Palace Cinema

Lionel on February 17, 2020 at 10:32 am

The “Liège Palace” (that is its original full name) was the main cinema of my childhood.

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It was a single-screen cinema equipped with the original genuine Cinemascope (2.55 aspect ratio) and 4-track magnetic sound in the fifties. Back then, it was a major theatre in the country, though not located in the capital, and had stage shows preceding the projection of the feature film. It belonged to a joint venture of independent exhibitors, and was home to many 20th Century Fox super-productions.

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Much later it became the property of the Defawe family who split it into a 6-screen multiplex in the mid-seventies. The result was poor. Small screens and mono sound only. The largest auditorium had 628 seats and got equipped with the Rank optical stereo sound system. In the mid-eighties it was sold to the Claeys family who added 3 screens in unused premises, enlarged all existing screens by removing the screen masking and curtains. Dolby Stereo was installed in all theatres. In 1989, the largest auditorium and one of the 2 mid-size ones (255 seats) were equipped with 70mm and THX Sound System. In order to create a new projection booth at the back of the bigger auditorium (instead of keystone) for their new 70mm screen, the seating capacity was reduced to 589.

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Because of the lack of masking and curtains, the THX baffle wall of the main auditorium was visible, and the 4 JBL subwoofers appeared under the screen. Along with them were 3 JBL 4675 systems with double bass cabinets (that makes 4 woofers and 1 tweeter per channel) for the left, center and right channels. There were no intermediate central left and central right speakers, as they were no longer needed for Dolby Stereo mixes, even in 70mm. The surround speakers were JBL 8330 (6 on each side wall and 4 on the rear wall). In the booth was a new Philips-Kinoton DP75 projector with platters. When showing a film in 70mm, the ads and trailers were shown on a separate projector, an old Cinemeccanica. The sound rack contained a Dolby CP200 processor with magnetic preamplifier, accessory unit to handle split surround effects on some 70mm films and SRA5 decoder for optical Dolby SR. The B-chain consisted of the THX 3417 crossover-monitor and 8 JBL 6290 amplifiers.

In the smaller THX auditorium, announcing 70mm in Dolby Stereo was a bit of a rip-off, as the booth was only equipped with a Dolby CP55 processor which cannot handle 6-channel Dolby Stereo mixes from 70mm films. It can only playback non-Dolby 4-channel sound in the old 35mm Cinemascope configuration. So, here, the sound would be driven from the magnetic preamplifier to the 4-channel input of the CP55, therefore losing the sub-bass effects (and optional split surround effects) from tracks #2 and #4, then played without Dolby expansion which resulted in audible hiss. There were 3 JBL 4675 speakers and 1 subwoofer behind the screen. The surrounds consisted of JBL 8330, 4 on each side wall and 2 on the rear wall. They were powered by 5 JBL 6290 amplifiers. The projector was a Cinemeccanica V8 with Kinoton platters. This second THX auditorium was also equipped in Dolby SR.

The first film shown in 70mm was a special screening of Francis Coppola’s Tucker in spring 1989. As of September 1989, regular first runs started with Batman, followed by The Abyss then Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. In 1990, Die Hard 2 played in 70mm as well. Other 70mm engagements were brief re-runs of Cobra (with Stallone) and The Bear (from Jean-Jacques Annaud). Special screenings of the restored Lawrence of Arabia and Spartacus also took place. And that was it with 70mm.

The foyer was elegantly appointed, with red carpet and walls, and an attractive bar for refreshments – including alcohol – and popcorn. Despite the imperfections (that only a professional or an enlightened amateur would usually notice), the new technology stroke the right chord with the public and boosted attendances. The Palace became the main cinema in town and attracted crowds from outside. The new front however, covered with white walls and tacky fake gold, contrasted with the elegance of the rest of the street, one of the main posh streets of the city, with shops for Godiva chocolate, good restaurants, Cartier jeweller, Pierre Cardin and Yves Saint Laurent retail (since then however, the street dramatically declined in the 21st century).

In the nineties, the Palace was an early adopter of digital sound and Cliffhanger (with Stallone) was the first film shown in Dolby Digital using a DA10 decoder connected to the main auditorium’s CP200 processor. DTS was installed as well.

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At the beginning of the new millenium, it was entirely refurbished and 4 theatres out of 9 were closed. In the 5 remaining ones, seating capacity was reduced by replacing the old seats with new larger ones, and increasing the row depth. The front of the building received a new decoration, very common but at least no longer tacky. Attendances had dropped dramatically after the opening of the 16-screen Kinepolis on the outskirts of the city, and I myself hadn’t come to the Palace for years until I came back in 2002 for a second viewing of Attack of the Clones in the main auditorium, after having seen it at Kinepolis. I noticed a sound quality issue typically indicating worn-out tweeters on the screen channels.

Later, the 70mm projector of the bigger auditorium was replaced with a 2K digital projector and XDC Digital Cinema server. I saw The Day after Tomorrow in 2004, the image was impeccable. This was my last visit to the Palace until 2019.

I paid a visit to the main auditorium in November 2019 out of curiosity, and found it totally unattractive. The sound was good though, the tweeter issue having been fixed although they still use the original THX installation (no longer certified) from 1989. The largest auditorium of the complex now has 450 seats (see my pictures added to the Photos section). All auditoria were refurbished with black color (or dark grey) as the only colour for floor, seats, walls and ceiling.

Lionel on March 2, 2020 at 11:39 am

@ CF100

In both THX auditoria, the baffle is visible because of the absence of screen masking and curtains. You just need to pass your head between the baffle and the screen to see the speakers.

I doubt they replaced the cross-over cards. Since the mid-eighties, the Palace belongs to the Kinepolis Group which was also the parent company of Decatron, a theatre installation contractor licensed to install, certify and re-certify THX cinemas in Belgium. So they did what they wanted with it. They however ceased advertising THX in this cinema just a few years after it was launched.

Recently I spoke over the phone with one of the former projectionists. He told me that, already several years ago, they threw away everything that was in the booths when the complex went all digital. Film projectors and JBL amplifiers (and BGW amplifiers for some of the screens) are gone. However, at least in the main auditorium, the JBL speaker installation from 1989 remains, still bi-amplified of course but with new hardware in the booth.

CF100 on March 3, 2020 at 1:28 am

Lionel:

Recently I spoke over the phone with one of the former projectionists. He told me that, already several years ago, they threw away everything that was in the booths when the complex went all digital. Film projectors and JBL amplifiers (and BGW amplifiers for some of the screens) are gone. However, at least in the main auditorium, the JBL speaker installation from 1989 remains, still bi-amplified of course but with new hardware in the booth.

That makes sense as those electronics are getting on and these days commerical amplifiers tend to be “Class D” or other power efficient types.

Kind of ironic to keep the old speakers when a key motivation behind the original THX programme was to act as a catalyst for the replacement of previous generation (Altec, Vitavox, etc.) cinema speakers. Still, 4675’s in a baffle wall were once state-of-the-art and they should still sound good today. The main problem would actually seem to an insufficient number of subwoofers for LFE.

Is this venue still popular?

CF100 on March 5, 2020 at 12:04 am

It’s 1 subwoofer in a theatre that now has 179 seats, so I assume it’s still compliant, wouldn’t you think so? As you know, the quantity depends on the dB the speaker is able to deliver versus room volume. I have the JBL brochures to calculate required amplification and speakers, but too lazy to read them again ;–)

Depends on whether it’s single or dual 18".

Having a quick look at the spec. sheet for the single 18" JBL 4645… If it’s 179 “regular” seats then it might be OK down to 40Hz or so. Don’t forget for digital reference level for LFE is 115dB peak at the listening position! It really is penny pinching not to add more LFE capability. Of course, hitting peak reference levels at those frequencies might cause problems with “leakage” in adjacent auditoria, if the soundproofing isn’t highly specified. ;–)

Lionel on July 24, 2024 at 11:04 am

I just posted 3 additional pictures of basement lounges around World War 1 including a saloon which was later converted in the additional screen called Studio Palace. I apologize for the poor quality, it was a difficult scan made from a book about local cinemas. Photographer unknown.