CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

Satanier · Joined: 25 Aug 2008 Posts: 185

What would be a good price for an NEC XG75 with tubes showing almost zero wear except for very light wear on the green tube? I have been offered one for 550 that was originally listed at 800. Could there be anything else seriously wrong? I've been offered a demo of this unit as it is local. What should I look for if I check it out? And why might this price be so low compared to the units I see curt has listed? I have seen pics of the tubes and they are pure white except for the blue(I think) which shows the ever so slightest amount of wear, covering most of the tube surface (it appears to have been setup properly) its a nice large even wear pattern, very faint as i said, maybe a 2 or 3 on curts guide to tube wear, the other two tubes look mint. Remote is included and I dont see any damage to the case.

macgyver655 · Joined: 22 Aug 2007 Posts: 8508

First off is it a 750 or 751?

Curt sells his after being thoroughly tested for full performance plus you have the support in the event of a problem and some warranty.

Another thing to remember is that just because the tubes are snow white doesn't mean they are any good. They could be nice and white and produce a dim image or shorted internally. Your buying cheap but taking a risk.

In my opinion, the only people that should be buying used projector's from people they don't know is someone who knows hot to fix it themselves. Other wise it can end up costing you double or triple of what a fully tested one for Curt would cost.

Unless your buying one for backup parts and then hope if you ever need a part from it that its still a good part.

**kal** · Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2008 10:19 pm Post subject:

If XG's have been 'messed with' then they're almost impossible to get to run correctly. When open the lid there are half a dozen little pots staring you in the face just waiting to be twisted or turned. These affect the white balance and some other colours and functions of the projector. If any of these have been messed with they are quite litterally impossible to get back right. (I should know as I had one and couldn't with a 'scope and the service manual and a knowledge of electronics).

The only way to know if it's 100% perfect is to set the whole thing up from scratch including doing a quick greyscale to make sure it's tracking properly.

Be weary of any wear as well. Throw up a 100% white test pattern, increase the raster size to use up most of the tube face and look at each colour projected on a screen (or white wall) one at a time to see if the wear's noticeable. Sometimes wear that you don't see looking into the tubes shows up a lot projected.

If you're not comfortable doing all this or don't know how and don't want to take a risk, buy from Curt.

Kal

**kal** · Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2008 10:21 pm Post subject:

Satanier · Joined: 25 Aug 2008 Posts: 185

Well I've been offered a demo before purchase, if I was to do that and everything looked 100% then it wouldn't be as large of a risk, correct? My dad is an electrical engineer as well so he could take a look inside the case to make sure nothing is looking out of place or burned, he used to work on TVs when he was younger.

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2008 10:26 pm Post subject:

Tubes are $700 each, that's where the increase in price comes in when you buy a new tube set from me. I think I've run across maybe 2 or 3 XGs that didn't need tubes out of say the 150-200 I've bought in the past. Mind you, I never got the luxury to inspect the tubes/sets, I was always buying as is where is.

garyfritz · Joined: 08 Apr 2006 Posts: 12088 Location: Fort Collins, CO

I have most of an EE degree, and like Kal, even with an oscope and a service manual, I couldn't get my XG to behave. Their design is such that you can mess them up badly, and then it's nearly impossible to get them right again. There's ONE guy we know of who has some luck with it.

That said: If the seller gives you a demo, and shows you a full-screen white raster so you can check for wear (and look at the lenses to see how large or small the image area is, it should stretch across most of the tube face), and -- very important -- if he shows you a 5% step pattern so you can see that it properly displays all levels of video brightness, then I'd be pretty tempted for $550. If $550 is all you can afford, it might be a good alternative. If you can afford more, you will get a much more reliable set from Curt.

Where are you located? There might be other XG owners nearby.

**kal** · Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2008 10:36 pm Post subject:

Satanier · Joined: 25 Aug 2008 Posts: 185

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2008 11:26 pm Post subject:

Well I'll lend a hand here as well.. Smile

Check for accurate focus across the tube faces. All 'H' patterns should be as sharp in the corners as in the middle. that's one of the toughest things to get right on the XG.

Satanier · Joined: 25 Aug 2008 Posts: 185

What sort of warranty /// guarantee does curt offer? And if something goes wrong do I have to pay shipping fees for repair?

Zebu Fellenz · Joined: 21 Dec 2006 Posts: 2567

Right off the site,

"One year warranty on new tubes, six months on used tubes, and 90 days on the chassis (though I'm pretty liberal with the chassis warranty!)."

Satanier · Joined: 25 Aug 2008 Posts: 185

macgyver655 · Joined: 22 Aug 2007 Posts: 8508

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2008 12:47 am Post subject:

Virtually all of these sets are 100% modular, so we narrow it down to a board or two, and you send me the boards. You cover shipping one way, I cover it back to you.

If you don't want to troubleshoot, and want to send me the whole set, then you cover shipping and customs charges all the way around, but it's rare that anyone sends me an entire set to repair, save for a DWIN which isn't modular.

Zebu Fellenz · Joined: 21 Dec 2006 Posts: 2567

Yeah,

For most warrenty repair you'd be looking at a flat rate USPS box to send up the boards.

I would also like to add I sent some boards to Curt for repair and was very impressed. They were in his shop for only two days and all of the repairs were well done.

Elaine Benes · Joined: 25 Apr 2006 Posts: 1416

If its local, heck, just go look at it running. Take some of your own demo discs, and make sure you see it from OFF to running one of your demo's. Check the Contrast/Brightness settings just to be sure they're not both at 100 just to get a bright enough picture.
All the advice about electronics in general is nice and all, but if it looks good, and runs good, its no bigger risk than any other electronics purchase.

NEC's are very reliable, sharp, and very, very bright, AS LONG AS THE POTS HAVEN'T BEEN TURNED, you're golden. And really, you will EASILY see if the white balance pots have been messed with, the picture will suck.

Run the brightness up and down to be sure it tracks normally, same with contrast, that will pretty much tell you if the white balance has been fudged up or not...

Can't beat the price for an NEC with decently clear tubes...

Local saves you hundreds in shipping too...but that is obvious, eh ?

larryk · Joined: 23 Aug 2007 Posts: 106 Location: Edmonton Alberta

It's not a huge amount of money to spend and if you found a problem you could undoubtably make more then half of that back selling parts from it like lens, boards, etc.

When you look at it find out what resolution/frequency it is set to and what it can lock onto. Some units that have board issues seem to work with lower resolutions but crap out when you feed them higher res/freq/ signals.

ON the way to look at the XG go to a local HT shop and look at a few digital front projectors in the 3 to 4 thousand dollar range. Sit 8 to 10 feet back from an 8 foot screen viewing a disk that you brought with you, then go to look at the XG. If the XG is decently setup and it does not have serious issues you will likely quickly hand over the 550.00 before he changes his mind about selling it to you.

Above all read the primer, the setup info and make sure you will feel comfortable doing anything in the process. Unless you are going to use a PC, you will also need to consider buying other components like a HD Fury, cables, screen, etc.

Mark_A_W · Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 9:59 pm Post subject:

$550 is a great price.

Aww, c'mon guys, it's not that hard to do the full white balance.

Or does that make me one of the 2-3 guys in the world?

Basically what Elaine said , if it throws a good image and the colour don't go screwy as you ramp brightness up and down (press PIC FUNC twice, brightness is after constrast), then the pots are ok.

Also check that at a normal brightness level, there is no big washed out square over half the image (pots again).

And try and take the lenses off to make sure the tubes really are ok.

Mark

stefuel · Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 10:19 pm Post subject: