Whilst researching Soviet-era documents about the Soviet Kinopanorama® widescreen format for our library, we came across an interesting article published in Russian about the research, developement and implimentation of their 9-channel magnetic [35mm full-coat film] system. The article [13 pages] was written by B G Belken and A A Krushchev, a relative of the then Soviet premier. The KZVT-5 sound reproducing equipment was developed by Kirill Bek-Nazarov, a research scientist at NIKFI. A short extract from the article follows: "... In this system the recording of soundtracks uses separate 35mm perforated magnetic film. During the manufacturing process the magnetic strips on the soundtrack are produced with a width of about 1,6 mm each [...]. Separate soundtracks 1,2,3,4,5,6,8 are located inside the film perforations 2mm from each other. The soundtracks 7 & 9 are outside on the edges of the perforation holes on the film [...]. Channels 1 - 5 reproduce on five groups of loudspeakers placed behind the screen [same configuration as Cinerama]. The loudspeakers of channels 6 - 9 are installed respectively on the left rear and right rear walls and on the ceiling [channel 9] of the cinema hall. The configuration at the Mir [trans. 'peace'] cinema in Moscow included the placement of 9 overhead speakers stretched over the length of the exhibition area.
Placement of Speakers in Mir.pdf
