About Kinoton America

In 1995, Kinoton GmbH, the highly respected film projection equipment manufacturer, appointed Boston Light and Sound its North American distributor. BL&S had been a leading user of Kinoton products for more than 20 years. In 2002, to satisfy rapidly growing demand for Kinoton's equipment, BL&S and Kinoton decided to form an independent corporation that deals solely with selling and servicing Kinoton products in North America.

Kinoton America is proud to be the exclusive North American distributor of the large Kinoton product line (including Phillips, Norelco, and Bauer parts). As long-time fans of Kinoton's high quality projection equipment, we are excited about this opportunity to provide the highest quality equipment to North American studios, screening rooms and cinemas, and to introduce new Kinoton products for the Digital and Advertising markets.

About Kinoton GmbH

Kinoton produces the world's largest selection of, and the world's most modern and versatile, professional film projection equipment. In a field where most companies coast along making the same tired old designs, Kinoton consistently produces several groundbreaking new designs each year. And yet, compared apples-to-apples, we offer the lowest priced cinema projector in the US market.

A Brief History

In 1930, Philips BV, the Dutch electronics giant, forms its cinema equipment division

Philips’ famous FP-5, FP-6 and FP-7 projectors were introduced in 1936

Kinoton GmbH was founded in Munich, Germany in 1948 as a service and repair shop for cinemas. From the very beginning, the leading criteria were high quality and satisfied customers.

Only one year later, the activities of the company were expanded when Kinoton received the distribution rights for Philips projectors, amplifiers and loudspeakers.

The DP-70 Universal 35/70 projector is introduced in 1955 and awarded the Scientific and Engineering Oscar® in 1962

Kinoton's own manufacturing program started with the introduction of the Solo-Automatic projector at Photokina in 1963 which heralded a new era of automation in the cinema.

The first platter is introduced in the sixties, and receives the Scientific and Engineering Oscar® in 1987

As production capacity in Munich was no longer sufficient to meet the requirements of increasing business, it was extended in 1972 with an additional factory. In 1976, a central warehouse was built in Kaufbeuren and in 1978 a second production plant was built there. Several times in the eighties and nineties, production capacity was expanded by building more facilities in Kaufbeuren.

In 1973, Philips transferred its entire cinema equipment division, including all patents, production rights and world-wide distribution rights to Kinoton GmbH.

In 1979 Kinoton moved to a new administration, research and engineering building in suburban Germering.

The FP 30/38EC studio projector is introduced in 1989 and awarded the Scientific and Engineering Oscar® in 2003

Today, Kinoton GmbH supplies projection and studio equipment incorporating the latest technology to more than seventy countries around the world.

Quality is our Standard

Kinoton’s superior quality is the result of:

• Continuous Development – Only Kinoton maintains a full team of graduate engineers to develop new state-of-the-art products and improve existing ones.
• High Quality Materials – our manufacturing engineers verify that incoming material meets our high standards
• Careful Manufacturing – metalworking, from welding frames to precision machining, is done at the factory at Kaufbeuren. Modern CNC controlled machines permit economical production and ensure high precision. Nearly all manufacturing is done in-house to allow strict quality control.
• Complete Testing – Kinoton maintains a complete testing laboratory in Kaufbeuren to verify component tolerances. In addition, three testing theatres allow for rolling in completed machines for on-screen testing.
• Real-world Feedback – In Germany, Kinoton operates its own cinema installation and service division. These technicians meet with the engineers to keep them abreast of what is happening in the field.

Kinoton is absolutely committed to high quality. While many competitors have become mere assemblers of parts made by others, we constantly seek to enhance our products to the benefit of our customers.

Cinema Technology

The technical expertise gained in over seventy years building cinema equipment is apparent in the variety of our products. Our projectors and accessories cover all applications from normal change-over operation to the fully automated performance of a complete program, to projection equipment for special formats. These include different projection speeds including 30 and 60 frames per second as well as 180º and 360º projection systems.

This vast experience also benefits our customers by facilitating individualized planning and comprehensive technical advice. Our success is not only based on the quality of our products and ongoing technological development, but also on our ability to adapt to our customers' special requirements.

Studio Technology

Since the early seventies, equipment for studio applications has been added to the Kinoton line.

The “MC” straight-line design for 16mm and 35mm projectors and the special 'EC Series Electronic Drive System' for high speed projectors are examples of this product line. The "E" Series has a long history of quality.

In 1983, Siemens transferred the worldwide rights to the 'Klangfilm' products and trademark as well as the responsibility for technical support for Siemens studio equipment, including Novocord, Unicord and Duocord to Kinoton.

In 1986, Kinoton assumed the production and service obligations for Arnold and Richter editing tables and film processing equipment.

Our latest studio projector is the FP-30ECII Reference, introduced in 2006.