Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Oprah-fying film equipment: What did you obtain?!

This is topic Oprah-fying film equipment: What did you obtain?! in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

To visit this topic, use this URL:
https://ft-forum.com/ft/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=8;t=007157

Posted by Buck Wilson (Member # 5885) on 01-24-2015, 09:06 PM:

With the unfortunate near demise and conversion of 99% of theaters in the nation to digital, and us being the nerdy collectors that we are, what did you all score in conversions or closings?!

I'm most proud of my 4 Prevost P-55 heads. I'm told they're likely the only ones left in the states. I know that can't be true, but there's likely not many? Anyone have any guesses on this?

-4 p-55 heads
-1 Simplex XL
-2 Xetron XHN consoles
-1 Brenkert base
-1 SPECO LP270, one of the very first incarnations
-Scads of spare parts for all of the above
-1 Xetron auditorium light dimmer
-1 Xetron interlock interface panel
-1 Dolby CP500
-DTS disc player and 2 readers
-Dolby cat 700? digital reader
-Hundreds of NOS 130v brass base incandescent floods and a19s
-Decent amount of NOS theater carpet
-Huge rolls and rolls of NOS wall treatment fabric
-Steel cabinet with retro Technicolor depot drop sign
-A couple of hall signs with a full set of letters and some mylar
-6 sconce lights
-Splicers, reels, cleaners, etc
-24 seats

I'm sure I'm missing a bunch but that's the jist of it.

It was all free. So I nearly have a full screening room worth of stuff. Pretty exciting.

Posted by Sean Weitzel (Member # 244) on 02-12-2015, 06:23 PM:

I've had a modest old DeVry XD projector for screening my film collection over the last 20 years. During the last two years during the peak of conversions I've managed to acquire quite a bit of equipment just because it came available and was free and I have the space for it. Eventually I want to install just the best of the best into a purpose built screening room, keep an appropriate amount of spare This list is just off the top of my head:

Projectors:
70mm/35mm:
two Century JJ turret models with bypass rollers
one Century JJ single lens model with bypass rollers
35mm:
two Century SA
one Century SAW
one Century H
one Cinemecannica Victoria 8r
one DeVry XD

Lamps:
one Cinemecannica 450 watt vertical xenon
one ORC 1000 integrated 750 watt xenon
one Christie H10 1000 watt xenon
one Christie C10 1000 watt xenon console
one Christie unknown vertical xenon lamp

Xenon power supplies:

Christie 1000 watt portable
Strong 2000 watt switcher
LP Associates 2000 watt

Lenses:
mix of 10 or 12 of different focal lengths and scope adapters. Some old Kollmorgan, some newer ISCO and Schneider.

Sound processors:
one Dolby CP200 with MPU and upgraded for DA20
one Dolby CP50
one Dolby DA-20
one DTS6
one DTS6D
one DTS XD-10
one Sony SDDS-2000
one Cinema Digital Sound

Sound readers:
one Dolby Cat 701
one BACP DSTR-20
one 35mm DTS
one SDDS
two Cinema Digital Sound

Film handling:
pair of Kelmar 2000 series reel arms (with 70mm conversion parts)
pair of Kelmar 7000 series reel arms
two Christie AW3R platters with one 70mm conversion kit
two Christie MUTs

Misc:
spare test film, spare intermittents, rollers, splicers, etc etc etc

Posted by Buck Wilson (Member # 5885) on 02-12-2015, 10:20 PM:

Sounds like you have a lot more room than I do!! Haha. What an excellent haul!

Since originally posting this, I garnered another dozen boxes of new old stock reel arms, splicers, Simplex Apogee and Strong SCDC3 parts, etc etc

Very hopeful I'll get to use all this in a home screening room someday.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 02-13-2015, 12:51 AM:

On one conversion, I did manage to tag a "JJ" SN#313. Unit doesn't have the bypass rollers - they're located within the sound head.

Posted by Sean Weitzel (Member # 244) on 02-13-2015, 01:06 AM:

Cool, Buck. Maybe we can do some good old fashioned horse tradin' down the road. I could always use another pair of reel arms. I should also add that some things on my list I paid quite a bit for (like the Century JJ machines and some of the sound equipment) Not everything listed there was free but a good chunk of it was definitely headed to the scrap before I stepped in.

Posted by Marcel Birgelen (Member # 6801) on 02-13-2015, 02:53 AM:

quote: Buck Wilson
I'm sure I'm missing a bunch but that's the jist of it.

Quite an impressive list, but I'm missing amplifiers and speakers. Would be perfectly fine if you'd be running silent films only, but I guess that would make the CP500+reader and DTS stuff at least somewhat redundant [Wink]

Posted by Buck Wilson (Member # 5885) on 02-27-2015, 05:12 PM:

True that! That's one thing I didn't grab anything of. The location I got most of this from had nothing but garbage past the processors so I didn't bother. I figured I'd worry about it when I set up my screening room and get high quality equip worth having.