CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 3:36 pm Post subject: Sometimes you just gotta say....

... HOLY ^&*%^$&%# is that FANTASTIC! Thumbs Up

I fully retubed a Runco 1100 yesterday including a brand new VDC made P19LUG tube. What was cool is that the owner is the original owner of the set, and he had it retubed at about 11,000 hours by Runco, now he had 16K hours on it, and he retubed again. We moved the set forward about 10" to use more of the tube face.

Everything cooked along nicely, and damnnnn... the green LUG tube is razor sharp. Gotta love those NEW VDC tubes!

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 3:43 pm Post subject:

Oh, and I'd be remiss if I said that the Lumagen Radiance wasn't adding a whole bunch to the image as well. It's the first time I'd seen one in the flesh, and it's gorgeous! Jim Peterson does it again!

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 3:47 pm Post subject:

( announcer voice ) Let's see you do THAT with a digital!

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

CIR Engineering · Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 3:54 pm Post subject:

Yeah, that is a heck of a setup with new tubes and a Radiance. You got all you need there Wink

craigr

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 3:55 pm Post subject:

Yep, the problem is, it isn't mine. Very Happy

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 3:58 pm Post subject:

CIR Engineering · Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 4:00 pm Post subject:

perisoft · Joined: 29 Aug 2007 Posts: 2920 Location: Ithaca, NY

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 4:28 pm Post subject:

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 4:53 pm Post subject:

stefuel · Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 5:23 pm Post subject:

"LALALALALAL I CAN'T HEAR YOU"

BLA BLA BLA BLA BLA BLA Pull the new tube packing material out of your ears Laughing

CIR Engineering · Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 5:36 pm Post subject:

I am sorry, but that Runco looks better than any digital out there. I know the argument to digital is persuasive and all in a lot of cases, but a minty 9" is still the best. And he's the original owner of the set and he knows it works. How many times have you bought a new expensive something only to have it be defective or break right after the grantee is over. Exact dollars are not the only consideration that everyone out there bases their decision on Wink

And like Curt says, a Runco of equivalent model is going to be $80k+, we aren't talking about a JVC substitute here.

craigr

perisoft · Joined: 29 Aug 2007 Posts: 2920 Location: Ithaca, NY

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 5:46 pm Post subject:

perisoft · Joined: 29 Aug 2007 Posts: 2920 Location: Ithaca, NY

I defy anyone to show my a substantive difference in PQ between an $80k Runco digital and a $10k whatever-other-digital. Mid priced digitals are constrained by basic chip techniques, not cost. There isn't some magic picture quality fairy dust you can buy for fifty grand that makes black levels or colors better - the tech can do it or not. The companies developing the low level stuff are in the mass market and have far more engineering horsepower than the pathetic shred that 'high end' manufacturers have or care to use.

Suggesting that the last sixty or seventy large you spend on a projector has a measurable impact on PQ is pure placebo effect, no better than spending a hundred grand (or even ten) on a a couple of speakers.

Bizarrely, the manufacturers aren't selling product; they're selling the feeling people get when they buy something really expensive. It's a good business: Customer support is a cinch when you're selling endorphins.

Spending $80k on a projector is hysteria; it has nothing to do with PQ. Suggesting that digitals aren't a good deal because it's possible to spend too much on one is absurd.

And my original point was vs. AR, who seemed to think that CRT had a price and convenience advantage over digitals, too. Per my point above, it's obvious that there are reasons people spend money that isn't related to product quality, but that doesn't necessarily make keeping a CRT projector a good investment per dollar/quality ratio.

greg_mitch · Joined: 03 May 2006 Posts: 5320

I am sick of you pussy footin around Peri! Tell us how you REALLY feel!

Twisted Evil

perisoft · Joined: 29 Aug 2007 Posts: 2920 Location: Ithaca, NY

CIR Engineering · Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 7:36 pm Post subject:

CIR Engineering · Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 7:44 pm Post subject:

By the way, I have a regular client that I work for monthly or so. He has a Madrigal MP9 and also always has a digital projector of some sort. Over the past four years we have replaced the Marantz VP-11S1 with a JVC RS20. The Marantz listed at $20k+ and was blown away by the RS20 in every category except sharpness. Three bulbs were used in the Marantz during the 18ish months he owned it. The RS20 got replaced about two months ago with a Runco LS-5. The JVC required three bulbs during the past 20ish months or so. The LS-5 blows the RS20 out of the ball park in every area and is at a slightly lower price point as well.

But you know which projector my client and I still think has the nicest picture... the Madrigal MP9. And it isn't just the two of us, everyone he has over says the Marquee is nicer looking than any of the digitals he has at the time. The digitals only get used for TV watching and 2.35 movies with the ISCO lens. All 16x9 movies he watches on he MP9 and anything else that he wants the best picture quality for.

And he has owned the MP9 for ten years and we have only changed the green tube once!

craigr