Altec Lansing Voice of the Theater cabinets and speakers Identification

[Steve Guttag]

See now, you lost me with the unholy mashing of EV (for which I despise their "sound.") with Atlec. The A7 is fine, for what it is. In my mind...it is a small theatre or PA speaker. The 1" drivers just can't handle the power they need for many cinemas. Then again, the A7 can play to higher frequencies owing to its smaller/lighter diaphragm. However, when one is playing through a sheet of vinyl and with traditional optical sound 35mm movies, there was nothing up there anyway. I was never too jazzed about the Sectoral horn but it wasn't as bad as the multicell. The multicell has its place (placing a lot of sound in a large space with relatively little power).

For me, with Atlec, I like the A4/MR94 (or MR64, in the right theatre)...the same for the A2 if your barn is big enough, the A5C and the 604 (I have a set of 604/620 with the G series driver...though I'd prefer having the "K" horn to get the mantaray).

[Jim Cassedy]

There's a couple of unused V-O-T-T cabinets with speakers that may or may not work
sitting backstage at a theater here in SF, that the owner had offered to give to me or to
someone that wants them. The problem is that due to remodeling they are too big to get
out the stage door, so they'd have to be totally disassembled- - and since that offer was
made several years ago, a wholebuncha stuff has been shoved in front of them, making
removal more trouble than it's worth, for me, and for someone else I offered them to once.
They're probably still there, but I haven't been to that location in a while. At one point I
know the owner was considering just "chopping them up" to get rid of them.

[Ryan Gallagher]

There's a couple of unused V-O-T-T cabinets with speakers that may or may not work
sitting backstage at a theater here in SF, that the owner had offered to give to me or to
someone that wants them. The problem is that due to remodeling they are too big to get
out the stage door, so they'd have to be totally disassembled- - and since that offer was
made several years ago, a wholebuncha stuff has been shoved in front of them, making
removal more trouble than it's worth, for me, and for someone else I offered them to once.
They're probably still there, but I haven't been to that location in a while. At one point I
know the owner was considering just "chopping them up" to get rid of them.

If theatres had infinite storage space, no one would get rid of anything. I know ours is fighting against that tradition as remodels approach and spaces have to be emptied.

The backrooms would be like that gov storage facility in Indiana Jones. If they aren't already. ;-)

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

I realize the joke there (it worked better with THX approved...Joe's video is still tops...THX..."We'll Certify Anything!"). Dolby does not "approve" or disapprove anything. I could certainly use them in a Dolby Atmos system. Contrary to popular belief, Dolby Atmos doesn't put additional stress/demands on the screen channels or subwoofers. It also doesn't draw more power as the overall SPL should be the same or pretty close. What it does increase demands on are the surrounds...where each speaker has to be able to play just about as loud as a screen channel...then multiply that out times each speaker. This may make people think that the electric demands would go way up. But you aren't going to have 50 surround speakers playing at 100dB at once (think about that SPL!!!).

Would I use an A4 or A5 in an Atmos room? Yes, if it made sense for the room. That is always the key...matching equipment to the room.

Well, every manufacture has to have sales gimmicks to survive. The licensing aspects are just too lucrative to ignore...