8mm Forum: Wanted: Fair Market Value on a Silma Memory Stereo 90 Super 8 projector

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Posted by Frank Wylie (Member # 2863) on December 09, 2011, 06:50 AM:

Hi, Glad to have found this forum! I have a friend who would like to sell me her Silma Memory Stereo 90 Super 8mm Projector, but I am unfamiliar with this Italian projector and need to know a fair market value to pay her. According to her, the projector was bought new, used once and boxed since the 1980's. Thanks for your assistance.

Posted by Winbert Hutahaean (Member # 58) on December 09, 2011, 07:01 AM:

If it is taking bigger reel, eg, 800 or even 1200 feet than I guess it will be around easily $150-200 at Ebay.

Any big capacity projector has better value in the market, and stereo feature (although not too many people have stereo films) is another selling point.

good luck

Posted by Jean-Marc Toussaint (Member # 270) on December 09, 2011, 09:13 AM:

If I remember correctly, these machines were only taking 600ft spools. They were the next generation of the S2XX series by Silma and T17X, 18X and 19X by Bauer (Bauer projectors were manufactured by Silma). Since it hasn't been used for 30 years, a thorough inspection is de rigueur, as well as a good lube. The electronics could be dry so cleaning of all circuits shouldn't be neglected.
Jürgen Lossau's book evaluated this machine at 95.00.

Welcome to the forum, Frank

Posted by Maurizio Di Cintio (Member # 144) on December 09, 2011, 09:14 AM:

It's very similar to Bauers (mid of the range), especially the Syncro 430. Very gentle on film, very silent, very good sound (stereo) with many recording facilities, feather touch operation-control, but reel capacity limited to 600', 100 W bulb and no upper sprocket drum. Plus a lot of electronics controlling the various operation mode.

Posted by Barry Fritz (Member # 1865) on December 09, 2011, 09:51 AM:

With old projectors, they are worth what someone is willing to pay for them and what a person is willing to sell them for. Prices for similar machines sometimes vary widely on Ebay. Since this is the original owner, she may think it is worth way more than it actually is. See if she will state an asking price to give you an idea what is on her mind. If it is to high, be careful in offering a more reasonable price as she may have some strong personal attachment to the projector. I doubt that is the case if she only used it once, but you don't want her to become indignant.

[ December 09, 2011, 04:28 PM: Message edited by: Barry Fritz ]

Posted by Frank Wylie (Member # 2863) on December 09, 2011, 10:48 AM:

Thanks everyone for the helpful suggestions and the welcome! I have yet to see the machine, but just wanted to give her a fair price, as she is leaving it up to me to set the price. I have a fair number of Silent features on 1200 reels, so I will have to rig a long play pedestal to watch them.

Posted by Maurizio Di Cintio (Member # 144) on December 09, 2011, 03:32 PM:

Be careful: this machine is void of the upper sprocket drum; these machine thend to work best when used with 400' reels, way less well with 600'. Let alone using bigger reels. Unless your rig has an additional sprocket to unwind the film from the spool more gently.

Posted by John Clancy (Member # 49) on December 10, 2011, 03:38 AM:

But they are very quiet machines as a result of not having the upper sprocket and they are also beautiful to look at, particularly when running with all the blue lighting on.

I would value an unused Silma Blue Memory higher than Juergen, probably about £200.

Posted by Michael O'Regan (Member # 938) on December 10, 2011, 06:06 AM:

Sounds like an interesting machine.
Has anybody got a picture of one of these?

Posted by Mal Brake (Member # 14) on December 10, 2011, 10:26 AM:

Mike, there are a number of photos of this projector on Google Images.

Posted by Michael O'Regan (Member # 938) on December 10, 2011, 12:40 PM:

Thanks Mal. I'll take a look.

Posted by John Clancy (Member # 49) on December 12, 2011, 05:47 AM:

Drop me an email Mike and I'll dig out a photo of mine set up to run when I took some snaps for an issue of 'Small Format' a couple of years ago.

Actually I hope to get my Blue Memory out to run a few old cut downs and things in the living room in the coming days. I tend to do this in the Winter so we can sit around the fire with a projector running. Nice.

Posted by Frank Wylie (Member # 2863) on December 13, 2011, 08:09 AM:

@Maurizio; thanks for that information. Maybe this is not the best machine for my particular application, but it does sound like a nice projector for standard size reels.

Posted by Michael O'Regan (Member # 938) on December 14, 2011, 01:10 PM:

John C, Thanks for those pics. Nice and unusual looking projector.
Given the position of the take-up reel, manual loading onto it is impossible right? I mean if, as sometimes happens, the leader just doesn't engage with the take-up reel?

Posted by John Clancy (Member # 49) on December 15, 2011, 03:19 AM:

The whole area with the display screen and controls slides out and drops down meaning you can get to the take-up spool. It is a very easy projector to use and extremely quiet. But it can struggle with frame stability on some prints probably owing to the lack of a top sprocket.

I've run plenty of 'Scope stereo features on multiple 600ft reels through it in the past without any problems. For a good budget machine or for a beginner wanting decent stereo sound I'd recommend it.

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