Just another one of those subjects which appears now and again with the 8mm gauge. Todays latest modern recordings are excellent, the Jurassic Park print and a few others have shown that. But to me, unless you have a permanent set up where the speakers and seats are in the right place, and the audience is sat more or less centre of speakers, the whole thing just seems pointless.
The amount of films released in stereo makes going out of your way to buy a stereo projector an expensive item for a few films. My own T610 was purchased purely because a fellow collector very kindly offered one to me at a good price so i would have been silly to turn it down and it's a machine i like very much.
When i read elsewhere that everything prior to the latest items on offer are now more or less redundant, it just makes for stupid nonsense reading. (Im NOT talking about Dave films). Super 8 and 16mm for us is about that real film image on the big screen. If sound was the priority i would sell everything and switch to blu ray projection which, with the correct equipment will blow most films out the water as far as sound is concerned. Having said that, while true stereo isn't available on 16mm, what you get get is fantastic clear sound every time, with the use of decent twin Wharfedale speakers via an 80s Pioneer amp we get perfect sound that if needed, will blow any roof off, exactly the same set up is used on our super 8s.
Many of the 8mm releases from the 70s, 80s and 90s from the likes of Walton, Marketing, Derann Perry's and Iver to name a few, has sound that equals many of the latest releases, and 99% of them were in glorious mono on pre striped stock, shame about the fade on many these days.
What do i think of stereo prints? I think its over rated, the exception being for those who have a full on cinema style room. just give me a decent quality film with good clear sound which, when put through a reasonable stereo amp to give twin mono from the screen end, thats all i need. My audiences have always admired the film real image on the screen from film, when i have projected a stereo print, no one has ever made a comment other than about the image.

At the end of the day if your happy with your set up then that's all that matters, if the sound is audible then that's good enough, stereo or mono it doesn't matter ,Mark

Exactly Mark, the reason i bought it up again is because it bemuses me to keep seeing some collectors banging on about how the new releases will bring new collectors into the hobby because the stereo digitally sourced sound quality, (and picture) is like nothing we have seen before.
I'm not too sure where they get that idea from, good though they are, and sound wise, they are very good, but they wont start a new trend of young collectors because of the sheer lack of titles and full features, how many titles are we talking here? less than 20, and more importantly, the prices. There great for the currant collectors in the hobby but the young of today will grow up with the digital age and there home cinemas will be, (and already are) full on digital, and very good too from what i've seen, a very intrigued few of todays youth will probably collect cine the way the steam enthusiast keep the old trains going. .

I JUST NEVER SAW THE POINT OF THE STEREO PRINTS, LIKE YOU SAY TOM, UNLESS YOU HAVE A PERMANENT SETUP HOME CINEMA ,SOME HAVE DOLBY SOUND QUADRUPLE 3 XXX TRIPLE COBBLERS TO ENHANCE THERE "VIEWING PLEASURE " AS THEY PUT IT. i THINK SOME OF THESE PEOPLE BELIEVE THE HYPE, OR COULD IT BE THAT ONE PERSON SAYS IT SOUNDS BETTER SO ALL THE SHEEP FOLLOW SUIT, IN A LINE. i 'M SORRY I'M NOT CONVINCED , I HAVE THE PROJECTORS TO PLAY THESE PRINTS, BUT I WOULD MUCH RATHER HAVE A PIN SHARP LPP PRINT IN MONO ANY DAY OVER THESE SO CALLED "STEREO PRINTS ".............

I have had my stereo projector for many years, but I must admit it has never had two loudspeakers connected to it :-D I simply do not have two loudspeakers at the front. For me it would be cool to have stereo, but it is not in any way a deal breaker.

Ah what is this newfangled expensive film called stereo?do I need a new projector for this?………..um……..um
Nope……..
I have to say I have never really given this much thought as long as I have a good sharp picture and good mono sound that’s fine by me.I have a stereo machine a Bell and Howell but attaching two speakers has not been done.
If I want stereo then I go digital,so I can say it does not bother me.

I like my film prints to look and sound like the long-gone Regal Cinema in Henley-on-Thames circa 1974, and my Blu-ray discs to look and sound like the X Plus at Showcase Cinemas in 2022. Mix and match I say!

If the release has twin magnetic stripes then why on earth not record stereo sound? It would be silly not to offer this.
With these new releases it would be simple to it record in mono if you wish or stereo if you prefer.
In my opinion mono is fine but stereo sounds better

That is a good point Rik but originally the balance strip was only meant to be just that, a balance strip to the main sound strip. Walton did away with the balance strip as a way of saving cost, unfortunately for them it did back fire a bit because the main purpose is to keep the total thickness of the film the same on one edge as the other. Without that full width balance of thickness through the gate you can end up with a slightly uneven focus, especially on scope prints. It wasn't only Walton who did this but for some reason they were singled out in many threads regarding this issue, i cant say that any of the Walton prints we have with only a single track have any focus issues, it may have only effected some lower end model machines or perhaps those with slightly worn gates? Just a thought.

Obviously over the years the stereo prints became available commercially as the new releases were modern titles at that time so it made sense. Perhaps the dealers could have pushed stereo sales more but it has to remembered that the vast majority of super 8 sound projectors were either mono or at best twin track. The top end projectors with full stereo capacity were very expensive. Even though we have one stereo projector i would guess that 98(ish)% of our films are mono. What makes a massive difference is that ALL our films are put via an old 70s Pioneer stereo amp and the sound is glorious twin mono and knocks the roof off for the sound quality.

Derann films did a t least offer many of their new releases in either stereo or mono so the choice was there for collectors, if i recall correctly, the stereo prints were a little bit more expensive but not by much.

When we show the stereo prints we do have i cant really say the quality is that much more noticeable, the exception is Jurassic Park as this particular recording is clearly achieved via a digital source and it really does stand out. I already mentioned that unless your audience is sat in the centre of the stereo speakers it seems a bit pointless, but having twin mono via a decent sound amp and good quality speakers is what makes the biggest difference for us.

While the sound is very important for obvious reasons, i like to show off super 8 and 16mm for image on the big screen.

Good point Tom - I totally forgot to mention, be it mono or stereo running it though a quality amp and speaker set up will make them both sound awesome.

All my mono, twin mono and stereo recordings live very happily together under the same roof