CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

stefuel · Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 10:28 am Post subject: Marquee madness

Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed the increasing amount of faild (modded) Marquees? It's starting to remind me of about 6-7 years ago when screen-goo Ken was making unbelievable claims about what he was able to do with a ECP.
For about a year following, E-bay was flooded with dead ECP's that were the result of failed modding experiments. I'm not busting balls here but if I were in the market for a Marquee, I would not buy one from anyone who claims it's had all the latest mods. From a sellers point of view, how can you stand behind the sale of a perfectly working (virgin) Marquee when you know it won't even make it to the ceiling before someone starts poking around inside trying to make it better.
Rant off.

David_Web · Joined: 02 May 2007 Posts: 418 Location: Sweden

It would be interesting to know exactly what parts and mods is failing.

All the parts in the pj is known to be reliable.(to some extent) Electrohome claims 100k h for their chassis.
But we don't know if the modded components will hold in the long run and how they keep up with the harsh operation in a pj.

How about the carbon resistors that is replaced inside the HVPS, will the replacements handle voltage they take?

mmm virgin.

What do MP have to say about this? He if any one have researched the inner workings and mods of a Marquee.

draganm · Joined: 08 Mar 2006 Posts: 8990 Location: Colorado

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 2:31 pm Post subject:

I've seen my share of modded sets, ranging from good to terrible mods. Tim and I have exchanged some pix with regards to modifications that caused massive problems in sets down the road. Something as simple as putting in caps that are 3X the size and weight of the original ones snap off the board due to vibrations and expansion/contraction over time.

The only mods I do before shipping sets:

-Barco solder joints
-ECP focus resistors
-Marquee LVPS mod
-Marquee anamorphic mod
-assorted capacitors known for failure in the various sets.

I turn down the repairs of boards that are heavily modded or ones that have been worked on by 'quasi techs' that end up butchering the board, or blow other components up due to poor troubleshooting techniques.

I do trust guys like Mike that spend countless hours doing research before swapping out parts, and rework video circuits from the ground up, based on circuit knowledge, not just looking at spec sheets and swapping parts at random.

macgyver655 · Joined: 22 Aug 2007 Posts: 8508

Nashou66 · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Posts: 16171 Location: West Seneca NY

I see problems on all types of PJ at this time not only Marquees and of the first 42 post here on the CRT forum 6 are marquee problems and only one was related to a CS mod Tim Has in his shop, and the one I had wasnt even a fault of the Marquee it was a non grounded Chasis from the blu ray player.

I do agree with Curt About terrible mods done by others I do upgrades most form the MPMT and a few from others that have done them and could fall into that catagory but Iam not a butcher by any means, I like things nice and neat on my boards.
I had a vim in one of the PJ i bought from a supossed part time ressller and all the solder pads on the RGB amps of his Vim were lifted or gone after he did the MAX chip upgrade. Just really bad. I dont even know how it worked.

So I really think its just the age of all PJ catching up and they are getting more use I think now that more HD material is out there. Were just adding more and more hours to our beloved CRTs and many are in need of newer componets to replace 10-15 year old parts.

look at all the YA board problems on Sony's It seems like NEC is the only set having the least problems Oh And Chips Ampro Very Happy

And I do think he has probably done some mods to that as well.

So I do not think its only attributed to "Mods".

Athanasios

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 6:51 pm Post subject:

I like the posts: 'MY set only has 3200 hours on it, and something died. WHY???'

All of these sets are now 10+ years old. While it seems that the G90 has some serious Ya board issues, the longevity of CRT absolutely ROCKS.

(besides, if stuff didn't break, I couldn't pay for this site, and you'd all have to go elsewhere to get your jollies) Very Happy

Nashou66 · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Posts: 16171 Location: West Seneca NY

draganm · Joined: 08 Mar 2006 Posts: 8990 Location: Colorado

where the hell's Chip, did he just feel the need to throw a hand-grenade and run? I'm still looking for this thread about a truck-load of modded marquee's that broke down and can't find it. Confused

Nashou66 · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Posts: 16171 Location: West Seneca NY

the one thing is, Many of the stuff i was researching was a thread about cap upgrades to an Ampro's power supply that turned into a marquee thread. I was a general thread where Ken Hottie said it was ok to go through any CRT PJ and change out most Electrolyitics with higher voltage.temp and maybe one value upgrade like from 50uf to 100uf, or 100uf to 160uf ect. I think even you Curt were intrested in the results to that Ampro's SMPS.

See its those Damn Ampro's that caused all this MAdness!!!! Wink

Athanasios

stefuel · Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 10:20 pm Post subject:

Nashou66 · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Posts: 16171 Location: West Seneca NY

stefuel · Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 11:15 pm Post subject:

Tim in Phoenix · Joined: 21 Oct 2006 Posts: 4409 Location: Phoenix

Gino · Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 3:08 am Post subject:

Nashou66 · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Posts: 16171 Location: West Seneca NY

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 5:22 am Post subject:

stefuel · Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 9:31 am Post subject:

aspec2 · Joined: 10 Apr 2006 Posts: 549

I have 2 8500s. One has all the upgrades (mods) from Tim's "Marquee Maintenance" thread on the A site. One has all but the focus board. One is the daily viewer. The other is the "practice magnetics" machine. The practice machine has rebuilt tubes from VDC. The viewer has a rebuilt g and b. The practice machine was not finished because of my old hands and poor eyes. Shakes aren't conducive to good soldering. My viewer has been running as the big screen for about 4 years with only an occasional convergence. It is used for HDTV, DVD, some gaming by the grandson and some web browsing. I don't know how many hours it has on it but it averages about 40 hours per week. I may pull it down when I get home. It is time for a good cleaning. I have never had a problem with this machine.

BTW...I saw, in person, Ken Hotte's (how do you spell his last name) modded Marquee 8000. I was absolutely amazing at 1080p. If memory serves me this was around 2004/2005, long before there was all the talk of doing 1080p on 8" Marquees. I know, Ken was...aw......proud of himself, but that 8000......

Walt

stefuel · Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 3:14 pm Post subject:

Anyone with great setup skills and a afternoon to kill can get 1080P out of just about any true 8" EM projector. If I can do it with the presumed a$$hole of 8" projectors (stock AmPro 3600HD) then the presumed king of the hill (Marquee) of any model should do it Wink

If it can't, it ain't worth it's weight in poo Laughing