:

Ballantyne of Omaha owns Strong International, and markets its cinema equipment under this name. Century Projector Corporation and Simplex Projector Company were originally separate companies, in fact competitors. Optical Radiation Corporation (ORC) purchased Century. Strong purchased Simplex, and later purchased ORC, so therefore they own Century. Justin is correct; Millennium is a model of Simplex projector. Millennium was the successor to the PR1060, which replaced the PR1050. The Millennium is currently manufactured side by side with the Apogee. All of the above are models of Simplex.

Century projectors have not been manufactured by Century since they were purchased by ORC in 1982. However, Strong continues to manufacture the Century projector to this day.

Century history
Simplex history
Strong history

Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 02-06-2009, 02:52 PM:

In fact every National Amusement screen has a Century; it is also the dominant projector in drive ins, and in the 250 miles around Louisville Ky. (Yes, I like XL's too.) Louis

Posted by Robert E. Allen (Member # 1351) on 02-06-2009, 02:54 PM:

I toured the Balantyne plant in '06. All those machines are manufactured at the Omaha plant. They were also busy working on a digital system at the time. The Apogee is the latest model of Simplex. I had one in a theatre I was managing in Iowa. It put out the the most steady picture I've ever seen. It had to be modified however with a free-wheeling sprocket for the lower loop.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 02-06-2009, 03:52 PM:

quote: Louis Bornwasser
In fact every National Amusement screen has a Century

Yes, but hopefully they are YOUR rebuilds! Yours are far superior to the ones Strong is building. Indiana is predominatly Black Wrinkle Simplex X-L in the Drive Inns I used to service.

Mark

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 02-06-2009, 05:25 PM:

quote: Louis Bornwasser
every National Amusement screen has a Century

Well, *most* of them, anyway. [Wink]

They have a fair number of P-35GP's and PR-1060s, too (the latter being ex-Regal). The Christies are NA builds.

FWIW, Ballantyne began in the business by selling sound systems and arc lamps. They sold the Ballantyne BW projector, which was a rebranded Wenzel, which was a Standard Simplex clone.

Harry Strong of Toledo started Strong Electric in the early part of the 20th century, with his revolutionary reflector arc lamp; a major improvement over the condenser arcs of the day.

Simplex projectors were made by International Projector Corporation (IPC) in New Jersey. If I'm recalling my history correctly, I believe a founder of IPC was C. Francis Jenkins, who, along with Thomas Armat, were true pioneers of motion picture projection. They developed the famous Maltese Cross (Geneva) intermittent movement which was used in the mechanism that became Edison's Vitascope. (Most projectors today employ Geneva movements.)

Century Projector Corporation was formed in New York (circa 1938) by the sale of the company that made Kaplan projectors (yet another Simplex Standard clone). Sam Kaplan was a NYC projectionist and a president of Local 306.

In the early 70s, Ballantyne began making Pro 35 projectors. In the late 70s/early 80s, Ballantyne bought Strong Electric and was subsequently bought by Canrad-Hanovia (xenon bulb mfgr) and became Strong International.

The rest of the acquisitions and projector lineage are mentioned above (I think I got all this right).

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 02-06-2009, 07:31 PM:

quote: Justin Hamaker
never mind me, others have much better answers

(You could have kept your post up, for it was a valid post. Don't feel what you know isn't important, for it shows that you want to be a part of the Film-Tech team..)

My two bugs with the Mil projector though (Took these pics with my celphone: rotten results in color why the option of B/W - to show more detail..):

The short pulldown knurl knobs on the upper pad roller assembly .. but do understand why so now after it was explained - the lens would bang into the back knob. Yet, why not put a full-sized knob on the front of the pad arm? (I totated the turret purposely to show the lack of clearance of the rear knob on that pad roller arm...)

The turret release latch (on the manual turret): looking to wanna poke an eyeball out in this horrible position. You think that they'd put that release latch in a more safe position, or constructed a latch that was better designed - like a pushbutton latch release or something..

-Monte

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 02-06-2009, 07:49 PM:

More issues with the PR-2000: the aperture plates are difficult to change and also are way too easy to accidentally bump. Also, the upper feed sprocket is too high (compared with the PR-1014), which gives an awkward upper loop if threaded like the PR-1014 (with the top of the loop at its largest size even with the top of the upper feed sprocket).

I'm not really sure why people buy this model when the PR-1014 works perfectly well, has less to go wrong with it, and runs quieter (because of the film compartment door). Do people really just order the turret machines because they are afraid that someone might drop a lens?

While I'm ranting, one thing that no 35mm projector seems to get right is the focus knob. I want one that is big and, ideally, has two concentric knobs (coarse and fine adjustment, like on a microscope), and which is located some distance away from the lens itself. Too bad no one seems to make this, as far as I know.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 02-06-2009, 08:26 PM:

quote: Scott Norwood
Do people really just order the turret machines because they are afraid that someone might drop a lens?

They got booth monkeys running projectors, and you have to make things simple for them - that's all the intelligence they are allowed to have...

Know of a 6plex that has split PR-1050's and PR-1014's and agree with Scott: PR-1014's are great machines. Yet, due to manual lens changes, these clowns manage to bust up three lenses - 2 prime lens on the anamporphic and one flat..by dropping them..

..and the owner doesn't to do anything to prevent these accidents..

-Monte

Posted by Carey Barber (Member # 1586) on 02-07-2009, 01:08 AM:

Thanks for all the info fellas!

I am training at a theater that uses Simplex Millenium projectors.

When I go back home to begin working at my new theater we will be using some old Century projectors.

I have been working with Christie P35 projectors so long that they are pretty much THE projector in my mind. I am going to have to learn some new material here very soon!

Thanks again,
Carey

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 02-07-2009, 02:25 AM:

I was also doing some Mil training today as well on a staff member who is exited to learn projection. I showed this person some neat tricks that wasn't shown to this staff member when this person begain the basic training procedures.

..and interestingly enough, this trainee was shown how to set the INT sprocket to be in frame on startup - just had to correct on how the correct loop sizes are to be.

..was somewhat impressed with this trainee. There's actual hope that this new generation can show professional interest in this field.

Good Luck - Monte

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 02-07-2009, 08:25 AM:

A little addendum to Tim's otherwise excellent chronology...Ballantyne was the importer of Norelco projectors, at one point.

The Pro-35 was actually a Norelco DP75 knockoff but in 35mm. Look at it...it has a more than passing resemblence on the gear side. Ever noticed that a Ballantyne and Norelco/Kinoton single aperture plate fit each other? And then there is the whole framing bushing thing.

As for turrets vs single lens holder...while I agree that single lens holders are the way to go...look at what happens with less inclined "operator." The poor Scope lens never has a chance...it gets slammed in such that it rarely if ever matches focus with the flat lens AND it gets twisted. On manual turrets, the poor scope lens gets twisted as it is the "crank" by which to turn the turret. Also with turrets...no need for a place to put the lenses...they are both there.

For focus knobs...Christie had an excellent single lens system with a really nice/clean focus rack. Kinoton FP75s is a real nice focus...it goes through a gear reduction too. I also always liked the AA2's focus assembly. The fatal flaw being that your hand could get into the picture if you don't pay attention AND it is sooooo looooooong that it is not friendly to short EFs.

Monte...on the pad roller arm thing...remember, there are more lenses than just yours...some stick back further...but more to the point...the other pad roller is normally the eccentric one...the less leverage there the better. I've changed many an eccentric pad roller shaft. And even more to the point...left up to a factory worker...they'll put the short knob on the wrong shaft! Remember back in the IPC days, only one shaft had a knob!

And yes, National Amusements had a bried stink with Christie P35-GPs. When ORC sold to Strong...Glen didn't want to deal with Strong and went for the Christie package...29,000 revisions later on the P35 (in the first month) and back to Century they went.

I don't have the 2009 price sheet...but I think I heard that the Apogee is no longer being made.

Steve

Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 02-07-2009, 08:47 AM:

Steve has it exactly right: a few Christies and back to Century. Every tech called me and thanked me; they thought I was responsible.

I have run a 30 year cost/benfit analysis of auto lens changers vs. not. It is slightly cheaper, long term, to use the lens changer. Of course, if suitably qualified people were hired, then this would not be necessary. (Remember, you also save the cost of the lens cabinet, etc.) My best case scenario: Old Century or XL with a Kelmar gate/turret. This is what we sell if we are permitted. Louis

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 02-07-2009, 01:05 PM:

quote: Steve Guttag
I've changed many an eccentric pad roller shaft...

True, and have been there and done that a bunch of times as well.

My project is to find a spring that is half as strong as the stock springs that the pad roller arm assemblies uses for two reasons:

1)-to open the pad arm easier so these eccentric shafts quit breaking,
2)-that lower pad assembly loves to break that spring retaining shaft off that is used also as a stop against the limit stud on the frame boss due to the spring forcing the two together.

-Monte

Posted by Carey Barber (Member # 1586) on 02-07-2009, 01:39 PM:

So, a lot of you guys actually really like the Century projector?

The reason I ask is that, when I told some people we would be using Century projectors, they were kinda shocked and indicated that these were really old.

So, have I actually lucked out by getting these projectors?

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 02-07-2009, 02:31 PM:

Monte,

The P-1447 stud used as a stop is just plain bad design. A weaker spring will do nothing to stop it from dying. Where does it break? Why at the score line, EVERYTIME. Simplex should never have used the same stud that the fork rides in as a stop.

A weaker spring would do nothing to help the eccentric shaft...it is the over-zealous operator that slams the pad roller open that breaks it. I have never personally had either break on me and I've run MANY Simplexes in my time.

Carey...you will find fans and haters of EVERY brand of projector. The Century line is no exception. It certainly has its virtues and things that one can pick at. Like any projector, keep it clean. On a Century, also ensure that you properly lubricate the gears REGULARLY as well as maintain the oil in the intermittent, sprocket shafts and end bearing...doing so will yield a very long lasting machine that will put out a very respectable image.

Steve

Posted by John Walsh (Member # 168) on 02-07-2009, 02:45 PM:

(Refering to Monty's pictures of the lens turret) There is a replacement knurled knob for the pad roller to clear a lens. It is short like in the photo, but it also has a 45' flat milled on the outside to provide just a little bit more clearance. It is actually a Century part, but it fits on the Simplex shaft.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 02-07-2009, 02:56 PM:

..even Christie, when designing their P35GPS - and even their early units - borrowed ideas from the Century machine.

The independent intermittent shoe assembly and lower constant feed's pad roller assembly were obviously borrowed ideas..

Even Strong's Mil projector uses the Century gate idea.

..Centurys are wonderful machines.. - Monte

Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 02-07-2009, 03:50 PM:

I am OK with old XL, and most any Century. Other machines are odd, obsolete, foreign, one-of-a-kind and otherwise unsuitable for a McDonalds kind of theatre operation. To be sure there are many other really great machines (Kinoton and AAII, for example) that, while technically excellent, would be beaten to death without proper care and attention.

Old Simplex and Centurys will "take a beating and keep on ticking." Louis

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 02-07-2009, 07:02 PM:

A Kinoton is not a delicate machine, as some seem to think.

Steve

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 02-07-2009, 10:35 PM:

quote: Steve Guttag
A Kinoton is not a delicate machine, as some seem to think.

You'd have an impossible time convincing the Cinemark uppers and the projectionists at the Cinemark in Park City that they are not. They have said that installing the Kinotons(for Sundances benefit) was the biggest mistake they ever made!!

This theater is what I would call "the real world" for booth operators and working conditions, its nothing really good and nothing really bad, just mainstream.

Mark

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 02-08-2009, 02:27 AM:

Yet my hidden favorite is the Cinemeccania V-8 .. hanging on the front of a V-18 setup.

Posted by Damien Taylor (Member # 4255) on 02-08-2009, 05:06 AM:

Our Vic-8s, (mid 60's vintage) just keep on truckin'. These units mean business.

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 02-08-2009, 06:57 AM:

And yet my PK60s....the ones in "mainstream" theatres are the most reliable of the bunch...ZERO failures. Not that the other types have been problematic but the PK60s...just plain and simple projection.

Steve

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 02-08-2009, 08:31 AM:

quote: Damien Taylor
Our Vic-8s, (mid 60's vintage) just keep on truckin'. These units mean business.

That is exactly what I see out in this area. There are still a pair of Vic 8's that I service.. but very rarely. The last failure a couple of years ago was the contactor. About 5 years before that it was the shutter bearings. I was the first to ever pull the back cover off the one machine! These are also 1960 Vic 8's. The thing that kills em is the parts pricing... the gate plate is well over $1200.00 now which is quite rediclous. It may in fact be less expensive to have LaVezzi or Wolk manufacture them for you in small quantity. I also service one pair of VIC 4's. Never cared for them at all but these machines just keep on going and going in spite of the bad leaks and they produce a decent picture. I never cared for Cinemecaniccas sound head but it does work when set up correctly and it doesn't contact any of the image area.

Steve, I don't service the Cinemark in Park City but I do know the folks at Cinemark and the folks that run the booth there... I can only relay their feelings/experiences about the Kinotons they have there. As I have mentioned in another thread a long time back different people that run the electronic projectors at Sundance proper also feel the same way. The general feeling is that they are way over-rated. As I don't service the Cinemark booth nor do I care to run film at Sundance I neither agree nor disagree with them.

Mark

Posted by Ken Lackner (Member # 1002) on 02-08-2009, 10:16 AM:

Years ago, I worked at an old theater that had FP-23Cs, along with a bunch of other old equipment. Everyone there hated the booth equipment. At first, I did, too. But that's only because it was so different from everything I was used to. (Every theater I had stepped foot in up until then had Strong equipment of some flavor, and they all had Simplex projectors.) But in time, I really warmed up to these projectors, and grew to love them. I also worked at a theater for about three months that ran PK-60Ds. Loved them. Kinoton is now one of my favorite projectors. At least from an operator and presentation standpoint. Never serviced one. Probably never will, although I would love the chance to.

My, how we digress.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 02-08-2009, 10:49 AM:

I agree that the FP series and current Kinoton stuff is not the norm to most people. I've owned some of it myself and had no personal complaints. Like the Italian machines... if you ever need serious parts brace yourself!

Mark

Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 02-08-2009, 02:17 PM:

There are manygood old strange machines that work very well with Mark, Steve and me They do not fare so well with the average 16 year old. Louis

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 02-08-2009, 02:39 PM:

I have not experienced unreasonable prices on kinoton and cinemecanica parts and of all machines we service they require the fewest parts per year anyway

Posted by Damien Taylor (Member # 4255) on 02-08-2009, 06:04 PM:

Luckily you can make and use generic parts for a lot of projectors. If the gates ever die on our Vics, all I can hope for is to just show 70mm prints [Razz]

Yeah, the soundhead design is weird, and when threaded in accordance to a full length leader with proper sound spacing, the lower loop flaps around like a screen door in a hurricane. The problem I've heard of with the s/heads is from swapping bells, apparently they don't like that.

Posted by Tony Bandiera Jr (Member # 2365) on 02-09-2009, 01:39 AM:

quote: Gordon McLeod
I have not experienced unreasonable prices on kinoton

I'd love to know where you're getting your parts from then..last set of plates (the three-hole ones) I ordered for UC Irvine were ridiculously expensive.

I just did a bid for some Kinotons and the exchancge rate is a killer right now, my cost is well over $90k for ONE machine and lamphouse!!!

Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 02-09-2009, 06:04 AM:

Tony: I guess it depends upon what you feel is "normal." Louis

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 02-09-2009, 06:18 AM:

Tony...I'm sorry to say that someone has your number. I'm not sure even an FP30ECII could get you that high a price tag.

You claimed that the Simplex take up pulley option was $400 your cost...in fact, it is still listed as a NO CHARGE option for the Simplex soundhead.

The exchange rate right now has offset all of last year's price increases such that I'm finding that 2009 is a little cheaper than 2008.

Steve

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 02-09-2009, 09:30 AM:

quote: Tony Bandiera Jr
I'd love to know where you're getting your parts from then..last set of plates

Me too! Parts prices for both of those brands make Strongs (also rediclous)price increases look comparatively small. Even Canadian exchange rates are now closer to the USA so you've got to be paying almost as much for parts as we do. Indeed the other problem I'd have with Kinoton right about now is that they are barely existant in this country any longer. Having gone from BL&S's support to a small office some place in obscure New Jersey. Cinemecaniccca would certainly appear to most to be the more stable company of the two.

Aside from super rediclous prices on both companies gear what are you going to do if one or both disappears?? The Digital realm could certainly cause that to happen as they have no truely viable digital offerings...

Mark

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 02-10-2009, 05:15 AM:

Kinoton America, Inc is a wholely owned subsidiary of Kinoton GmbH...hardly some obscure little entity. Kinoton, a world wide distributor that has seen little, if any decrease in World-Wide sales is not so likely to disappear as Mark my scare one into believing.

In fact, if one wants to go down that road, DLP creeps even closer to that point of dying. In the last 12 months, 3/4 of the people in the DLP division have been let go, its more ready to go belly up than ever...talk about your single-sourcing...no film projector has that problem though LaVezzi does make MOST intermittent parts/sprockets...they are not the only ones. For DLP...there is just TI.

Ken...as to "Its R"...blame it on the Spell Check of this site...I rarely use it and I did on this post (initially)...it must have wacked part of it off).

[Edited to put back most of what I originally wanted to post but Spell Check apparently did not want me to post]

[ 02-10-2009, 06:54 AM: Message edited by: Steve Guttag ]

Posted by Ken Lackner (Member # 1002) on 02-10-2009, 06:05 AM:

It's R???

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 02-10-2009, 08:36 AM:

I've certainly nothing against Kinoton but I would hardly call Kinoton a big entity even in total. They are quite a small company comparatively in this industry. Should sales here proove to be dismal as they certainly have over the past few years the office here may not be financially justifiable to operate. Thank the Euro for that!

Mark

Posted by Tony Bandiera Jr (Member # 2365) on 02-10-2009, 01:59 PM:

quote: Steve Guttag
Tony...I'm sorry to say that someone has your number. I'm not sure even an FP30ECII could get you that high a price tag.

You claimed that the Simplex take up pulley option was $400 your cost...in fact, it is still listed as a NO CHARGE option for the Simplex soundhead.

The exchange rate right now has offset all of last year's price increases such that I'm finding that 2009 is a little cheaper than 2008.

Steve

Then I'd love to know who you're buying Kinoton from so I can get a revised quote for a job I'm bidding....

The takeup pulley option was addressed in that thread, but I restate here it is not a claim, it was a FACT for the six projectors I purchased in that timeframe (2000-2002) from the dealer I was going through at that time. And I SAW the factory invoices with that charge on them. Maybe that was something unique to that dealer's setup with Strong, maybe it was a short-lived practice by Strong that has since stopped.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 02-10-2009, 10:36 PM:

Tony,

Dealer pricing is not the same from one dealer to the next with most brands... depends on how much you sell...

Mark

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 02-11-2009, 12:18 AM:

Tony,

As for buying Kinoton...I work for a Kinoton Dealer (Cardinal Sound) and we sell the Studio models on down.

As for the take up pulley...not a chance...I defy anyone to produce a Strong price sheet that shows the X4 option (take up pulley) to show anything other than "N/C" on the major equipment price sheet. Again, whereas the pulley itself is under $100 as a stand alone part...$400 just doesn't make sense.

Note Here is the Strong price sheet (on their web site so I'm not giving away any information that is not publically accessable). Only the Century take up pulley system ever cost extra...that is due to the extra materials beyond just the simple pulley that is involved.

Note, I also checked on a typical 3-hole aperture from Kinoton (1000 451 17016) it isn't very pricey at all. No, it isn't the Century single aperture price but compared to say a Simplex P-8005 (typical dual aperture)...it is only $10.00 more and it is a triple aperture. Again, I don't know whom you source your equipment from and I don't want to step on any toes but something definitely doesn't add up.

Steve

[ 02-12-2009, 10:38 AM: Message edited by: Steve Guttag ]

Posted by John Hawkinson (Member # 1135) on 02-12-2009, 03:10 AM:

That link returns "You should not be here!"
Was that one of the links from their Strong Cinema - Downloads page?

--jhawk

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 02-12-2009, 10:39 AM:

John,

Yep...I corrected my link (thanks) but my previous link went right to the price sheets. I guess now you are on your own to at least scroll down to the price sheets.

Steve

Posted by Tony Bandiera Jr (Member # 2365) on 02-12-2009, 01:35 PM:

Steve, check your emails, I've requested an equipment quote from you. [Smile]

I agree something doesn't add up. [Smile]

And I stand by the charges I paid for those take-up kits! I don't care what the price lists currently say, it was a charge I paid back then, and was shown the Strong invoices with that charge on them. As Mark had said, I think it reflects more on the dealer I was buying from back then...

I haven't purchased any projectors for the last several years and I'm sure Steve is correct and that charge does not exist now.

And thanks to Steve for that link, I have downloaded the current LIST prices. Perhaps the original link directed jhawk to the DEALER pricing?

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 02-12-2009, 09:56 PM:

Tony,

Nope...the link I used was for the LIST price...which is all STrong ever publishes...Dealer's are issued a separate discount structure based on the type of item it is.

I'm not doubting that you were charged $$$ for the pulleys...however, I can tell you without hesitation, there NEVER has been a charge listed on the Strong equipment list for the Simplex 5-star with take up pulley. I defy anyone to show a Strong price sheet (undoctored) that has the X4 option on the 5-star to have anything other than an "N/C" listed for the price.

Steve

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 02-12-2009, 10:09 PM:

It is listed on my price sheet as an option for the Century systems.

Mark

Posted by Tony Bandiera Jr (Member # 2365) on 02-13-2009, 01:32 AM:

We're talkin Simplexs' Mark . [Big Grin]

And Steve, I agreed that it doesn't show up on the price lists...I do in my archives have the price list from that era and I'll double check it. I do believe that the charge wasn't there though...but again, it was on the invoices from Strong.

Posted by Eric Robinson (Member # 2966) on 02-14-2009, 12:19 AM:

quote: Mark Gulbrandsen
Having gone from BL&S's support to a small office some place in obscure New Jersey

I wasn't aware of this change. Anyone know why?

Posted by Richard Fowler (Member # 893) on 02-14-2009, 07:37 AM:

Kinoton Germany has set up distribution in "that town" since it is convenient to Newark Airport, New York City and the surrounding area. Principal contact people who have been handling Kinoton hardware are on the staff.

Strong and Christie have "borrowed" from the European style of cinema equipment distribution in which the service department is part of the company. Kinoton yearly sales are in line with Strong / Cinemeccanica so they are in the middle sized company class. Kinoton is into broadcast and other hardware (as Cinemeccanica is also into moving light systems for Clubs) and is pretty diversified....Kinoton originally started as a service company.

The guys at Boston Light and Sound are great people and have a full plate even without day to day with Kinoton.

Mark, stop being so "Chicken Little" [Big Grin]