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Author Topic: LED Sound adjustment on Kinoton FP50 Allan Riddelll Film Handler Posts: 33 From: msida , malta, europe Registered: Jan 2009 posted 04-18-2013 04:26 AM                     I seem to recall that this has projector had a sound adjustment screw in order to increase the intensity of LED light on the reverse scan unit. Can anybody throw some light on the location of the screw.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 04-18-2013 09:17 AM                     You will need to open the rear side of the projector mechanism and locate the RSSD power supply board. There, depending on the version of your RSSD you will find one or two single-turn pots (one for analog and one for digital).  |  IP: Logged Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-18-2013 10:00 AM                     In my opinion, if you think you need to adjust the brightness of the LED or exciter lamp, you ought to calibrate the entire A-Chain. Reset your processor's preamp to nominal levels. Use test film to bring the LED brightness up to a level where the preamp can read the signal. Check your film and reader alignment using the right alignment test films then, using Dolby Tone and Pink Noise films, fine-adjust your preamps and high-frequency settings for optimum performance. A half-decent technician can do this in less than an hour. A good one can do it in twenty minutes. It is well worth it to spend this time in order to get your projector and sound system working correctly. If you are in a situation where the sound is not working and you need to get it going right away, go ahead and adjust the LED but consider this a "Band-Aid" measure. As soon as you get the opportunity, you should have this done correctly. In these days, when film projection is becoming rare, I believe that "Film Done Right" is more important than ever. If you are not willing to take the time to do it right, you might as well buy a video projector and do it digitally. (I now relinquish my soapbox to the next person. )  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-18-2013 10:11 AM                        Why adjusting the LED brightness affect anything other than levels? (This is a real question.) The Dolby manual says to re-run the tone loop and adjust gain pots as necessary when changing an exciter lamp, and it makes sense that the same would apply after adjusting the LED brightness, but I'm not sure why there would be a need to check or adjust anything else, not that doing so would hurt, of course. The difference, of course, is that a full A-chain typically involves a service call, while Dolby tone is something than an operator can do, which could be a nontrivial cost. (My own opinion is that the tools and knowledge necessary to do a full A-chain should exist at every theatre, but that is, unfortunately, not often the case.) Note that I am referring only to analog optical sound here. Digital is, of course, a different kettle of fish.  |  IP: Logged Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-18-2013 10:32 AM                     I agree. You don't absolutely NEED to do it all. If you adjust your LED or replace the exciter, running a Dolby Tone loop and verifying should be sufficient but, as you said, every theater should have access to the equipment or, at least, have somebody on call who does. If your projector is correctly adjusted and your sound processor is correctly calibrated, doing the A-Chain should take only a few minutes. It should be little more than verifying that all is well. That is what I used to spend most of my time doing in theaters. I put my equipment and tools on a rolling cart and pushed it down the line, visiting each projector. I could P.M. a whole multiplex in a couple of hours, including coffee breaks. I'm sure that's what most guys did or still do in one fashion or another. My point isn't just about process. It's about ethic. Film projection is becoming rare. People who know how to do it are becoming rare. I believe it is more important than ever to be sure that your film projector is working as well as you know how to make it work. I believe that fifteen minutes to an hour's wort of time is well worth it in order to achieve that goal.  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-18-2013 10:41 AM                        Agreed, completely. But I would hate for some well-meaning but ill-informed theatre owner to be out the cost of a service call just because the LED level was adjusted, especially if the nearest service technician were hundreds of miles away. Of course, if the equipment and knowledge already exist locally, there is no reason not to do the whole thing.  |  IP: Logged Sean McKinnon Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1712 From: Peabody Massachusetts Registered: Sep 2000 posted 04-18-2013 11:12 AM                        It all depends on the circumstances if you had plenty of level yesterday and all of a sudden today your level is almost non existent then the first thing to do would be (and should be the first step in an a-chain) CLEAN THE OPTICS! I can't tell you how many times a good cleaning would bring the Dolby tone right back into spec. Mis alignment can also cause level problems and this is where Randy is coming from (I think) a lot of time a re alignment will bring a sudden drastic level change back into spec. If over a period of time you regularly run tone and over time you have to make very tiny slight upward adjustment equally to both channels then that is appropriate. Simply cranking the LED brightness to correct a sudden drastic change in level should only be used as a stop gap to get through a show. What happens (or used to before dip) a lot in multi's with all digital is that the analog goes unnoticed until either a digital failure or bad track. In those cases the analog LEDs might go for a year or more without any adjustment however I think it is still good practice to re verify the entire a chain alignment in those situations.  |  IP: Logged

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