Path: utzoo!telecom-request Date: Tue, 28 May 91 15:15:12 PDT From: POWERS@ibm.com Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Did Western Electric Also Produce Sound Recordings? Message-ID: Organization: TELECOM Digest Sender: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 405, Message 3 of 7 Lines: 42 I know that Western Electric produced equipment to play phonograph records; I have seen turntables they built. Around 1960, I worked as a projectionist in an old theater that had a Western Electric sound system. This included (massive cast iron) bases for the 35mm projectors and carbon arc lamps, the optical "sound head" assemblies, takeup reel assemblies, all the electronics, and the loudspeakers. The bases had mounting holes and mechanical drive for the turntables, which I found in a back room in a fit of exploration. That's right, an early form of sound movies used sound on records, and this place was equipped (originally) for both kinds of production! I don't know the speed used, but one record would have had to hold 22 minutes of sound to match the duration of a 2,000 foot reel of 35mm film. I seem to recall that the turntables were larger than 12 inches. The installation dated from around 1930. DC power was originally supplied by a battery rack that was charged during non-operating hours; this had been replaced by a motor generator set. The amplifer was capable of five (count'em!) watts. The speakers were conical horns with field coils; the small one in the projection room was still in use, but the immense horn still hanging from the stage ceiling behind the screen was no longer used (an Altec "Voice Of The Theater" unit had taken its place). The electronics was housed in black metal cabinets with Bakelite panels, and every important circuit had a meter on it (including the filament current to the sound head lamps). Audio level controls were of the multi-tap attenuator variety, with the wiper sweeping over a circle of metal buttons right on the panel. Everything was built like the proverbial brick outhouse, and the only real problems I had were with the (also massive) motors. I always wondered where their maintenance man found those old fashioned tubes with different sized pins ... but I never had one burn out in the several years I worked there. Jack Powers powers@ibm.com jackp@well.sf.ca.us Opinions, if any, are mine, if anyone's.