RCA theater amps
Posted: Tue Jul 02, 2024 4:14 am
Back in my home town, Bay City, they are getting ready to tear down the Empire Theater. When I was a kid, it was the city's biggest, newest, and best movie house. It was part of a complex that included a bowling alley, "show bar," and restaurant. Eventually, as we all know, big movie theaters were difficult to fill, and were replaced by the little mall multi-screen complexes. The Empire closed and sat empty until a local entrepreneur bought it and converted it into the "Prime Event Center." "Prime" as a name allowed him to rearrange the Empire marquee letters.
On Sunday as I was driving the Chevy back to the garage, top down in classic convertible-cruising style, I circled past the Empire to see if they had started demolition (just a token hole in a wall). Years ago, when I was maybe 17, so that was 60 years ago, Dad's next-door neighbor at his office was the projectionist at the Empire. One night he let us into the projection booth to see how it operated. It was very modern and large, unlike the cramped older ones I had been in. But what caught my attention was a large vertical rack of 6 or 8 big RCA tube audio amplifiers for the theater's fancy multi-channel sound system. I have always wondered if they were still sitting there, abandoned. Now the demolition required action: I'd hate to wonder forever whether they had been crushed in the demo and hauled to the landfill when a phone call might have rescued them. So today I called the demolition company. Yes, they are doing the destruction for the current owner. No, the projection booth holds no equipment; it had been emptied and converted to offices. So at least I know.
But now I wonder what happened to those big RCA amps when they cleared them out.
Chris Campbell
On Sunday as I was driving the Chevy back to the garage, top down in classic convertible-cruising style, I circled past the Empire to see if they had started demolition (just a token hole in a wall). Years ago, when I was maybe 17, so that was 60 years ago, Dad's next-door neighbor at his office was the projectionist at the Empire. One night he let us into the projection booth to see how it operated. It was very modern and large, unlike the cramped older ones I had been in. But what caught my attention was a large vertical rack of 6 or 8 big RCA tube audio amplifiers for the theater's fancy multi-channel sound system. I have always wondered if they were still sitting there, abandoned. Now the demolition required action: I'd hate to wonder forever whether they had been crushed in the demo and hauled to the landfill when a phone call might have rescued them. So today I called the demolition company. Yes, they are doing the destruction for the current owner. No, the projection booth holds no equipment; it had been emptied and converted to offices. So at least I know.
But now I wonder what happened to those big RCA amps when they cleared them out.
Chris Campbell