CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 7:57 pm Post subject:

I heard of a customer in LA that replaced some high end 720p Marantz digital with the latest 1080p unit, $20K+. (I was talking to the installer about this).

The customer did some math, and figured out that in the short time he had the Marantz, it cost him $700 an hour to run. Go figure.

CIR Engineering · Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 8:15 pm Post subject:

drice1234 · Joined: 07 Oct 2006 Posts: 1309 Location: Allen, Texas

CIR Engineering · Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 10:32 pm Post subject:

ecrabb · Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 10:49 pm Post subject:

You're not exactly comparing apples to apples, Dan. Leave snacks and drinks out because you have to buy those things at home (albeit at greatly reduced cost), and not everybody will buy them. Not many people would go to the public theater once every week, all year long, and not many people will have the skill and patience to put together a system from used components like you and some of us have. So, the "public option" isn't really fair in your example (too expensive) and the "private option" in your example is probably too cheap.

Personally, I spent way, way more than you on my theater - probably closer to $10,000 (still not a lot by some measures). Even if I just use it for 5 years and get no monetary return on any of it, we're talking $2000/year, right? Well, even if we watch 2 movies every week all year long, that works out to about $10/head/movie - about the same as going to the theater. So, no real cost savings if you have much new equipment or put together even a relatively modest nicer system.

BUT... In our case, we'd have to figure in a baby sitter because we have young children. In that case, the price and hassle are such that we'd probably only make to the theater a few times a year. With the HT, we see dozens of movies we'd never be able to see otherwise.

So, for us, the theater isn't any sort of cost-saving tool, but a way for me to self-indulge and enjoy a hobby, a way for my wife and me to do something together we enjoy, and a really fun family activity that the whole family enjoys. When people get all freaky when I tell them what it would cost to build a similar HT with new gear, I compare it to a boat but point out that we can use the HT any time of day, any time of the year, and that it costs almost nothing to operate. Then they get it.

But, none of that matters because it's our hobby, our passion. If you start looking at things like this from a financial or pragmatic perspective, many of the things we do are downright stupid. Fortunately, that completely misses the point.

SC

Spanky Ham · Joined: 22 Mar 2006 Posts: 5643 Location: Comedy Central

HT costs and value are different for everyone. Is the HT a living room theater or a dedicated theater? Is it used for just movies or everything? For me, it was a living room theater and I used it for everything. To me, Lost or Dexter is a hell of a lot better than most movies that I have seen. In my context, the cost is more than reasonable.

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

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

Its all relative.

There is a local High end audio/Video Store near me called the Speaker Shop, the owner and I were talking one day and a guy walks in and begins asking pricing questions. You can tell he is shocked at some prices. The store owner gets done and the guy says How can people spend that much on Audio crap?
The store owner then asks how much would you spend on a in ground swimming pool? The guy answers I just put one in two years ago, it was about 15k. And the the owner then said did you have a fence already? Umm no, that was another 3k. Did you do any landscaping? umm yes about 3k. Up keep for it? About 1k per year, we have a pool service open and close it. How much do you use it all year? Ummm, about 3-4 months. The Store owner says, you spent all that money for something you only enjoy 3-4 months? man you could have got all this stuff i just mentioned and you and your family would use it all year , and for many many years.

I just sat there and Smiled.

Athanasios

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Wed Sep 15, 2010 1:33 am Post subject:

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

CasetheCorvetteman · Joined: 09 Nov 2008 Posts: 6326 Location: Australia

So.... Tell me, if i want to go down to the local cinema with my mates and take the playstation what do you reckon they will say to me having a Point Blank shooting game session in their establishment while we drink alcohol and smoke cigars?

I dont reckon they will allow it... For that very resason, i will sooner drop a few grand into a huge CRT at home before i will compare the cost of going to the cinema.

At the end of the day, who cares what it costs? Certainly not me, i dont make alot of money, but it doesnt stop me doing things my way. ( almost anyway, i still want a brand new in a box Cine 9... id drop the $45,000 AUD asking price for one of the 2 left straight away if i had it, and i wouldnt give a f*** what it cost per hour to run!! )

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Wed Sep 15, 2010 2:41 pm Post subject:

the best thing about what I'd consider the majority of people here, is that an expensive HT experience can be had for a fraction of the price of what others paid new.

To me, life has always been about wheeling and dealing. The exception has been my work truck, but heck, even my house was a bargain, as it was going into foreclosure as I closed on it. Smile

The fact that I have a $43,000 (current VDC price) 9500 LC on my ceiling (my price about $1500), a free Lumagen (won at Cliff's place), and a set of EAW PA speakers traded in from a pub in my basement kicks some serious ass.

Joe P. · Joined: 26 Mar 2008 Posts: 13 Location: Marcy, NY

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

Another thumbs up for ghetto setups. My whole HT will have come in under $1k, from a bare room on down. When I get it done-ish I'm going to do a post, but suffice it to say that you can extract awesome stuff for next to no money - I paid $-50 for an 84" Stewart Ultramatte 130 electric roll down; I bought a Zenith Pro 900x for $100; it came with the broken screen... I parted the PJ for $150 and fixed the screen for free. Voila.

When all's said and done with my PJ setup, if the G70 works and I can get what I think I can for the other bits and the Barco, my initial projector investment of $300 + $100 for tubes in the Barco will probably drop to $200 *including* the upgrade. Add the screen in there and you have a minty G70 and an electric Stewart screen for $150... It's hard to beat that for price/performance.

At the medium and high end, though, things get far dicier.

CIR Engineering · Posted: Sun Sep 19, 2010 1:43 pm Post subject:

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Sun Sep 19, 2010 3:20 pm Post subject:

stefuel · Posted: Sun Sep 19, 2010 3:33 pm Post subject:

I think it's safe to say that CRT speculation buying is just about out the window.
I'll go out on a limb and sat that Curt is probably sitting on more CRT projectors then he'll ever be able to sell and that many of the ready to go ones will end up being broken up for parts.
My next projector (if there is even another one) will have one lens Wink

Because of the small screen size that I have, going to a giant flatscreen monitor is not out of the question. It's all about price and availability.

Spanky Ham · Joined: 22 Mar 2006 Posts: 5643 Location: Comedy Central

I think Curt's parts business will be fine for the next couple of years. As for pj sales, that will depend on if he translates the page to Chinese. Smile

Actually, I just talked to Roger Galvin and he says those new G90s are selling in China. The Chinese are apparently hot for CRTs.

As for ghetto CRTs, that is probably 75% to 90% of this forum.