Dismal Weekend....

[Steve Guttag]

One would need to have first hand knowledge about their policy on the screens. For all we know, that screen that got torn down was due for replacement so they tore it down as that would make disposal that much easier as well as save on the labor to carefully remove it.

As for speaker repairs...no lie, if we speced the speakers, amps and processing...repairs (woofers) just aren't a thing. Poor design of the theatre (wrong speakers, wrong amps, wrong processing) is what kills drivers. But, when we've "pulled" screens to either repair a speaker or replace, we've often just done it ourselves. Unspring/lace it along the bottom and up the sides (about ⅔-¾ of the way up...take some springs and hook the bottom of the screen and take that up with you and hook it up high...hook it in enough places such that no spring/grommet is really taking on excessive force. One can then get either to the LF drivers or even move a speaker out or in. A mechanical Genie type lift can go along way for moving speakers up/down. There are limits, however...really big screens would be impractical due to the weight and forces on the material as you have to work your way up in multiple steps.

But shame on the designers that didn't think about service. Normally, one can rotate a speaker 90-degrees to get access to its face. Then there are the HVAC returns that can make getting about a challenge. It can also be tricky getting a ladder under some screens that are long enough to get back there. But hey...if they really build the room and screen system that prevents service, then "pay later" will be the rule.

Then again, I'm a huge proponent of baffle walls. Build the system more like this and you get service access (there is a walk way up at the screen speaker level too...this is at the subwoofer level)...oh yeah... works lights with electricity (the amps are behind the screen too for the screen channels).

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[Mark Gulbrandsen]

What? You take down screens when you replace speaker drivers? I wish I knew that when I was climbing scaffolds behind the screen with only three feet of space while holding a flashlight clenched between my teeth!

Think about it. You're paying a crew of workers to take down one screen, replace it with another then restore it again, later. The original screen would have to be carefully removed, rolled up and stored in a safe place where it won't get damaged or dirty then brought back out to reverse the process.

If the cost of labor and expenses are greater than the cost of just buying a new screen, you're saving money.

If you're only taking a screen down to make speaker repairs then put it back up, again, the logistics are different and buying a new screen would be more of an expense than savings.

Unless, of course, if you're already planning to replace the screen. In which case, you'd be saving money by doing all your repairs at once.

Um, that's exactly what was done when the baffle wall and new speakers went in at Mike Blakesley's theater in Forsyth MT...

[Ed Gordon]

One would need to have first hand knowledge about their policy on the screens. For all we know, that screen that got torn down was due for replacement so they tore it down as that would make disposal that much easier as well as save on the labor to carefully remove it.

...

Steve, your guess on why the screen was ripped down was spot on. Found this in the comments section on YouTube:

Can anyone tell me why they destroyed the front screen? I thought the whole thing about the Martin theatre was that they use the flatter front screen for standard releases and the deep cinerama louvered screen for three strip cinerama replays. I'm baffled.

Reason front screen was destroyed was that after the Cinerama Run, a brand new screen was installed. As you can imagine, the front screen takes a beating during a conversion. Periodically, that screen has to be replaced. And yes, this is Seattle Martin Cinerama.

[Leo Enticknap]

The situation in which we would get the riggers in to take a screen down are if the speaker is built into a baffle wall with no access from behind (happens surprisingly often, and yes, it's an architectural design blunder), or height or other issues make it impossible for me to gain access to the affected speaker driver safely. I am now the only field tech my company has, and my car is not big enough to hold the ladders and other equipment needed to work safely at heights, meaning that extra, specialist help is needed to gain safe access to speakers in larger auditoria. And once the speakers get to 20-30 years old, the drivers do start to fail. Most of the places we have to schedule rigger calls for speaker work at are those in which the speakers weren't replaced when the 35mm to digital conversion happened, are decades old, and plain simply wear out. The screens usually are, too, and have lost enough gain that replacement would be the better option; but often, customers don't have the budget to do that, so the old screen has to go back up.

Reminds me of a phone conversation with someone whose screen was decades old, visibly yellow, stained, and needed replacement. He wanted a ballpark figure as to what that would cost. I gave him a very rough guesstimate, and offered to pass the query to Sales for an accurate one, if he could give me the dimensions and some photos of the existing frame, etc. In response to the guesstimate, he replied, "You want that much, just for a big white sheet???!!! Man, you guys are a shovin' it right up my poo hole!"

[Harold Hallikainen]

I've always thought of Cinermama as amazingly complex. I also thought VistaVision was an extremely elegant way to get a wide aspect ratio.

[Oliver Green]

The situation in which we would get the riggers in to take a screen down are if the speaker is built into a baffle wall with no access from behind (happens surprisingly often, and yes, it's an architectural design blunder), or height or other issues make it impossible for me to gain access to the affected speaker driver safely. I am now the only field tech my company has, and my car is not big enough to hold the ladders and other equipment needed to work safely at heights, meaning that extra, specialist help is needed to gain safe access to speakers in larger auditoria. And once the speakers get to 20-30 years old, the drivers do start to fail. Most of the places we have to schedule rigger calls for speaker work at are those in which the speakers weren't replaced when the 35mm to digital conversion happened, are decades old, and plain simply wear out. The screens usually are, too, and have lost enough gain that replacement would be the better option; but often, customers don't have the budget to do that, so the old screen has to go back up.

Reminds me of a phone conversation with someone whose screen was decades old, visibly yellow, stained, and needed replacement. He wanted a ballpark figure as to what that would cost. I gave him a very rough guesstimate, and offered to pass the query to Sales for an accurate one, if he could give me the dimensions and some photos of the existing frame, etc. In response to the guesstimate, he replied, "You want that much, just for a big white sheet???!!! Man, you guys are a shovin' it right up my poo hole!"

Specialists are called in to remove screens when built into inaccessible baffle walls or for safety reasons. As the sole field tech, limitations in equipment prevent safe access to some speakers. Older speakers often require maintenance, especially in venues that retained outdated systems during digital conversions. Budget constraints can lead to reusing aged screens despite better replacement options. A customer's reaction to the cost of replacing an old screen highlighted the challenge of conveying the value of audio-visual upgrades.