PROJECT 440
FROM THE BEGINNING

Project 440™ is the most important improvement to the HPS-4000® sound systems in nearly 20 years. It has been made possible by the development of a new series of power amplifiers from BGW systems. High Performance Stereo and BGW have enjoyed a long and rewarding relationship for 24 years. During that time, HPS-4000 sound systems have benefited greatly from the superior sound quality and reliability of BGW amplifiers.

It was a chance encounter in an elevator during the 1980 National Association of Theatre Owners convention, that BGW Systems founder Brian G. Wachner and High Performance Stereo's John F. Allen first met. While Allen was a newcomer to the motion picture business, Brian Wachner was a seasoned veteran. Wachner's company got its start when Universal Pictures asked him to build the power amplifiers for their patented Sennsurround process. Brian recognized that John Allen's new sound systems were not ordinary cinema sound systems and that BGW amplifiers had special qualities that Allen would appreciate. During the next year or so, it became more and more clear that Brian's amplifiers had the needed quality and reliability that were essential for the success of John's new systems. By 1982 the BGW amplifiers became the amplifier of choice for the HPS-4000 sound systems.

Prior to 1984, BGW had gained an enviable reputation for building commercial grade amplifiers of high power and remarkable reliability. In 1984, BGW introduced their model 8000 amplifier. This was an important development in the history of BGW. For the first time, a commercial power amplifier combined high power output with a high fidelity sound quality generally associated only with expensive audiophile amplifiers. When John Allen first heard the 8000, he immediately began including it in all sound system designs. The 8000 was first used in the 1984 HPS-4000 installation at the Plitt Century Plaza Theatre in Los Angeles. This installation also marked the first use of the new four-way screen speakers as well as the first presentations of a feature film in digital sound.

As time went on, the 8000 was replaced by the model GTB. This new amplifier boasted greater power, more advanced features such as a new low-feedback circuit design. At the same time the HPS-4000 sound systems were also becoming more sophisticated. One of the issues that had become a clear problem in all cinema sound systems was the gain structure between the cinema processors and the amplifiers. The industry custom was to always set the input level controls on the power amplifiers at maximum. This was to assure that these controls could be returned to their exact correct positions should they ever be moved. However, when the amplifier input controls are at maximum, the output levels of the processor must be set very low.

With speakers as efficient as those in the HPS-4000 systems, the processor outputs were being set so low the noise floor of the processors could be heard as hum and noise in the auditoriums. Special attenuators were needed to optimize the gain structure and reduce the hum.

As they discussed this and other things Brian Wachner suggested that BGW could build special HPS versions of the GTB called the GTB-HPS. Among other things, The GTB-HPS would include a new set of locking shaft input controls on the rear of the units. This would allow the front input controls to remain at maximum while providing the exact amount of attenuation required to deliver each channel's signals to their amplifiers at the exact optimum signal to noise ratio. This advance made the HPS-4000 systems so quiet that one needed to put their head right up to one of the speakers to hear if the system was even on.

Each new generation of power amplifiers and the components within them, provides not only improvements in overall performance, but insights into even better design approaches. In the early 1990’s, BGW introduced an entirely new line of amplifiers called the Millennium series. These amplifiers continued BGW's tradition of offering professional power amplifiers with Hi Fi quality sound. However, Brian Wachner and BGW's engineer Steve Selberg decided to build the HPS version as an almost completely different amplifier. For the Millennium 3-HPS, the power supply would be entirely replaced. Along with a special power transformer, the amplifier would contain as much capacity in the power supply as could physically fit in the chassis. The same approach was applied to the output stages by maximizing the number of output transistors that would fit in the space available.

For John Allen, the Millennium 3-HPS turned out to have one unexpected quality, it sounded better than any amplifier he had ever heard. It was also one of the few amplifiers anywhere that could drive two ohm loads on both channels at full power, full time. This eliminated any concern that an amplifier might overheat.

The Millennium 3-HPS seemed like the only amplifier one would ever need for the HPS-4000 sound systems. However, being the special custom made amplifier that it was, manufacturing was always a challenge due to the number of special parts and unique circuit boards. Costs for special units such as these were higher as well.

Still, the biggest challenge for any audio company is keeping up with new technology. As new devices became available BGW began to plan their next generation of amplifiers. This would turn out to be to most sweeping change to their product line in the company's history. Unknown at the time it would also result in the biggest single improvement in the HPS-4000 sound systems since the introduction of the four-way speakers and digital sound at the Century Plaza Theatre nearly two decades earlier.

First, BGW decided to survey their biggest and most specialized customers to see if a series of products could be designed that would include all the features and sound quality benefits of the custom made amplifiers, like the Millennium 3-HPS, and also meet the requirements of other markets, all at a competitive cost.

BGW engineer Steve Lyle went to work. He designed three amplifiers of different power outputs and placed them into different packages, individually crafted to specifically serve the different requirements of different markets. For the cinema, the VX series placed the input controls on the rear. These controls are in fact precision stepped attenuators with a resolution of 1 dB. Barrier strip speaker connections were employed as these were preferred by the majority of the theatre technicians that were surveyed. In addition, all the new amplifiers were to be Fast Link™ compatible. Fast Link is a new industry connection method that was developed by several manufacturers, including BGW, to greatly speed rack wiring.

For John Allen, another new amplifier wasn't especially exciting. The Millennium 3-HPS sounded so good, he only asked that the new amplifiers sound the same. During the summer of 2002, the prototype of the new amplifier was sent to High Performance Stereo in Massachusetts for evaluation. Not expecting anything more than the great sound of the Millennium 3-HPS, the new prototype sat unopened for a while until John had a few hours to spare. Finally he connected the new amplifier to his home stereo system and turned it on for the first time. Yes indeed, it sounded as good as the Millennium 3-HPS. So he sat back and read a book for a while. But as time went by he began to realize that something truly extraordinary was happening. He was hearing a depth and a clarity in sound that he have never heard coming from loudspeakers -- any loudspeakers.

To be sure he wasn't kidding himself, he compared the sound of the new amplifier with the Millennium 3-HPS using several recordings including original master recordings. There was no doubt, VX-440 was the most amazing sounding amplifier he had ever heard. Allen describes his response as one of being somewhat stunned and angry at the same time. Stunned because he had not expected such a leap in sound quality, and angry because he knew if he kept listening any longer, he would become too spoiled to listen to anything else.

It would be another year before another unit arrived. The amplifier was tested with even more program materials including a wide variety of motion picture soundtracks. It became clear that the VX-440 was so clear and delivered such detail, that it would change the way people listened to movies. The introduction of the VX-440 and VX-660 amplifiers to the HPS-4000 sound systems was to be a special event as important as any introduction in the history of the company. Project 440™ was born. As part of the final development phase, the amplifier would be further refined for cinema use and tested in one of the HPS-4000 reference theatres installed at AMC's complex in Framingham, MA.

“I was excited,” Allen recalls. “I couldn't wait to hear the new amplifier in a theatre. I installed it in one of my biggest systems. But before I connected it, Lanark Thornton, the theatre's manager, and I listened to a reel of film that we had both heard many times. When we listened to it again with the new amplifier connected to just the left and center channels, we simply could not believe our ears -- the sound was so crystal clear and beautiful. Not only were voices and music cleaner, but the detail now heard in the background sounds and Foley effects was unprecedented.”

The final testing phase in an actual theatre has now been completed. During these tests, several executives and technicians were invited to listen. The reactions of these listeners was as dramatic as the sound quality itself -- “A breakthrough,” one said, “almost as big an improvement as going from analog sound to digital.”

High Performance Stereo is pleased to announce that beginning in January 2004, all new HPS-4000 sound systems will include the VX-440-HPS and VX-660-HPS amplifiers.

July 1, 2003
For immediate release:

HIGH PERFORMANCE STEREO™ ANNOUNCES
PROJECT 440™

Los Angeles, California: Pushing the edges of the envelope is one thing. However, in the past 18 months, High Performance Stereo could well be justified in claiming to have redefined the motion picture sound system envelope altogether.

We began by upgrading every aspect of our loudspeaker construction. Production capacity was increased by a factor of 10. New materials and methods were employed to strengthen and enhance our cabinet construction. Driver refinements have been, and continue to be, explored as well as implemented when possible.

Earlier this year, an astonishingly successful upgrade program began for our HPS-4000® sound systems. We call it All Seats Hear Stereo™. For the first time, the best seats in the movie theatres are no longer just those in the center. Now everyone in front of the screen will hear full and properly balanced stereophonic sound. Even those beyond the width of the screen will now enjoy far more stereo than ever before - and all at no additional cost. But we haven’t stopped there.

High Performance Stereo is proud to announce Project 440™. We are not doing this alone. Rather we have been working with another major manufacturer for the past two years. The results will bring motion picture audiences an unheard of level of sound quality and clarity. High Performance Stereo founder and president, John F. Allen, said that “Project 440™ is nothing short of the biggest single improvement to the HPS-4000® sound systems since we introduced four-way loudspeakers and digital sound to the industry nearly 20 years ago. The enhanced quality surprises even me.”

Already boasting the greatest dynamic range as well as the cleanest sound in the business, Project 440™ will provide the HPS-4000® sound systems with a new, indeed unprecedented, level of realism, intimacy and unparalleled excitement.

Project 440™ promises a new level of motion picture enjoyment that will significantly increase the already wide performance gap between HPS-4000® equipped auditoriums and home theatres.

Delivery is expected to begin in the fall of 2003. We are presently exploring Project 440’s™ introduction with several potential launch customers. Stay tuned for further announcements.

Since it’s founding in 1979, High Performance Stereo has been the industry leader in motion picture sound system innovation -- from the first modern three-way and even four-way loudspeakers, to the first feature film presentations in digital sound, to All Seats Hear Stereo™. Of the 18 major “B chain” improvements introduced to the exhibition industry in the past 24 years, High Performance Stereo has introduced all 18 of them.

Contact John Allen
617-244-1737

In Europe, Contact Torkell Saetervedet
47 913 50 394


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