Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Speco or Speco????

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Posted by John B. Keathley (Member # 5205) on 06-21-2009, 05:20 PM:

We have Speco platters in our theatre. There is a disagreement as to the proper pronunciation of the platters. Is it Speco (Speak-O) or Speco (Speck-O)?

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 06-21-2009, 05:24 PM:

You can also call them "Drive-In" platters (their original name) for the LP-270's

Accent on the first syllable with the long "e" doubled. - "Speek-o"

Good luck - Monte

Posted by John B. Keathley (Member # 5205) on 06-21-2009, 05:28 PM:

Thanks a million Monte. Proved me right. [Smile]

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 06-21-2009, 07:52 PM:

quote: John B. Keathley
We have Speco platters in our theatre.

My condolences if they are the LP-270.

quote: John B. Keathley
Is it Speco (Speak-O) or Speco (Speck-O)?

It is pronounced "dogshit" if they are red. If they are the newer ones (LP-280) then it is pronounced SPEAK-OH. The newer ones are so much better! Probably better than Strong, for sure. I'd love to try one someday based on the review here.

quote: Monte L Fullmer
You can also call them "Drive-In" platters

I hate that term. I am befuddled at why that name was chosen. Where there ever Single Screen or Multiplex Platters? This angers me. There should be a law that they must be called Speco. Ooops I mean "Dogshit".

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 06-21-2009, 08:17 PM:

SPECO never changed the center feed design for the LP-280 nor made any of the other improvements we recommended (other than the center ring). As a result I wouldn't recommend it since it had a tendency to throw prints "as is". Whenever I get a chance I will have to update that review, as it was written based upon the company making those changes. It would get an F since their platter design won't even accept a platter safety ring due to its tendency to toss prints.

The LP-270 is their best platter "as is".

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 06-21-2009, 10:12 PM:

I agree with Brad: One of the better platters that I've worked with, and for their design, it suited the purpose in that time frame of the late 70's to present.

The brain was so quick and easy to lace through, simple motor drive design with that rim drive operation (not complicated as the AW2's reduction transmission setup for that era, or those wind driven idiot platters..et.al. ), and when the drive tire would get a groove, all you had to do is loosen up the drive tire's collar shaft on the motor and raise it up an half-inch and you got new rubber to work with.

My only small gripe with the LP-270's was that plug-in diode in the control panel which loves to go short out on occasion and that would blow the glass fuses in the base.

Even using that reed switch in the arm below the brain and the arm of the brain had a magnet attached to where it would close the reed switch for payout wasn't a bad idea.

...just that wood grained, plywood covered MUT was something else to work with, but got that one figured out - just build and break from the middle deck - don't use their roller assembly.

-Monte

Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 06-21-2009, 11:15 PM:

Whoops.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 06-21-2009, 11:24 PM:

quote: Monte L Fullmer
I agree with Brad: One of the better platters that I've worked with

Brad didn't say that, he just said it is better than the LP-280 since they refused to fix the shafty features.

Anyway while I'm sure there are many quirks that can seem cool like moving the motor up like Monte indicated, being able to only build and break from the middle deck is an automatic Z. That's right, way lower than an F. But I think Speco finally made newer tables that can load and break from any deck so that brings the grade way back up to an F. I'll even take a Strong, permitting of course that I am allowed to modify said Strong.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 06-22-2009, 04:44 AM:

That's a small "whoopsie" there, Adam. Wait until when someone forgets to put the magnetic puk on the end of the film and half of the film winds up underneath the deck with the end going wild.

I got called in on due to one operator at a MANN 4plex that had these things and who did the snafu on not securing the film down - and we did the simple fix: took the deck off the arm, slid the film off the arm and spent 2hrs getting the film wound back on the rewind platter .. and dealing with acetate stock.

After that was back on the deck (luckilly, we did have a Kelmar cleaner, but FG wasn't invented yet .. 1988...) had to run the print a good dozen times through the Kelmar to make it look decently clean.

(Sorry Joe on the mis-statement...)

-Monte

Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 06-22-2009, 10:31 AM:

btw: the deck IS a picnic table from K-mart. No, I am not kidding. That is why magnets work, it is steel, not aluminum. Louis

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 06-22-2009, 10:52 AM:

quote:
Speco or Speco????

It's actually pronounced...Kinoton. [Razz]

Posted by Dennis Benjamin (Member # 1137) on 06-22-2009, 01:52 PM:

What is it that someone said to me once?

"These platter systems are like the tractors of the film platter industry". (LP-270s)

They are rude and crude but get the job done. (hmmm)

When I write my biography, there will be an entire chapter dedicated to the day that someone handed me some tools and told me to fix one of these platter systems to prove that I could be a Projection Technician.

I am proud to say that I am in management to stay.

Thank you and have a nice day. [Big Grin]

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 06-22-2009, 05:53 PM:

As with most of DITMCO's/SPECO's equipment, their designs were along the path less traveled. Some decent, some not so hot, although mostly reliable. I never liked their automations, but the LP-270 was one of the equipments that I was okay with - somewhat. [Roll Eyes]

The 2-stage payout scheme was very smooth compared to the Potts design - both of which used variac outputs based on the takeup slider position. For me, the LP-270's main sources of trouble were the motor drive shafts, the twisted slider arm, and occasionally the payout magnet - although if you didn't start any shit with the latter (like hitting it with a platter ring), it wouldn't give you any shit. But, if those few things could've been made more... "robust" (how I hate that word), they would've been perfect.

If you kept them maintained they would perform like a champ. I haven't had much experience with them in the post-acetate world.

The early makeup tables didn't even make good firewood. [puke]

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 06-22-2009, 07:40 PM:

quote: Tim Reed
The early makeup tables didn't even make good firewood.

Man, oh man...you can say that again. [puke]

Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 06-23-2009, 03:07 PM:

btw; Tim, Bob Potts invented the LP-270 and made the first 1000 of them or so. Louis

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 06-23-2009, 04:13 PM:

..cuz Norelco platters were way too expensive for a lot of folks...

Posted by Ed Alvarado (Member # 2760) on 06-23-2009, 06:38 PM:

its speco there is only One E not EE or a silent E its SPECO not SPEECO. only a grand master projectionist like my self can help you understand the meaning of FILM AND BOOTH equipment.

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 06-23-2009, 07:38 PM:

They say "SPEE-ko" when they answer the phone.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 06-23-2009, 08:51 PM:

[Roll Eyes]

(I miss "Drive-In Theatre Mfg. Company" ...)

SPECO

quote:
Incorporated in March of 1948 in Kansas City, SPECO was originally known as the Drive-In Theatre Manufacturing Company. The name was fitting - at the time we manufactured everything for drive-in theatres including the steel screen towers, the kids' playgrounds known as the 'Streamliner', the classic RCA & Circlite speakers & junction boxes, roadway lighting, marquee signage and in-car heaters.

However, it was not the Drive-In Theatre industry that fueled our early successes. The company started research and development on electronic test equipment. The electronics testing equipment division grew into dominance in the field of testing circuitry. In 1954, the company's name was changed to DIT-MCO, Inc. This was derived from the initials of Drive-In Theatre Mfg. Co. and began our affinity for acronymns.

In 1962, the Drive-In Theatre Mfg. division was sold to the four employees who ran this division, and the name Drive-In Theatre Mfg. Co. was used once again. It was also around this time that we began to design and manufacture our own projection room equipment, most notably our first platter system, the venerated LP 270.

This new company tack proved to once again be beneficial, as the drive-in theatre industry began to wane. In approximately 1967, many drive-in theatre owners started selling their land to developers and drive-ins started on their decline. What had once been wonderful family attractions that brought people out on the weekends were now seen as large, leveled plots of multiple acres for prime land development locations. Following the paydirt trail, drive-ins started to succumb and their properties were developed into many things, such as Walmarts, strip malls, and sometimes indoor movie theatres.

In December of 1983, the name of the company was changed the final time to Systems & Products Engineering Company, our current acronymn of SPECO (pronounced SPEE-co). By this time, SPECO had developed an entire selection of products for indoor theatres, and the old name of Drive-In Theatre Mfg. Co. was misleading. While we continued to provide equipment for drive-ins, our emphasis had changed to engineering, developing, and manufacturing equipment for indoor theatre projection booths, including our signature LP 270-3 red platter system, our automation systems, dimmers, cue sensors, film cleaners, and a multitude of industry-leading film roller and interlocking assemblies.

..."SPEE-co".

-Monte

Posted by Ed Alvarado (Member # 2760) on 06-24-2009, 11:59 PM:

well done monte well done [beer]

Posted by Glen Rich (Member # 1150) on 07-15-2009, 08:36 PM:

Always called them SPAY-KO's. Been using the varitions on the LP 270-271, with the removable pay-out units, for 18 years, and have found them ridiculously reliable.
Unlike Cinemeccanica, Kinoton, and Christie, (please God don't make me ever have to operate or even look at a Christie platter again), platters which threw up issue after issue. The only issue I've ever had has been the Shut-Off microswitches dying, which has happened to twice in 16 years of average 5 sessions a day 364 day's a year...