AFI SILVER THEATRE AND CULTURAL CENTER
Silver Spring, Maryland

Special Thanks to:

Mr. Ray Barry: Director of the AFI/Silver

Mr Don Scheuerman (Montgomery County Chief Engineer), who’s very broad shoulders seemed to carry the AFI/Silver through to completion.

The technical and projection staff at the AFI/Silver, without whom, all of this fine equipment would not accomplish what it does and with such professionalism on a daily basis.

The Design and Build Team:

The Architects of the AFI/Silver and Cultural Center: Gensler

The designers of the Audio Visual Systems: Boston Light & Sound (Thanks to Larry Shaw and Chapin Cutler).

Cinema, Projection and Sound Systems Installation: Cardinal Sound & Motion Picture Systems, Inc.

A/V, PA and Crestron Installation: Onyx Engineering

Broadcast Installation: Sony Integration.

General Contractor: Foulger-Pratt.

All photos except the B&W 1952 photo are © from the Steve Guttag collection and may not be used, distributed or duplicated without permission. The B&W photo has been commonly circulated without any copyright information. The copyright holder, if any, has been sought but not found. The Crestron layouts are also copyrighted.

December 2009 photos from the Steve Guttag collection.

84 KB · 415x625 The AFI/Silver as it appears in 2009. It operates 7-days a ...	60 KB · 625x208 The Silver as it appeared in the 1950s and in 2009. The “Si...	83 KB · 625x383 The outer lobby has been restored with its Art Deco coves.	79 KB · 625x415 Outer lobby poster cases.	86 KB · 625x415 Inner Lobby. The flags are on display for the European Unio...
110 KB · 625x409 The Historic Theatre (A.K.A. Silver 1) Originally seating a...	82 KB · 625x415 The Historic Theatre’s right wall. There is definitely a mi...	83 KB · 625x413 Looking back towards the booth, one can also see the light/s...	82 KB · 625x415 The theatre organ accompanies silent movies. Note too, one ...	99 KB · 625x407 One of the tricks the Historic Theatre must accomplish is ha...
95 KB · 625x407 However, the Art Deco walls move to allow for wide-screen mo...	105 KB · 625x415 Moving across the lobby to the new theatres. Above you can ...	67 KB · 625x413 The entrance to Theatre #2. Video monitors provide informat...	69 KB · 625x404 Silver II. Probably the best theatre to see a movie. Acous...	83 KB · 625x415 The two new theatres do not share the features of the Histor...
72 KB · 625x400 Theatre #2 looking back at the projection room. Just 4 sets...	74 KB · 625x411 Like the Historic, the other two theatres must be able to pr...	74 KB · 625x415 Theatre #2 in “scope” mode. The screen is just under 40-fee...	83 KB · 625x409 Theatre #2 seats 200, rather spaciously. The screen is rath...	71 KB · 625x415 Theatre #3 entrance, located at the entrance to the lobby fr...
77 KB · 625x415 Theatre #3 is a smaller version of Theatre #2. The brighter...	103 KB · 625x415 Theatre #3 seats 75 yet retains all of the A/V capabilities ...	73 KB · 625x406 All four sides of the masking system move to accommodate mos...	61 KB · 625x440 Like its siblings, Silver III can also do the 1.37 format pr...	98 KB · 625x415 This picture is included not to show off that the AFI/Silver...
64 KB · 415x625 This door, in particular. While the door has changed (and w...	59 KB · 415x625 The stairway and the climb to the booth has not changed in o...	51 KB · 625x427 At the top of the first flight of stairs to the booth we tak...	96 KB · 625x415 And finally, upon exiting the second flight of stairs one em...	99 KB · 625x561 The Barco DP50 still provides all of the video presentations...
76 KB · 625x415 And yes, the DP50 was THX approved.	86 KB · 415x625 Projectors 3 and 4 for Theatre #1 are the FP38ES by Kinoton....	85 KB · 415x625 Projector 1 and 2 in the Historic Theatre are the Kinoton FP...	88 KB · 625x469 Running 70mm and DTS.	71 KB · 415x625 Close up of the Kinoton control panel. The green LED next t...
77 KB · 415x625 The backside of the Kinoton FP38ES Projectors showing the EM...	115 KB · 625x471 Looking inside of the FP38ES, we see 16mm preamp/delay at th...	93 KB · 415x625 Moving down, the EMK-1 is now closed up. One can see the Cr...	111 KB · 415x625 Inside the projector itself. On the upper-left one can see ...	105 KB · 380x625 Since these projectors have automations built in, there are ...
100 KB · 415x625 Looking inside the FP75ES (35/70) one will see much of the s...	69 KB · 415x625 All of the xenon lamps are powered by IREM N3-180s except th...	89 KB · 625x602 Portal Station in the Historic Theatre. CP200 Cat 204 on th...	99 KB · 625x492 The main screen at the portal touch panel. Here the operato...	85 KB · 625x415 Masking Presets. In addition to the common formats, the pro...
114 KB · 625x500 PA Preset screen. It also allows the projectionist to choos...	87 KB · 625x495 Manual Lighting Controls.	80 KB · 625x460 Unlike most theatres, the AFI/Silver has a great many video ...	88 KB · 625x502 The remaining sources are the local ones as well as the HD s...	79 KB · 625x410 Once a source is selected, a suitable screen is opened up th...
91 KB · 625x490 The “automation” screen is tailored to the specific theatres...	117 KB · 625x489 From the Automation screen, one can choose from 1 of the 6 p...	63 KB · 243x625 Rarely used, the AFI/Silver does have its own dubbers that c...	70 KB · 571x625 Each projector also has its own lens cabinet (Neumade LC-2)....	86 KB · 415x625 The lens complement for a 35/16 projector…the 35mm scope len...
97 KB · 625x460 The rewind/inspection station in the Historic Theatre. The ...	86 KB · 625x415 As I said, they have a lot of film and film bins and reels. ...	86 KB · 625x415 And now for the Historic Theatre’s wall of sound…and video…a...	77 KB · 406x625 The finest processor ever designed, the Dolby CP200. Even i...	72 KB · 625x361 In fact, it has quite a few extra numbers. Wherever possibl...
95 KB · 415x625 Moving down one rack we come the CP200’s Accessories. Two D...	88 KB · 415x625 The next rack down continues the far reach of the CP200’s co...	106 KB · 415x625 So how does the CP200 control all of these peripherals? Wel...	78 KB · 415x625 The Pennywise DF-1 is what allows the CP200 to take on a ser...	64 KB · 219x625 The next rack is bit of the “meeting of the minds.” In here...
88 KB · 317x625 The Crestron and PA rack. The Crestron controller for the H...	80 KB · 625x536 The Crestron system was designed by Onyx Engineering of Virg...	123 KB · 625x487 At the rack one has at least the same functionality that one...	119 KB · 625x476 In some cases, the rack touch panel provides extra functiona...	114 KB · 625x415 There are also some functions that have no application at th...
100 KB · 625x415 Ever find that the original Dolby DMA8 doesn’t have enough c...	124 KB · 625x471 Even the film projectors are integrated. They can be contro...	100 KB · 625x472 The matrix switcher screen provides real-time status as well...	121 KB · 625x353 As mentioned before, the Crestron system can integrate the f...	120 KB · 625x472 Most cinema folks will not have this much control over their...
81 KB · 625x415 Each theatre has a pull-out shelf with an Elmo Slide tele-ci...	103 KB · 436x625 The last two racks in the Historic theatre contain the Cinem...	75 KB · 625x415 Located between the two projection booths is an audio record...	88 KB · 625x415 Entering the booth for theatres 2 and 3. Theatre #2’s equip...	77 KB · 415x625 Theatre #3’s equipment is on the left as well as the other f...
79 KB · 415x625 The Kinoton ST500E platter system in its “normal” mode (cove...	78 KB · 415x625 Located above the platter and also equipped in all three the...	83 KB · 625x362 The portal stations for theatres 2 and 3 are similar to the ...	81 KB · 625x449 Presets for theatres 2 or 3 showing the particulars for the ...	73 KB · 415x625 Theatre #2’s Cinema processor rack. It features the Panaste...
89 KB · 625x415 Open up and say “ahhhh.” The CSP1200s are fitted with genui...	86 KB · 625x415 The insides of a CSP4600. The dubbers use Panastereo SR (CM...	110 KB · 415x625 The next rack clearly shows why Ethernet switches belong in ...	102 KB · 415x625 The next rack down houses the Crestron system for Theatre #2...	94 KB · 415x625 The last rack contains the PA amps, Media Matrix for theatre...
114 KB · 415x625 Theatre #3s racks are nearly identical though a mirror image...	99 KB · 625x415 The VTR bank in the CTA. The DVD players on the left are pr...	103 KB · 625x415 Opposite of the VTR racks are the Video and Audio Patch bays...	111 KB · 415x625 Care to wire a video patch bay? How about a stack of them?	96 KB · 625x415 The video production suite.
89 KB · 625x415 And right next door is the audio production area (you can se...	77 KB · 625x415 The AFI/Silver. One of the best places to see a movie of an...