School’s Out For Alcons Audio In De Fabriek

Theater ‘De Fabriek’ room 1

Located on the banks of the Zaan river in the city of Zaandam, a few kilometres north-west of Amsterdam, Filmtheater De Fabriek (‘The Factory’) is a popular cinema. The cinema has recently added a new 30 seat theatre and, at the same time, updated the audio in its existing 90 and 63 seat theatres, all with Alcons Audio pro-ribbon systems.

Filmtheater De Fabriek offers an in-depth movie experience, each month offering introductions, after-talks or panel discussions about its programme of films. These provide more context for the films and the viewer with food for thought. This approach to providing a more complete experience includes the sound, of course, which is why Alcons pro-ribbon systems are often preferred by this type of smaller, high quality movie house.

“The clarity and lack of interference distortion, even at higher volumes, impressed us the most and the systems perform very well.” John de Jong, project coördinator de Fabriek

Here’s where the advantages of Alcons pro-ribbon cinema systems shine. From the optimized room coverage, the 1:15 dynamic range, perfect speech intelligibility and the ultra-low distortion; typically the most heard complaint from audiences about movies being perceived as too loud.

De Fabriek occupies a 100 year old former school building, which has seen many changes over the years. A recent refurbishment saw original details being preserved and, at the same time, the cinema being brought right up to date with the installation of a Dolby 5.1 system in the new theatre and improving the existing theatres with a modern, high quality sound systems. This included upgrading the largest theatre from Dolby 5.1 to 7.1.

Leading cinema integration company CinemaNext was approached and, after recommending Alcons pro-ribbon systems, Filmtheater De Fabriek’s board member Marc Zeldenthuis, managing director Katrien Lamers and project coördinator John de Jong visited the ISE 2020 trade show.

Left to right: Katrien Lamers & John de Jong

“We first heard Alcons in the company’s demo room at ISE 2020,” says John de Jong. “We also visited several other cinemas for information and to listen to their systems. In terms of audio quality and audience sound perception, it quickly became clear that Alcons was the best solution for us.”

The De Fabriek team then attended a demonstration at Filmtheater Focus in Arnhem, which led to the Alcons CR2 three-way compact screen system being chosen for the screens in all three rooms. Featuring an RBN601 pro-ribbon HF driver, twin eight inch midrange and 15” woofer, the CR2 is the ideal solution where medium output, high quality cinema sound reproduction is needed.

In the two bigger spaces, CinemaNext added CB181sl 1×18” shallow subwoofer systems and CCS6 small format surround speakers, which feature a one inch exit compression driver with 6.5” woofer in coaxial configuration. Sentinel10 amplified loudspeaker controllers were installed in each room for power and control.

Theater ‘De Fabriek’ room 2

“The clarity and lack of interference distortion, even at higher volumes, impressed us the most and the systems perform very well,” says John de Jong. “As our first Alcons installation, we are very happy with the sound and are sure that our audiences will be, too.”

More information on: www.de-fabriek.nl

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