Can Elmo ST-800 playback stereo sound?

[Scott Walker]

Hi there

Looking at getting an elmo ST-800 can just wanted to check that the projector can playback stereo sound. It doesn't have to playback in stereo but like to be able to hear the sound, is this possible with it? Any help much appreciated

[Winbert Hutahaean]

Elmo ST-800 is a single track projector so obviously it only has one magnetic head, i.e for the main strip. So to answer your question, it cannot.

The most common one in the market is Elmo GS-800 which is a stereo machine. The price is higher than ST-800 due to complexity of the machine/features.

If you are limited on the budget, you can get Elmo ST-600 (aka Elmo ST-180) which has similar feature as ST-800. This model has 2 version, i.e single track and dual track. The later one can do what you are asking.

[Mark Todd]

Hi Scott the Silver model ST600DM is the best already set up to go and closer to RE putting Stereo out if you can get one.

You can pick them up from $50-$250-ish depending on luck etc.

Best Mark.

[Steve Klare]

For the most part the ST-800 (or any single track machine) does fine with stereo prints, with a couple of exceptions. For example, in Fantasia 2000 there is one scene where Bette Middler introduces "The Steadfast Tin Soldier". She is mostly in the right track (the one the ST-800 is missing the head to play) and she sounds muffled. The rest of the film sounds fine. Maybe the fact that the audio power in the missing track never gets to the speakers just means I twist the volume knob a little further without even realizing it.

The worst one I know of is the 'scope cartoon "Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom": there is a character entirely in the right track who is never heard at all on a single track projector! (I keep that one for ST-1200HD...)

[Winbert Hutahaean]

The worst one I know of is the 'scope cartoon "Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom": there is a character entirely in the right track who is never heard at all on a single track projector! (I keep that one for ST-1200HD...)

That is known as ping-pong stereo. It was used in several the Beatles' songs when they first time introduced stereo recordings

[Scott Walker]

Ok thanks everyone. So let me know if i got this right. The ST-800 can;t do stereo but it should be able to playbale sound from a stereo sound reel as long as one channel isn;t hogging all the audio (you basically kind of get the sound from one channel)?

For the ST600 or the Elmo GS-800 they both do 800ft reels or is that not possible with the ST600? I have a reels on 800ft that I want to be able to play.

Thanks for your help everyone

[Steve Klare]

Yes,

Basically you get away with stereo tracks on a monaural machine until you don't. There are many films that will be fine: for example Derann's Toy Story is stereo and goes off without anything funky coming out of the speakers. It's just you will also run into films that have issues.

On a monaural machine, you only hear the main track because that's where the sound goes on a monaural print. On a stereo print the main track is Left and the balance track is Right, so a stereo film in this situation is All Left (-even though most of the time that's alright!)

ST-600 is 600 Feet maximum.

[Maurice Leakey]

Scott

The Elmo ST-600 only takes up to 600ft spools.
Elmo Sound ST-600 D M 2-track – Spare Part Finder – Van Eck Video Services (van-eck.net)

The Elmo GS-800 will take up to 800ft spools.
Elmo Sound GS-800 MO Stereo – Spare Part Finder – Van Eck Video Services (van-eck.net)

[Brian Fretwell]

Yes,

Basically you get away with stereo tracks on a monaural machine until you don't. There are many films that will be fine: for example Derann's Toy Story is stereo and goes off without anything funky coming out of the speakers. It's just you will also run into films that have issues.

On a monaural machine, you only hear the main track because that's where the sound goes on a monaural print. On a stereo print the main track is Left and the balance track is Right, so a stereo film in this situation is All Left (-even though most of the time that's alright!)

ST-600 is 600 Feet maximum.

Yes, I think that Dolby's idea of making all main dialogue come from the centre speaker helps this a lot as it will be recorded at equal volume on both tracks for their original matrix system which was copied to Super 8 tracks. Surround was also at equal volume on both, but 50% lower and out of phase.

[Tom Photiou]

All my single and twin track non stereo projectors get put through an old 1970s pioneer stereo amp, and with two Wharfedale speakers at the front i get fantastic glorious mono sound, i.e., twin mono and it blows the roof off if i need it to. My only true stereo machine, the Bauer T610 is a great stereo projector but the amount of true stereo films we have makes it almost pointless.
With stereo, unless your sat in the centre of the speakers you hardly get much benefit, perhaps widescreen presentation get the advantage more, for us, the number one priority is the quality of the projected image. With the 1200HD's i understand you can use the two track outputs and, using a preamp, can get full stereo sound, something i've never bothered with for the handful of stereo prints we have.

[Steve Klare]

I've done the twin track to stereo trick with my ST-1200HD and the results were not very impressive. The two monitor outputs are very low in signal strength and by the time I boost them loud enough to make any kind of impact, the noise that also comes up takes all the joy out of it!

-much better to blend the tracks and use the monaural jack on the back cover. It's not stereo, but the difference in audio quality more than makes up for that loss.

[Brian Fretwell]

My Norisound 412 twin track can play back both tracks as a mono output and you can adjust the relative levels.

[Winbert Hutahaean]

For the ST600 or the Elmo GS-800 they both do 800ft reels or is that not possible with the ST600? I have a reels on 800ft that I want to be able to play.

Thanks for your help everyone

If you do not do any modification, yes as other have said, the ST-600 can only play 600' reel.

But as we know there are many people do modification on their projectors with arm extension, so you can use this method should you choose the ST-600 as your projector to play reel more than 600'.

I once saw a ST-1200 (max 1200' reel) modified with 2200' reel arm. You can imagine, the projector does look tiny with the these two gigantic reels.

cheers,

[Paul Adsett]

Where stereo sound really pays off is for listening via headphones, which I do very often. The sense of space and sound direction is quite superb with a good S8 stereo recording, and adds immensely to the enjoyment of the film especially musicals re-recorded from DVD.

[Winbert Hutahaean]

We learn something new everyday, and I just found out that ST-800 2 track version is available on the market. But I believe it is very rare.



This picture is taken from Facebook. I removed some object that is not relevant. Although it is clear to say 2 track, I don't see any button or switch to move the sound from track 1 to 2. Any idea?