CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

[teeveestevee]

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Hi Y'all,

I'm thinking of replacing my Sony 1042 with a slightly better projector (that is still under $400) that I can run a line doubler on. My 1042 has heavy fungus on the green tube and I don't feel confident enough to tear the projector apart and go through that delicate process of getting the fungus out. I love the Sony line of projectors and was thinking about getting a 1031 but there are none available and I would have to build or get a special RGB adapter for it to run into a line doubler.

I was looking through the projectors that Curt has and he is offering up an ECP 3500 for a pretty good price. I'm not familiar with Electrohome products and based on all the problems I read about with the power supplies and Dallas chip thingy, I'm not sure the Electrohome ECP 3500 is a very reliable machine (compared to Sony). I don't want to have to keep spending money on it to keep it going (my Sony never had any problems other than the fungus thing for the 9 years I've had it).

If anyone has any experiences or opinions with this particular model or Electrohome's general reliability reputation please post a comment.

thanks in advance

-alex

[CasetheCorvetteman]

Have you considered getting someone to help you with the Sony instead?

If you can stretch to 4 or 5 hundred there is the option of a Sony 125x or 127x which i reckon would be better.

[JustGreg]

I don't think the power supplies in an Electrohome are all that bad. They work hassle free if you keep your fingers out of them. (GUILTY AS CHARGED!)
The LVPS needs the P14 filament voltage mod but not every LVPS needs that done. Most of the required mods have been done by now on anything you will buy from a home theater enthusiast. (But still check for it!)

You have to remember most of the pj's in use are extremely old by electronic component standards. They need updating...that's why we have Curt, Tim, draganm, MP, moome, HK-MODs, Joust,.....

I've never owned anything but an Electrohome pj but based on what I've read, I don't think they need any more special care than any other make. You just hear so much about them because there's like a zillion of them in use and they are so easy and forgiving to work on. So much so they beg to be messed with.

If I were upgrading right now I'd spend until it hurt, and get something as close to the top of the food chain as possible.

[Sparky015]

Curt would be best to answer, but I can't imagine he would sell it if it had inherent reliability problems. Your best bet is to have a conversation with him on what's best for you based on your needs and budget.

[Jeremy112]

I would check around locally, perhaps on craigslist just to see if you can find anything in your area that would be better, granted some of the people you may potentially buy from wont know squat other than how to turn it on and off, but most who own these units know how to use them. If your lucky you could pick a much higher end unit up at a substantially lower price.

Just trying to help you get the best bang for your buck

[cmjohnson]

He's talking about an ECP, not a Marquee. Different power supply and no filament voltage issues on ECPs. But ECPs are mid performance machines, with Sony 07MS tubes and electrostatic focusing, capable of 720p or 1080i resolutions but not a lot more than that. A solid machine in its class, but frankly...why even bother? If you're going to upgrade, upgrade to something that's able to handle 1080p.
Get yourself at least a healthy Marquee 8500 or a G70 or something in that class and be done with it.




CJ

[CasetheCorvetteman]

Yeah i agree, but mate that is a VERY big step up from the $400 or so he wants to spend.