CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

TheVerge · Joined: 19 Jul 2009 Posts: 928

Get an 83 inch mitsu... they are huge !!

Mr. Green · Posted: Sat Jul 24, 2010 4:57 am Post subject:

Mr. Green · Posted: Sat Jul 24, 2010 5:45 am Post subject:

I know I'm behind, but I just read through this whole thead.

Personally I think a lot of guys are taking offence to the CRT bash in this thread because this is a HOBBY. If you are tired of the hobby get out and go digital, fine with us. Just don't bash the HOBBY the rest of us still value. Saying $2500 is too much for a CRT is a bold statement. $2500 for a "work when took down" shady e-bay deal, sure, but what about the guy whom this forum is named? I'll pay double or triple going rate for a CRT from Curt knowing he'll stand behind it (and 'll tell you from experience he goes above and beyond to make it right). Try and get ANY warranty work done (let alone "above and beyond" work) the year after you buy your digital and see how far you get.

Lets use something else instead to compare. You can buy a rusted out an old rust bucket 1960's car from a farmers field for $1000 and people who only buy "new cars" would mock you for tossing your money away, yet that same person will spend countless thousands of dollars and countless hours to bring the rust bucket from the brink to better than new condition, ending up with a car very few other people have and will always have a lot of value to those who respect what it is.

It doesn't matter what hobby you have, it's just that, a hobby. If you're tired of working to be proud of something you worked hard at and just want plug and play, go digital. Just don't be a sore sport about it.

There's my 2 cents on the subject.

CxTurbo · Joined: 13 Oct 2008 Posts: 425 Location: Ontario, Canada

Phil Smith · Joined: 08 Mar 2006 Posts: 7717

greg_mitch · Joined: 03 May 2006 Posts: 5320

It's only a matter of time. I predict they will have 103" flat panels at Best Buy within 5-7 years. Laughing

Clarence · Posted: Sat Jul 24, 2010 8:36 pm Post subject:

Jeremy112 · Joined: 28 Sep 2006 Posts: 2649 Location: Fond du Lac, WI

If your willing to travel to Japan, Panasonic has a 150" Plasma TV for sale, although I think its more than $10,000 ,but hey... 150"!!

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

Wonder how much power THAT monster burns!? You'd probably have to run a 40A line for it!!

dvh99 · Joined: 25 Dec 2009 Posts: 2158 Location: nederland

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Sun Jul 25, 2010 2:45 am Post subject:

BTW guys, Mac will support me on this....

Now that I'm working on LCD computer monitors a lot, I get to meet people that know nothing about CRT that come and buy monitors. They usually ask about the CRT stuff, and we chat a bit about it (nahhh, I never do that!), and they are always surprised when I tell them that a 1993 vintage CRT could do 1080p even though the format didn't exist until much more recently.

As for the digital flat screen stuff, almost everyone I talk to shies away from plasmas for one reason or another... plasmas don't last, plasmas are power hungry, etc.. and FYI, I've now had to scrap 4+ LCD TVs due to bad LCDs. Not smashed, not cracked, but three had massive LCD 'lag', in the sense that a fast moving image trailed a ghost behind it. Two were 37" Sonys, one was a 50" Sony, and one was a 42" no name brand. All made within the last 2 years.

So, the powers that be can twist and turn the 'buy this' marketing spin very effectively, and frankly, it's all BS. I do like LCDs for casual viewing, a couple of those scrapped Sonys had the potential to look really nice.. when working, but sadly, the lifespan is very very low.

Jeremy112 · Joined: 28 Sep 2006 Posts: 2649 Location: Fond du Lac, WI

deronmoped · Joined: 03 Nov 2006 Posts: 1154 Location: San Diego

One reason I never went the digital route was, you end up chasing the technology.

Anyone visiting these forums are usually more into trying to achieve a better then average picture out of their set up. With CRT PJ's they pretty much peaked in quality. Sure I bet if they revisited producing them, they could make further strides, but that's probably not going to happen. When digitals first came out, people were drooling over the next years model right after they put their hard earned money down on one. The improvements were pretty substantial back then. Even today, if I had entered the digital market, I would still be thinking, should I dump this one and buy the latest one. It's hard to resist, they pound you with the advertising and the people that bought the latest try to convince you that last years model is crap.

Now of course, "what comes around, goes around". CRT PJ's will one day be hot again. I see even cut off jeans are now getting popular again. Took thirty years for that to come around. The guy that horded a hundred CRT PJ's will be wealthy, one of these days. Very Happy

Deron.

stefuel · Posted: Sun Jul 25, 2010 11:27 am Post subject:

"Now of course, "what comes around, goes around". CRT PJ's will one day be hot again. I see even cut off jeans are now getting popular again. Took thirty years for that to come around. The guy that horded a hundred CRT PJ's will be wealthy, one of these days."

I think you're dead wrong. The 7" market for all practical purposes no longer exists. There is very little wiggle room for the 8" market with only the very best ones squeeking by. That leaves the 9" LC as the staple in the CRT market.
For those of you who have been here from the start and migrated here from AVS, you'll remember when people would jump through hoops to buy a G-90 (B stock) for 16-18K. A good low hour used one (if you could even find one) was 12-14K. Marquee non Ultras would sell all day long for 12K. You could ask and would get 5K for a 9500 LC needing tubes.

Where does this leave Curt? He has to find them, buy them, ship them, refurb them, market them, sell them and stand behind them. For what? Hopefully profit. That's why he's here.
I hardly ever look at CRT's on e-bay any more but because of this thread, looked for a 9500 Ultra. Curt had one with a starting price of $7500.00. With a day left had 0 bids. I could be wrong but I think it had been re-listed a couple of times unless he uses stock photos.

If any CRT projector even comes close to it's asking price it would be one of Curts and I don't see it happening.
The occasional sale of a high end CRT projector won't keep him in hot dogs and beans. To keep it profitable he'll have to consentrate on parts and service along with moving in on digital sales and service. Eventually he will be forced to put CRT on the back burners and concentrate on digital if he wants to eat. Sad but true.

deronmoped · Joined: 03 Nov 2006 Posts: 1154 Location: San Diego

stefuel · Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 6:34 am Post subject:

The point is for every single $10K tube amp sold, a couple of hundred thousand $1K solid state amps will. It's not about which technology is best. It's about where the money will be spent. I have no doubt that Curt will still sell a few CRT projectors here and there. His primary source of income will be somewhere else.

Jeremy112 · Joined: 28 Sep 2006 Posts: 2649 Location: Fond du Lac, WI

The day curt stops selling CRT is the day when all the current CRT buffs are older and have moved on to something that better suits their needs, whats left will be people that are currently in their 20's and maybe 30's, after that, most likely the rest wont even know what a CRT is.

I am probably one of the few people in their early 20's that is into CRT tech like most of us here. I can't see many people my age saying :O look at that big huge boat anchor, must be a great projector!

People my age are all about the flat panels and small digital projectors and their iPods, I mean heck, I don't know anyone my age who even uses blu ray players or DVD players anymore, they are all about the netflix and downloading.

I on the other hand preffer my "old style tech" as it is just better period. Why would I want to stream a crappy "HD" version of a movie when I can have the best version of it in hand all the time and pay only once for it, sure its a disk, god forbid I have to go and pull it out of its case and put it into my player and wait for it to start up.

A lot of people don't like clutter, which is why they use things like netflix and iTunes, no having to store lots of CD's or Blu rays etc.. Just like a CRT projector, putting that big beast on the ceiling or even having it on the floor is just not something practical.

Sadly most of the ignorance in my age group is due to lack of knowledge, and most the people they know probably have some sort of flat panel and think thats the way to go...

Curt, keep selling the beasts! It wouldn't be curtpalme.com if you stopped!

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 2:02 pm Post subject:

Every year it's the same thing. I predict I have 2 more years left, and then I get a sale or four and I look back and damnnn, 3 years have passed.

I think I said it before, I get increased business almost every month from industrial clients that aren't pulling out CRTs any time soon, and they pay well, as their only other option is to buy new parts from Barco or VDC. CRT sales to HT buffs is steady, but primarily is only the 9" sets, although I sold a minty 1272 last week for dirt cheap.

I'm doing about $10K worth of sound business a month at this point, a small installation or two each month. Funny, I see local installs now where people are paying STUPID amounts of money for commercial sound systems that I know I could do as well, but no time, no time.

Put it this way though: I'll never be bored or broke... I hope. Smile

I thrive on finding out how things work, thus my time spent learning LCD monitors. 80% of the repairs now are dead simple, but I will continue to fight with the two 22" Acers that I have here that have an intermittent backlight. Thanks to Mac and a couple of forums online, I'm getting to know those.

I'm also still working on that recycling idea, and am calling my local politician today to set up a meeting to see if there's any interest in floating my idea, and I'll bet there will be.

So as long as my brains and hands are working, and I have a hot soldering iron on the bench, I'm happy. Not to mention a new g/f that knows how to take care of her man. Wink

BTW, it's also about adapting to a changing world. I visited Tinman for an hour while in LA last month, and while he's right out of CRT (and was pissed that my RCA TV took up all the room so I couldn't take the 4 NECs he wanted to give me), he's completely adapted to the dead CRT world by finding niche markets in other areas, and he's doing fine. As long as I keep adapting, I'll do fine as well.

CRT is dead. Long live CRT! Very Happy

Jeremy112 · Joined: 28 Sep 2006 Posts: 2649 Location: Fond du Lac, WI

Bah CRT will only truly die when you cannot find one online. Until that day, CRT has a LONG and prosperous life! Mr. Green

Electrogeek · Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 2:24 pm Post subject:

and for the time being, i will be buying spare parts for what i run now, every time i see them! (or hope that curt has them and that the post will carry them.... thanks for that red tube by the way... its still in the pj, and still going strong clocking in about 8 hours a day..... oh the life of a flat with a real home theater....)