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Topic: Simplex Apogee users ?

Janne Salminen
Film Handler

Posts: 8
From: Vantaa / Finland
Registered: May 2005

posted 06-02-2005 05:27 AM

What's your opinion on the Simplex Apogee?
How is it compared to "Millenium",is the picture steadiness as good? Is the new soundhead better than the old one?

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Monte L Fullmer
Film God

Posts: 8367
From: Nampa, Idaho, USA
Registered: Nov 2004

posted 06-02-2005 05:32 AM

..they should have left the Apogee on the drawing board and never made the unit.

2000Mils are better..for it's still an "XL" head that has been stretched upwards a couple of inches to allow full turret rotation without having to open up the turret.

(course, I prefer Christie.....but....lol)

-Monte

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Mark Gulbrandsen
Resident Trollmaster

Posts: 16657
From: Music City
Registered: Jun 99

posted 06-02-2005 07:42 AM

I wouldn't spec anything from Stong Internationl if you held a gun to my head except for the switching supplies, they haven't picked up the nickname "Wrong International" for no reason.

I would reccomend that you look at Kinoton first and then Christie. You can get a Kinoton for the same price as the Simplex.

Mark

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R. Andrew Diercks
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 232
From: Marion, Iowa (In the middle of everywhere)
Registered: May 2003

posted 06-02-2005 07:55 AM

The Apogee is still on the drawing board. We got three of them last summer. Strong immediately had to redesign the film gate because it cause a reflection on the right side wall surrounding the screen.

Then we had a tech come out to replace the seals around the projector head for a leak problem they were having. Guess what, two of them still leak and we are going to replace the entire heads. We immediatley had some problems with the second loop popping out after splices and Strong suggested moving the "loop shoot" upward. We then scratched every print that ran through them. I subsequently moved all the loop shoots back down and have had no further problems. Actually if they are threaded perfectly the loop doesn't pop out either, we just had to get used to the little quirks with it.

On the new heads Strong has redesigned the loop shoots to prevent scratching which apparently they had in many places. Our company installed about 20 of them last year and have at least half leaking.

As for picture, yes it is very steady and I am happy with the light from the lamphouse. Strong claims the gate tension has to be almost nothing, but we have had to turn ours up a bit to maintain steadiness. One thing I do like is that it forces projectionists to thread perfectly. If you fail to start in frame the intermittent rotates and compresses the bottom loop which may lead to scratching. It can also result in more problems with the loop popping out through splices.

Soundhead works fine, but I don't like the compressed space it sits in. First little while you thread it feels like your all thumbs.

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 06-02-2005 12:53 PM

quote: R. Andrew Diercks
One thing I do like is that it forces projectionists to thread perfectly. If you fail to start in frame the intermittent rotates and compresses the bottom loop which may lead to scratching. It can also result in more problems with the loop popping out through splices.

That's not exactly the kind of "feature" to brag about. Now if there was a way to restrict the framer movement to +/- one half perf in either direction, THEN I would say it was something positive, but as it is people will occasionally misthread, crank the framer to compensate rather than stop the machine, and end up with a scratched print. Not cool.

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R. Andrew Diercks
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 232
From: Marion, Iowa (In the middle of everywhere)
Registered: May 2003

posted 06-02-2005 01:09 PM

Brad, I agree that it's not a bragable feature, but the requirement has made them to pay attention on our Christies as well, which when I came to this theatre, NOBODY threaded in frame. Most didn't know what the turndown knob was for. When they finally did it right on the Apogees, they realized how nice it looks to start in frame. I took all but two competent people out of the booth completely and started over. All I'm saying is that the end result of this crappy design flaw was positive.

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 06-02-2005 01:19 PM

At least with the Christie design, you can get the framing dialed down perfectly, then lock it down. [Big Grin]

(Only suitable to do in mainstream houses, not art houses where you've got all sorts of screwed up printing jobs to deal with.)

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Mark Gulbrandsen
Resident Trollmaster

Posts: 16657
From: Music City
Registered: Jun 99

posted 06-02-2005 04:06 PM

quote: R. Andrew Diercks
The Apogee is still on the drawing board

It should remain there too [thumbsup]

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Louis Bornwasser
Film God

Posts: 4441
From: prospect ky usa
Registered: Mar 2005

posted 06-03-2005 08:14 PM

You will have to admit that its not as bad as the XL-II!!

Louis

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Mark Gulbrandsen
Resident Trollmaster

Posts: 16657
From: Music City
Registered: Jun 99

posted 06-03-2005 08:52 PM

quote: Louis Bornwasser
XL-II

OK Lou but only a fraction of an inch better.....
Used to have one of those beasts... can't remember how many belts and gear boxes but it DID set a new record on the count of belts and hgear boxes. [Eek!]

Mark

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Richard Fowler
Film God

Posts: 2392
From: Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA
Registered: Jun 2001

posted 06-04-2005 12:24 PM

Six drive belts.....the shutter compensation assembly had Super Simplex parts running in an oil tank and another mini-oil tank for the shutter drive [Eek!]

I had to evaluate this machine for a cinema circuit in the late 1970's...compared to this beast we decided to use V-5 projectors....because of availabilty of turret, two identical sized drive belts, ball bearings on shafts and at the time, the shutter box problems where not an issue.....and the Italian Lira was weak.

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Janne Salminen
Film Handler

Posts: 8
From: Vantaa / Finland
Registered: May 2005

posted 06-06-2005 07:18 AM

quote: Mark Gulbrandsen
I wouldn't spec anything from Stong Internationl if you held a gun to my head except for the switching supplies, they haven't picked up the nickname "Wrong International" for no reason.

I would reccomend that you look at Kinoton first and then Christie. You can get a Kinoton for the same price as the Simplex.

Wrong International [Big Grin]

That's funny. I've found out that if I order 10 spareparts from "Wrong", 1 or 2 of them will be something else than what was ordered. Or at least the part numbers will have changed and the new numbers can not be found in any manuals.

Here in Europe there is a big difference between Kinoton and Simplex prices. I guess it's because of the strong Euro. The low price makes Simplex interesting, but I guess we'll stick to European equipment.

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Dieter Depypere
Master Film Handler

Posts: 343
From: Deutsch-Wagram, Lower Austria, Austria
Registered: May 2005

posted 06-06-2005 07:26 AM

quote: Janne Salminen
The low price makes Simplex interesting, but I guess we'll stick to European equipment.

Do that! I would also prefer Kinoton equipment.

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Richard Fowler
Film God

Posts: 2392
From: Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA
Registered: Jun 2001

posted 06-06-2005 09:06 AM

If you are on a budget, the Kinoton A series make their equipment even more competitive.

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Michael Schaffer
"Where is the
Boardwalk Hotel?"

Posts: 4143
From: Boston, MA
Registered: Apr 2002

posted 06-06-2005 11:50 AM

quote: Janne Salminen
I've found out that if I order 10 spareparts from "Wrong", 1 or 2 of them will be something else than what was ordered. Or at least the part numbers will have changed and the new numbers can not be found in any manuals.

Here in Europe there is a big difference between Kinoton and Simplex prices. I guess it's because of the strong Euro. The low price makes Simplex interesting, but I guess we'll stick to European equipment.

Don't say that, Janne, that sounds provincial. Stick to good equipment! Which in that particular case happens to come from Europe. But you are right, Simplex is not really an alternative, even with the favorable exchange rate. Remember, you get what you pay for, and in most cases less than that. There is no such thing as "really" cheap equipment.
We just put in 14 complete A series packages, and so far, everything went very well. The machines are very similar to the "originals", the modifications they made to cut costs did not affect the quality of the presentation at all.

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