Electrohome Marquee Series

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      >> Layout and Setup Tips
      >> Tim Martin Modified LVPS Installation
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Having problems setting up your CRT projector? Watch a pro do a setup from start to finish on this CRT Projector Setup Guide!

Looking for the ultimate in performance? Add a high end HDMI 1.3 VIM-FULLHD input card specially made for the Marquee chassis!

Preventative maintenance and performance increase mods for the Marquee series of CRT projectors and clones.

The Electrohome Marquee series was introduced in 1993 as a high end 8 and 9” 1000 lumen EM focus projector. All have digital convergence, on screen menus, and work exceptionally well. The M8XXX series designates the 8” model, the M9XXX the 9” model.

The M8000 came out in 1993, and was made through to 1995. It was rated at 1000 lumens due to the slightly lower voltage high voltage power supply. Sets pre-May 1994 did not have an internal hour meter, software changes post June 1994 put one into the service menu.

The M8110, M8500, and M8500LC replaced the 8000 in spring of 1995. The light output was upped to 1200 lumens due to the new high voltage power supply, the tubes, lenses and rest of the chassis was upgraded some over the M8000 model, but a number of modules could be interchanged between all of the M8XXX and M9XXX series sets.

The M8500 and M8500LC are the top of the line sets which is identical to the M8110, but with the addition of the astigmatism (stigmator) circuits that gave additional beam focusing capabilities, especially in the corners of the image. While an M8110 can be turned into an M8500 by adding the missing astig components, they are very hard to find on the surplus market. The M8500LC is a liquid coupled version of the M8500.

For video use only, the M8000 and M8110 give an excellent image that comes very close to the M8500. If you plan on surfing the net or looking at small type or print on the projector, then the extra charge for the astig circuits in an M8500 is well worth the expense.

The M9000 was released in 1993 and used 9” liquid coupled tubes. These sets provided better resolution than the M8000. In 1995 the M9000 was replaced by the M9500LC. The M9500LC is the flagship model in the Marquee line, retailing for over $40K USD when new.  They were sold by Vidikron as the "Vision 1" (with a fancy case). These sets are used as the industry standard for very high end flight simulators. Modular construction is used throughout the set for simple field service for most failures. The older M9000 model is very similar in performance to the later M9500LC, and should not be ruled out as a high end projector. The exception is the very early production run of the M9000 that used Thomson tubes instead of the more popular MEC tubes. That early model had issues, and should be avoided.

In 1998, an 'Ultra' designation appeared, which added additional features and refined geometry controls. The M8110+, M8500 Ultra, M8500LC Ultra, M9500LC Ultra and a few other special simulator models are built today by VDC in Florida, as they acquired the Marquee program from Christie Digital around November 2001.

I do all of the mods (including anamorphic squeeze mod and the power supply mods) required to make the Marquees more versatile and reliable. I've sold lots of these in the past with great results.

Marquee Clones

The Marquee chassis has been a very popular with third party resellers, probably due to the reliability the ease of servicing, and the fact that the chassis is still being built today (as of 2008).  There are a large number of companies that purchase(d) the 8000/8110/8500/9000/9500 chassis and added a new case and other adjustments (mostly minor) and called it their own.  Below is a fairly thorough list of clones. 

Since these projectors are truly all 100% Marquee machines, Moome's VIM-FULLHD HDMI 1.3 input card can be used in all of these projectors.

To see how the various Marquee projectors rank in relation to other projectors for use in a home theater environment see the Projector Rankings page.

For full specifications on these and other projectors, see the Projector Specifications page.

For an overview and history of Electrohome see the CRT Primer.

See the Advanced Procedures page for various DIY instructions on maintaining and improving CRT projectors.

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