Welcome to our latest Newsletter.

As cinema broadens its appeal, this has been a time for treading new paths. Following the successful installation of a DCI compliant projector in Tate Modern, we installed a Sony R515 projector in the impressive main lecture theatre of the British Museum. Museums are increasingly becoming places of learning, where high quality presentations are a valuable addition to their normal activities.

The stunning new YouTube Studios offer creative facilities to those who run the larger YouTube channels, and once again, we are proud to have helped equip the new state of the art creative space at Pancras Square, Kings Cross.

These are clearly not usual cinema auditoria, but the ability to run DCI encrypted feature films and work in high quality post production environments is available to all – and proving very popular.

I have also made exciting discoveries regarding the versatility of QSC Q-Sys in many areas of a cinema. We have known about its use in multi-channel immersive audio systems for some time, but there is a slick tie-in with conference and presentation systems that can make it even more desirable.

Lastly I would like to take this opportunity to personally wish John Stephens a very happy 70th birthday. Many of you will know that John worked with my father, Peter, in the very early days of Sound Associates and is still working for us today after 47 years of dedicated service. Thank you, John, for so many excellent years with SA and enjoy your celebrations.

Completed Projects:

YouTube Studios

Sound Associates are proud to have been involved in the equipping of the YouTube Studios in the fantastic new Google Headquarters at 6 Pancras Square, London.

This spectacular new building has 3 TV studios, one of these studios has 4K cinema capability. We installed a Barco 4K 23B projector with a CP850 and a Q-Sys audio processing system for the Dolby Atmos configuration. This state of the art “YouTube Space” is available to people who run YouTube channels with more than 10,000 subscribers.

British Museum

Once again SA has been instrumental in bringing cinema out of the usual auditorium into a museum environment. The British Museum has an impressive 323 seat lecture theatre that provides a perfect space in which to show film or hold conferences.
They requested state of the art projection and Sound Associates recommended and installed a Sony R515 because the client required a projector with a high contrast ratio in order for archive material to look its best. The result was very impressive.

Number 8, Pershore

Sound Associates first worked with this thriving community arts centre many years ago when we installed a 35mm Victoria 5 projector and CP650 Audio processor. They have had excellent digital capabilities for a long time, but with the increased popularity of Event Cinema, we were asked to upgrade their sound system.

We installed a Datasat AP20 processor with the latest QSC DPA amplifiers and we took the opportunity to upgrade from 5.1 to 7.1 audio, a simple task only requiring additional amplifiers. However, the 250 seat auditorium is used for many purposes and they need to be able to remove our speakers, through a 2m high standard door frame. We made a custom designed speaker stand on wheels, with a removable top section and custom made brackets to make sure the time alignment stayed constant.

John Stephens turns 70

We wish John Stephens a very happy 70th birthday. He is SA’s longest serving employee, having joined the company in September 1969. John worked closely with Peter Lodge, the founder of Sound Associates, running the projectors in our dubbing theatres. As specialists in 35mm, they most memorably worked in Sudan and Ethiopia, enjoying many adventures together.

John has witnessed many changes in the industry and in the company, we have been lucky to have his wealth of experience for such a long time.

Trip to Harkness factory

Mark and Graham were invited to join an organised tour of the Harkness screen factory, south of Paris. The 23 members of the group were met at the airport and whisked away to Amilly, where the inconspicuous factory is sited. The tour was fascinating and we all learned a lot given that this is a product that we have been selling for decades.

If anyone had believed that a cinema screen was simply a piece of plastic with holes in it, they certainly had their eyes opened. The process is intricate and every screen is tailor made to the location and conditions in which it will hang.

Q-Sys, its many uses...

In a previous newsletter we mentioned that we use QSC Q-Sys audio processors in many of our Dolby Atmos Immersive audio installations as they are so good at accepting, processing and routing multiple channels of audio around a cinema. It also allows multi-channel alternative inputs to be easily accommodated.

Since then we have discovered all the other amazing things that a Q-Sys processor can do and have found some really useful facilities that could be of great interest to a cinema, even if they don't have Atmos.

If your cinema has any existing or future plans to offer conference facilities, then a Q-Sys Core can offer:

• simple control of multiple microphones with inbuilt feedback extermination,
• automatic microphone mixers,
• control of microphone levels from an IPad
• and many, many more features.

Please contact us if you are considering upgrading your sound system or simply want to add these facilities to your existing system - it is very straightforward and not expensive.

Dolby Fidelio

Another new product that we have been working with is Dolby Fidelio - this provides the Hearing Impaired (HI) or Visually Impaired (VI) audio tracks to customers in your cinema using a short range signal rather than the Infrared systems used previously.

A combination charger and programming station tells each receiver which auditorium it will be used in and if it will receive HI or VI audio. The audio quality is extremely good and the whole system is very cost effective - please contact us for more details and a quotation for your cinema. Click here to find out more about Dolby Fidelio >

Lamp disposal and recycling

For many years we have been offering the facility for customers who purchased Philips lamps from us to return them when their operating life is over and we then dispose of these lamps in an environmentally-friendly and safe way.

Before these lamps are destroyed they are examined by a trained engineer to see if there are any indications of excess heat or other operating parameters within the projector that might need further examination to ensure that future lamps are not affected in the same way and might lead to early failure in the future. All this for no charge.

We would now like to offer this service to all customers. When you return your lamps to us for disposal, we will check them, report back if we have concerns about the lamps’ operating environment and then recycle them. All we ask is that you download and fill in the Lamp Return Form from and ensure that it is returned with every lamp sent to us. Please ensure that the old lamps are safely packaged, they should ideally be sent back in the manufacturer's original packaging.

If you have built up a large stock of old xenons and would like to return them in bulk, then please get in touch with us and we can discuss the best way of getting them shipped back for safe disposal. Click here to download the form >

Special Offer*

For every non-Philips lamp returned to us we will issue a 10% discount voucher redeemable against the list price of an equivalent Philips xenon lamp.

For every Philips xenon lamp returned to us we will issue a 5% discount voucher redeemable against the list price of a replacement Philips Xenon lamp.

*Only one voucher can be redeemed against each lamp purchased. Offer valid until 31/12/16

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