UPLINK’s Tokyo cinemas can be described as mini theatres, including the city’s smallest such venue, which is located in the city’s Shibuya district.

The company has embarked on a quest to offer cinema goers the best indie and foreign films in a country where Japanese blockbusters are becoming increasingly popular at the expense of both Hollywood movies and foreign arthouse titles.

Over the last decade, the number of mini theatres has declined as multiplexes have flourished, but UPLINK and its president, Takashi Asai, have remained true to their belief that the future is bright for arthouse mini theatres in Tokyo. The way to ensure this, in their opinion, is to offer a pristine audiovisual experience to their customers.

As a result, UPLINK has chosen Powersoft amplifier platforms to drive the bespoke audio systems in its venues in the Kichijo-ji area, one of the city’s most fashionable districts. The audio setup in each of the venue’s five screens is driven by Powersoft Ottocanali amplifier platforms, which power Taguchi Acoustic Lab speaker systems.

Prior to the deployment, and in order to get familiar with the world of power amplification, Asai decided to educate himself in order to make the best possible choice for his cinemas and their customers.

“The visual side of cinema is constantly evolving,” began Asai, “But, quite surprisingly, the audio side seems to have stagnated a little in the last few decades. Obviously, SPL in cinemas has increased and dedicated subwoofers have become commonplace, but I have felt for a while that we, as cinema proprietors, could be doing more.”