Jerry Steckling Designs Speaker System for Linwood Dunn Theater

December 20, 2003
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA

Jerry Steckling, Chief Technology Officer of JSX, designed an innovative speaker system for the Linwood Dunn Theater at the request of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, in the fall of 2003. The theater is located in the Pickford Center for Motion Picture Study at 1313 North Vine Street in Hollywood California.

Many well-known shows have been broadcasted from the Dunn Theatre, including: Queen for a Day, Heart's Desire, What's the Name of That Song?, Don Lee Music Hall, My Friend Irma, The Jimmy Wakely Show, The Bill Stulla Show, The Oxydol Show, Your Claim to Fame, The Joey Bishop Show, Barney Miller, The Dating Game, The Newlywed Game, The Andersonville Trial, and Johnny Carson’s earliest episodes in the 1950s.

The theater fills a long-standing Academy need for a mid-sized venue. At the Academy's headquarters building on Wilshire Boulevard, the Samuel Goldwyn Theater seats 1,012 and the Academy Little Theater seats 67. While those two theaters are available for industry rental, the Linwood Dunn Theater will be a workhorse for the Academy.

The Academy now uses the facility to reference standard presentations of 16, 35, and 70mm motion picture formats for image and sound quality. The theater will also be used for the presentation of lectures, panel discussions, Academy Forums, and Scientific and Technical Achievement demonstrations.

One of Steckling’s challenges was to design the large format subwoofer system that would conform to the Academy’s needs. He began by submitting subwoofer design plans to the Theater Standards Committee. The plans included specifications for pistons, box sizes, box alignments, and other design details.

Steckling’s TAD-Pioneer TSC-3415 speaker system was selected by the Committee and was officially commissioned for use in December 2003.

The TSC-3415 is a revolutionary speaker system that was developed by Steckling while he was working at Skywalker Sound. The system design was first introduced at Skywalker’s Stag Theater in Marin County, California. TAD-Pioneer took note of the unique system design and adopted the design for their line of cinema products. TAD-Pioneer gave considerable accommodation to the Academy by providing their support and equipment.

Ray van den Broek of Acoustics of Architecture and Environment, and Andrew Rutkin of JBL Professional were also involved in designing technical systems for the theater.

The Linwood Dunn Theatre is located at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Pickford Center for Motion Picture Study at 1313 North Vine Street in Hollywood.