Additional technical thingys i can do with optical sound on ELMO SD 1200 projectors?

[Osi Osgood]

With headphones on, I have tweaked the optical lense as far as i possibly can, and the sound isn't too bad ...

... but one question i never thought of asking before, is, are there any other "tweaks" that i can possibly do, regarding transistors or such, on the boards in that projector, that could possibly allow for even better sound from the optical playback ...

or are we just stuck with tweaking the lense?

[Steve Klare]

Osi, are you running the machine through an external amp and speakers? Sometimes you can take that so-so sounding signal from a projector and massage it with things like graphic equalizers and get better sounding results. I recently figured out how to plug the semi-muddy optical sound of my Kodak Pageant into my sound system and I was pleasantly surprised.

Massaging the internal circuits requires a lot of information and expertise that we non-Elmo Civilians don't have much access to. There is a schematic on this forum for ST-1200HD: we're lucky to have even that!

[Osi Osgood]

Hey it was certainly worth the asking. I think i got a better sounding audio out of that litl ole lense by using the headphones as, if it can actually sound passable through the headphones, it should sound even better when put thru sonme "proper speakers"

... but I do certainly agree with you about using other equalizers and mixers. i still insist on my over 30 year old (almost 40 year old) realistic/radio shack dolby sound unit! It's amazing as to how nice a magnetic soundtrack or an optical can sound with that! I was lucky enough to find a replacement copy of this wonderful dolby unit, still in box, from my local thrift store a few years back for a few dollars, literally unused!

[Steve Klare]

The thing that really struck me about going to an external sound system is how even though I'm pushing a lot more Watts out, I actually get less complaints from my...Non-Viewing Audience!

A 5 inch projector speaker is basically a tweeter: the bass just can't get through and the very treble sound you get can be more like a shriek.

When you go through a decent set of speakers, the bass also comes through and even if it's really louder, it's more mellow to the ear. The rest of the household can be happier with it. (When your neighbors start to complain...maybe it really IS too loud!)

It's also interesting how much human psychology plays into this: I ran with just internal speakers something like 9 years. I felt it left a lot of room for improvement but I didn't hate it. I built my sound system up and got used to it. These days, when we vacation, very often I bring a single projector and some films: hope there will be a white wall handy wherever we are going. I leave the audio paraphernalia behind: I can't very well complain my wife overpacks when I'm trying to wedge cabinet speakers in the car!

-first night on internal speakers: sounds really awful!
-a couple of nights more: It leaves a lot of room for improvement, but I don't hate it!