Beaulieu Studio 708 for sale

[Steven J. Kirk]

A great projector at a great price...

https://www.ebay.fr/itm/Projecteur-s...QAAOSwqwxePXQ~

eBay France. I'm not the seller but I'd like to be the owner. BUT such a price! It seems to have everything with it - is that the 'widescreen' gate? - but who could conceive of spending so much.

[Steven J. Kirk]

Here is the description translated:

'I am selling my Beaulieu 708 studio super 8 sound projector in new condition from 1993. Includes many new accessories. It is equipped with all options for high power Osram 250W32 or standard 150 Watt lamps, with two 4/3 and 16/9 projection gates, extra fan cooling, a projector threading lamp, two spools of 700 meters, 10 Osram HTI bulbs of 250 Watt, 15 bulbs of 150 Watt GE, a projection screen of 4 m base, 2.5 m height on tripods, its original case, a 240 meter plastic super 8 spool, its user manual, a support table, a Bauer sound and motorized super 8 viewer, in new condition. Bolex cement splicer with scrapers and knives, spares and various small accessories.'

10 spare HTI bulbs! Now there is not much these days that appears on eBay that really makes me drool but this is the ticket! Looks new!

[Phil Murat]

Hi Steven,

Yes, this machine is for sale since a LONG time ago on French sites........
This is a very last one in best configuration.
It can be used in HTI or Halogen mode as well.
Considering the price..........No comments

[Adrian Winchester]

Excuse my ignorance if this is a silly question, but as there's no reference to a HTI conversion, can it actually be used in HTI mode without conversion? If so, doesn't that make it unique among Super 8 projectors?

Does anyone know when these were last offered new and what the price was at the time? This one certainly isn't cheap, but considering the spare bulbs and the extras that include what appears to be a valuable screen, maybe the price isn't quite as astronomical as it might initially appear to be?

[Alan Rik]

The last Studio HTI's came out around 1993-? I believe. The last models were designed with both wiring harnesses so that you could use it in either HTI lamp mode or in 150W Halogen mode. Price was around $6000 at that time depending on if it was discounted. It is not cheap but if you add in the bulbs, both the HTI and the Halogen, the different film gate, all the accessories he is right in the ballpark of where he should be. He does say best offer so you can shoot him one but I wouldn't try to lowball him. I have been in contact with the seller and he prefers to sell the whole kit and not split it up. Really it may be the last time to see such a complete and like 'new' kit. If I had the $$ I would purchase it as I believe its worth what he is asking. But what would I do with all those HTI bulbs? That is a beautiful projector and I am sure that the new owner will love it if it's in as good condition mechanically as it looks. I mean it even has the accessory light that plugs into the shoe!
For the most part you can always tell the HTI models because they will have to have a ballast and ignitor for the HTI lamp and that is usually on the bottom with a hour meter to tell how long the bulb is on so you get a clear idea of when to replace the bulb. On some aftermarket HTI mods the ballast and ignitor are in a separate box and not under the machine as in this case.
Another way to tell is that the standard Halogen models do not normally have a fan on the projector lamp door unless it was modified specifically. If you see the fan most likely it is designed for the HTI lamp.

[Oliver Feld]

To me the Beaulieu 708 is the best Super-8-machine.
My Beaulieu works perfect, the sound is amazing, the image is stable (okay, not with acetate prints) and no film did ever get scratched.
And the HTI-Version is a dream of a Beaulieu...!
If only I could...

[Phil Murat]

Hi Oliver,

Agree with you, a "dream" machine and particularly friendly with prints and many hours later.....
(HTI Conversion is my next project and very below 10000 Eur......)

However mines are stable even with acetate prints :
Is your machine "noisy" with acetate prints ?
Is your machine unstable with "all" acetate prints ?
Is there any change if you pinch film edges (only) with your fingers wetted with a mix of "E" thinner and silicon oil and before upper sprocket ?
May I suggest you to check condition of side "floating" skate in path frame (extra wears like cuts can be observed many after many , many using hours) .

[Alan Rik]

My Beaulieu is also very stable with all prints. It probably needs some adjusting? Send it to Bjorn! He put mine back to factory spec. Incredible work-runs like new!

[Oliver Feld]

Phil
My Beaulieu had been checked weeks ago and still acetate isn’t its favorite.
I will try it...
Regards
Oliver

[Matthieu van der Sluis]

I think I've read somewhere the Studio version started out in 1993 with the last one in 1999?
I had a customer from Belgium that bought an JVC DLA-N5W from me, just 1 day before the borders closed because of the Corona virus.
He is a professional filmer and he and his wife are also divers and filmed under water, back than in Super8 with selfmade underwatercases, and now in 4K.
They showed me stunning films too.
He told me he was in that Beaulieu factory just before it ended and there was only one man left in that big building, because all went digital.
They made a Beaulieu Studio version with all the bells you can think of, just for him.
He needed to come back for that.
I offered to buy that projector from him, but he will never sell. Understandable.

I saw a Studio version offered for around $1500, I think here on our former forum.
The one I remember was marked on the display and sold after a long time.
Last time it was offered to me for around €2300 I think. I recognized the marking on the display..
I regrat not buying it back than.

$10.000 is a lot extra to pay for the extra's, for me that is.
But if I had the $ to spend, and a lot of Derann Stereo films, I think I would have a dream machine with this.
A lot of the extra stuff you could sell on eBay.

On the other hand,... I remember a Topic about this.
Is a projector not in use just as bad as a car not in use?
After that Topic I always have my projectors running at least ones a year.
Would be very sad for the buyer, when it arrives and it stops working after 10 minutes.

[Lee Mannering]

Liked my 708. I didnt like the ridiculously high price I had to pay for basic simple spare parts. Expect high running costs if you need to order spares. Looking at part prices today 1 basic lamp connector 60 euro.

[Alan Rik]

I think the high price for spares is not from the factory its from Wittner trying to sell off their remaining stock. I remember the capstan roller when I purchased it was around 30 euros. Then about a year later it was 238 Euro!
Granted the Beaulieu was never a cheap brand. Everything in its line up was designed for the "Pro" user. Kind of funny considering Super 8 was considered the "Amateur" medium!
One interesting thing about the 708 is that they were constantly trying to improve the machine. If you get a hold of the service manual you will see many, many, revisions and updates. They were trying to build the perfect machine I believe. Of course nothing is perfect, otherwise it would be the only machine around, but if you think about some of the upgrades. I think its the only Super 8 projector with a variable film gate. You can actually watch "Silence of the Lambs" and cut off the boom mic at the top of the frame!

That is a plus.

As you can tell I'm a big fan of this machine. I have been trying to get my hands on a Beaulieu Studio since forever. I wanted the one that was advertised on the old forum but the seller would not send it to Bjorn to have him check it out. I was willing to pay for the item and transport costs but the seller wouldn't send it. Just like you say, the worst thing would be to purchase a machine and have it die after a few minutes or an hour or so down the road.
I recently purchased a 'New Old Stock' 708 Studio mid last year but when it arrived the machine started smoking when I turned it on! Turned out the machine had many blown diodes, record button had broken off and was sitting in the bottom of the box along with a screw that came off the bottom. That was returned to the seller. Looked to be a beautiful machine but..obviously not "New" old stock.

[Maurizio Di Cintio]

I think the high price for spares is not from the factory its from Wittner trying to sell off their remaining stock.

Hello, Rik. Yes. you're right but their steep prices is a strange way to sell off their remaining inventory. $40 for a pinch roller is reather steep anyway yet IMHO!

[Dominique De Bast]

I read (in a French book so take it for what it worths when objectivity is involved ) that Marcel Beaulieu manufactured the 708 model because he was deseperate to see that films shot with his cameras (they say he was the first to bring a decent super 8 camera on the market) didn't look differently enough (regarding the quality) when they were projected with common machines.

[Alan Rik]

$40 for a pinch roller is reather steep anyway yet IMHO!

I agree 100%! It’s just a piece of rubber!
But it may not have been the original price from Beaulieu. Wittner bought up their remaining stock of parts when they folded so maybe direct it was originally $39.00!
But you know we have some dealers here in the US that keep raising Elmo parts prices as they become scarce as well. Wasn’t it Liza Minnelli who sang, “Money makes the world go round”..? Haha..