Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: New Seats

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Posted by Richard C. Wolfe (Member # 431) on 06-03-2010, 01:25 PM:

I've decided that it is time to replace my seats. Wow, have the price of seats shot up since I last replaced them back in 1989. This time in addition to replacing the seats, I'm having the wood auditorium floor of my historic 1920 theatre sanded and refinished and all new isle carpet as well. That will for the most part finish the restoration of this theatre, which has only taken me 40 years.

An average theatre seat for a sloped floor from American or Erwin now costs around $200. I have seen the ads in Box Office magazine for Dolphin Seating. They have some pretty luxurious looking seats at reasonable prices, but most of there seats have backs that are too high for slopped floor theatres. Those are the ones advertised for between $99 and $119 apiece. They do have a very attractive conventional low back, slopped floor seat that sells for $86.00.

My question is does anyone here have any experience with seats from this company? Would you or would you not recommend them and why or why not?

I thank you in advance for your imput.

Posted by Galen Murphy-Fahlgren (Member # 4535) on 06-03-2010, 01:59 PM:

I don't have any experience with these seats, but is your theater a non-profit, official historic theater? I only ask because, if it is, and you have some sort of theater historical society or membership association, you might be able to defray the costs of a reseating with donations for dedications. The Detroit Film Theatre here did this a few years ago, charging about $200, if I recall correctly, for a seat dedication. Now, this is a historic theater that is part of a world-class museum, and has a large, dedicated membership, so depending on your circumstances, it may or may not be a viable option, but as you said yours was a historic theater, I thought I would throw it out there.

Posted by Alex Shultz (Member # 5027) on 06-03-2010, 02:17 PM:

I redid my sloped floor auditorium with some Mobilario Alessandria rockers. I am really happy with them. They don't have really high backs. They do have a rounded top that gives them nice look in my older style auditorium.

Posted by Richard C. Wolfe (Member # 431) on 06-03-2010, 02:23 PM:

This is NOT a non profit theatre, it is a privately owned (by myself) commercially operated film and stage theatre. I have owned it for the past 40 years, and make my living doing such. It has been a slow gradual restoration paid for by the profits that the theatre has generated each year.

Posted by Michael Voiland (Member # 5386) on 06-03-2010, 04:33 PM:

I would love to see photos.

Posted by Richard C. Wolfe (Member # 431) on 06-03-2010, 05:45 PM:

If it's pictures of my theatre you're looking for... go here:
http://www.roxytheaternorthampton.com/photos.htm
They are not up to date. All the curtains and drapes have been replaced. The drapes that are blue in the photos are now burgundy. The grand drape has been lowered to expose the original art deco proscenium. The ceiling has been painted back to the original color which is a kind of creamy tanish color. The grilles and mouldings are the same as in the photos.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 06-03-2010, 05:56 PM:

Richard - every time I see your photos I get jealous. Your Roxy looks great and your website is excellent as well. My own Roxy looks pretty good but nothing like yours. Kudos on a great job.

Posted by Richard C. Wolfe (Member # 431) on 06-03-2010, 06:55 PM:

Mike... no reason to be jealous. You have a fantastic theatre. I have had a picture of your theatre front and marquee on my desk for about the past 20 years. I often go to your great web site as well to see what you have been up to.

Some day it would be great to meet you. I'm sure we would talk shop for endless hours.

Posted by John T. Hendrickson, Jr (Member # 849) on 06-03-2010, 08:46 PM:

Richard, FWIW, we put in Mobilario seats when we reopened 10 years ago and they have held up well. I'm sure the price has gone up on them, and while I am not familiar with their current line, they proved to be a good buy for us.

Good luck with the refurbishing. I keep promising myself that I'll stop by to see you some day, as my sister lives in Neffs and raves about your theatre. Maybe this summer will be that "some day". [Smile]

Posted by Phil Blake (Member # 2012) on 06-05-2010, 06:26 AM:

the other alternate is to look at some of the stuff coming out of China , price is good and some of the stuff is not too bad.

Posted by Mike Croaro (Member # 3123) on 07-07-2010, 07:01 PM:

There used to be companies that refurbished theatre seating (painting, new foam, springs, fabric etc).

Are they still around. Is this still done?

Mike

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 07-11-2010, 10:02 PM:

Been reasonaby happy with seating concepts

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 07-12-2010, 09:31 AM:

We have Greystone seats and are really happy with them. Great customer service.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 07-12-2010, 01:56 PM:

You can also check out R.G.S. seating. Sorry on no actual pricing for these seats, but heard they have an affordable price on them. Check with your dealer on more info.

Speaking of RGS Seating .... an interesting story below:

I know of a cinema that did something rather retarded on a remodel job:

Cinema has sloped floors, and the original installed seats were giving them troubles.

Thus, it was time for a remodel after 15 years of being opened:

They put in RGS rocker seating model RGS-758A ... (decent seats, not bad to sit in..) ...

..but they're "Highback" seats - being installed in their sloped floor houses???

And the seating arrangement is straight across - not in a radius, nor in a staggered arrangement. Seating layout is in a straight rank and file arrangement like soldiers at attention in all of their houses.

Now, short people have to sit on the ends to see the screen clearly. Kids definitely have to use booster seats (and even some of the adults will grab them as well...)

I asked them on why highbacks..."oh, to make the houses look different..that a remodel was definitely done"

Heard that doing this definitely didn't increase their attendance as they hoped it would. People like going to the other cinema in this town better since they have better offers to the movie going public - a definite "value for the dollar" is in store in this situation.

Posted by Mike Croaro (Member # 3123) on 07-12-2010, 06:50 PM:

Isn't is SO MUCH NICER when the seats are on a nice radius? It makes all the seats in the house good seats.

Mike

Posted by Alex Shultz (Member # 5027) on 07-12-2010, 07:42 PM:

How do you figure out how to do seats on a radius? Are there some rules of thumb to keep in mind? Some magic way to start figuring out where to place things?

Posted by Mark Hajducki (Member # 1732) on 07-12-2010, 07:46 PM:

Depending how often you sell out it may be worth thinking about reducing the seating capacity.

This would have two benefits, firstly the cost of the new seats would be less (as there would be less in number) and customer comfort would increase (justifying higher ticket prices).

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 07-13-2010, 12:16 AM:

To do a radius is to have the floor completely bare and string lay a light curve where the middle two seats per each row are almost parallel to the screen and the left and right side seats are center with middle left and middle right from the center of the screen respectively.

This is the basic layout, but I'm sure that there are more secret tricks involved in laying a good radius seating layout on the floor.

Yes, doing straight and shotgun rows buys more seats per square footage of the house layout, but what's more important: seat count or patron comfort? In the straight shotgun layout, the patrons sitting on the side literally have to sit at a diagonal, or turn their heads to see and to be in the center of the action on the screen.

And they do gripe on being stiff and sore after sitting for two hours like that, esp the senior citizen patrons.

And you know, after a few visits experiencing that sort of discomfort, they'll go find some other venue that is more comfortable to see a movie in and they'll call that place "the best seat in town" - and good luck in trying to win them back.

-Monte

Posted by Mike Frese (Member # 4361) on 07-13-2010, 09:39 PM:

The seat manufacturers should have those instructions in their manuals. I have seen those instructions before when I installed some Irwin seats.