Further investigation by them revealed that, in of the three JBL 4670 speaker systems behind the screen, one 2225 woofer had been removed from each cabinet.

As this news filed through the appropriate channels at Head Office, I was summoned to investigate some three days later.

As it turned out not one, but several auditoria at this theatre had been "hit", all in the same manner. The theif removed only one of the 2 woofers from the cabinet (total of 13 units lost).

Strangely, the theif had the audio professionalism to replace the speaker cabinet back into the correct position. What made this even more of a mystery, is that the theif completely ignored the sub-woofers, which because of their position. at floor level, would have made a much easier target.

Obviously, in my mind anyways, this was not a "smash and grab" but a planned robbery by someone who not only brought in the correct tool, but realized that the removal of only one woofer would not be obvious to the theatre staff. Had it not been for the cleaner's missing broom, this crime might never have been reported until the next time (if we only had time) to run a Dolby test reel. By the way, there were no audience complaints of poor sound reported.

In any event, we had a number of replacement units from recently closed theatres. Before installing more speakers, however, I should like to take steps to try and ensure that the replacement speakers will not themselves be easily stolen in the future.

To this end, I am thinking of "theft proof screws" (those with the two indentations) in all speaker systems. I realize that these cannot be torqued the same as the original 10-32 Phillips screws or allen screws. My question is, has anyone tried these and can they be torqued sufficiently to properly mount the 2225 speaker?

Thanks for any replies.

You guessed it: The entire speaker box (Including the driver, horn, and cross-over) was stolen! It has been known to happen.

It also sounds like it's only one person since they are ignoring the subs which are pretty heavy to move far distances by yourself. However if you make it difficult to steal the woofers from the 4670's they might bring a dolly and take the subs instead. Mind you the 15" woofers would be a lot easier to fit in the back of a car than the 18" ones.

We had lost both of the transducers in all of the Left and Right speakers. We had also lost about 3 subwoofer transducers and a similar number of HF horn systems for the 4670D.

I have my suspicions as to who carried them away. There aren't too many people involved with the company who have what it takes to pull off a stunt like that...

1. What to remove
2. How to remove
3. When to remove
4. Need for the stolen property

In addition to the tamper-resistant screws, I have secured a quantity of those metallic "Property of" tags from the accounting department and I am putting them on everything (cabinets, woofers, horns, mounting brackets...everything). I am also keeping a log of the serial numbers of the actual product and also the corresponding property tag.

By the way, the 2035 is the spec replacement for the 4670, not the 2225...although, there's probably some wiggle room there. Personally, I would verify what was actually in your cabinets and order whatever is needed to make them all match one another. If that's the 2035, then get those. If it's something else in there, then get that instead. It's probably more important that they match than to get the spec replacement and have mis-matched units.

~Manny.

I just can't wait to start screwing!

Apparently, (and I didn't have time to look at them since the theater was closed and stripped by this time) they had installed some sort of devices that sense when a speaker has been moved or removed. Who makes something like this?

Our theater had the subwoofers stolen out of our largest houses. In one of them, only one was gone, and just the speaker itself. In the other house, BOTH were gone, cabinets and all, and according to the tech that came out because we had no low freq. in that house, they somehow managed to short out the amp during their little robbery!! Savages.

I've often thought about how easy it really is to steal equipment or fixtures from an auditorium. Someone could, for exampe, buy a ticket for "Pluto Nash" on a Tuesday afternoon and be the only one in a dark room for 2 hours to plunder as they please.

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How are these thieves getting behind the screen? In a procenium theatre, of course, they could just climb up on the stage, but in a typical multiplex, access is usually through a door (which should be locked) in one of the side exit hallways.

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I think it would be OK to have two screws less torqued than the others. I'd probably also take that ladder away.