$3000 Plasma TV? SO What. Read this..

1stfreedom

[1stFreedom]

Build your own projector instead.

1. Use high quality svga lcd monitor (Rated for video) 2. Purchase a used overhead projector (3m makes good ones). 3. Modify the projector to use a XENON or MH bulb. 4. Go to www.diyaudio.com for examples and instructions.(look under the forums for video, and you should find several lcd projector threads.)

Remember those overhead lcd panels? Well, this is essentially what you are creating, except now the LCD's are high quality and resolution. Several places sell NSTC to VGA adapters. Fix up your projection system and you'll end up spending $600 for a system that will cost you AT least $1000 more (lcd projector).

On another note, build your own audiophile quality amplifier. Check out the Passlab forums for more info or go to www.passlabs.com and click on the DIY link..

I'm going to build my own home theater. I'm building six 100w audiphile monoblock amps (Aleph 2). If you tried to buy such an amp it would cost you $3000 each. I'll build em for about $400 each.

I also buy my speakers used. I have a $1600 pair of Thiel speakers I picked up for $40 at a garage sale. I'm looking for two more pairs of the same and a decent center channel speaker. All together, the speakers will cost me $1000 (including an excellent subwoofer).

Thrown in a DTS 6.1 preamp for $2k (brand new, too new to make it yourself), the home made lcd projector, and the total cost is around $6k for what would cost one about $32k. (giant screen tv, 6 awesome speakers, six monoblock amps, awesome preamp. All I need is a popcorn machine!)

6k? Pretty darn good. A plasma TV can cost $6k alone and still won't come close to this quality. Your Bose stereo can't come close to the sound of the monoblock amps and Theil speakers. Come on folks. Break out the Soldering irons!

[John Robertson]

and it's gonna look terrific, all duct-taped together!

look, i admire your spirit, and i'm not nearly as techno-adept as thou, but let me tell you something: only TODAY i checked out home-theater systems and plasma screens at my nearest Sim-city extended-endless mall (Robinson Township, PA, outside of Pittsburgh, which demonstrated to me that the Democrats were lying about our economic woes, because every time I go there there's a traffic jam, everybody's driving a $30-40K vehicle, there's no parking available, and the stores are too crowded ((I've said to wife, If the economy ever comes roaring back, I'll never come here again, because I can't stand THESE crowds...))

Like I said, only today, I was checking these things out. I can get a wonderful HDTV-ready TV AND a great home theater system for under $7000. If I skip the HDTV and just go plasma, I can drop that by almost $2000, all in. And it's all warranted and nicely integrated. These are mix and matches from Costco, Circuit City, Best Buy.

Now, maybe they won't be as great as what you can solder together using only 100-200 hours of your spare time, but it will look great, work as soon as I plug it in, and, like I said, be under warranty.

If your inner nerd needs to tinker, I respect that. But for the average guy...just give me a credit card and an oversized shopping cart, please, and can I borrow that pimply monkey to pretend he's helping me lift it onto the back of the truck?

Now, I have two things to say, and I really, really mean them: If you fire back with all the technological ways in which your system would be superior to what I can buy off the shelf, it will be totally wasted on a guy like me. Totally. The other thing is, even though I was snarkey in places, I admire guys like you.

Just don't tell me your way of watching THE PATRIOT is cheaper than mine.

Good luck.

[prognostigaator]

bttt

[goldstategop]

The Poor Man's Guide To A Rich Man's Home Theater - Without The Megacoup Bucks.

[krb]

I don't quite get how the video part of this system idea works. Can you elaborate or point me to a webpage?

[gilor]

Just don't tell me your way of watching THE PATRIOT is cheaper than mine.

Please tell me your talking about the Mel Gibson movie and not the one with Stevan Seagul.

[prisoner6]

LOL! I know Robinson center WELL TOO WELL! For the life of me, and growing up in a small town near Pittsburgh (Crafton) in the '50's I can't see the attraction to RTC.

See, we USED to have local town centers. Crafton had a couple of dozen mom and pop stores PLUS an A&P, a Ben Franklin, and so on RIGHT IN THE CENTER OF TOWN!

In the late 50's the Crafton-Ingram shopping center was built and that stole business from the traditional town center.

Still, the shopping center wasn't all that bad either even though there were stores like WT Grant (later KMART) and several franchise national chains. At least they employed and were patronized by locals.

What ticked me off was when KMART killed the store in the Crafton Ingram shopping center in favor of a Super K, and folks like my Wife couldn't wait to drive miles (Robinson) to the new store.

A little known and little cared about fact is that the KMart in C-I shopping center was until the very end the most profitable KMart nationwide. I was there on an almost daily basis but have only gone to the super K once or twice.

But you are absolutley correct about Robinson Town Center! I can't believe the crowds! Where do people get the money? I was lost for an entire afternoon in the Dicks once!

And as you say everyone, (except for me in my old '94 Plymouth mini van) is driving an expensive SUV!

prisoner6

[patton]

...and can I borrow that pimply monkey to pretend he's helping me lift it onto the back of the truck? ...

LOL. Oh, G_D, that has to be a quote-of-the-day...

Been there, done that.

[Paulus Invictus]

Nope! I'm going to wait until Kodak produces their new high brilliance screen in larger sizes. I have seen the small ones and they make plasma and LCD screens look dark and dreary. Even in bright sunlight, Kodak's screens still are very bright.

[Tennessee_Bob]

the Democrats were lying about our economic woes, because every time I go there there's a traffic jam, everybody's driving a $30-40K vehicle, there's no parking available, and the stores are too crowded

It's a Republican put-up job. You should realize that. Sit outside long enough and you'll see the same SUV with the same "happy" family driving past every 30 minutes or so. They're alal on the Democrat payroll.

[Tennessee_Bob]

Please tell me your talking about the Mel Gibson movie and not the one with Stevan Seagul.

You mean Mel Gibson copied Steven's movie?

What a ripoff artist...

[visualops]

Where do people get the money?

2(or 3) incomes and alot of plastic is all I can think of...producing latch-key kids who evolve into the future sociopaths of America...

Once you've bought one of the dang things, then there's the insurance and gas...boggles the mind.

[Willie Green]

which demonstrated to me that the Democrats were lying about our economic woes, because every time I go there there's a traffic jam, everybody's driving a $30-40K vehicle, there's no parking available, and the stores are too crowded ((I've said to wife, If the economy ever comes roaring back, I'll never come here again, because I can't stand THESE crowds...))

Nuh-uh!! Yinz are fulla Old Frothingslosh if yinz think the 'Burgh is bustling.

[FreedomPoster]

Good luck carrying that 60" rear projection unit to a repair depot for warranty service. Meanwhile, if something goes wrong with my ceiling mounted pr

For a great technical resource on things audio-visual, go to the Audio Visual Science Forum.

http://www.avsforum.com

[gilor]

Steve Segal has a movie called 'The Patriot' also. It's a lame tale(even by segals standards)of malitia gun nuts with a virus and an axe to grind with the gubmint.

[FreedomPoster]

Oops -

Meanwhile, if something goes wrong with my ceiling mounted projector, I disconnect two cables and 3 screws and haul it in a laptop bag.

[Fiddlstix]

Bump

[Tennessee_Bob]

Good luck carrying that 60" rear projection unit to a repair depot for warranty service.

Yeah, I know what you mean. When my Toshiba super-tube went out, I actually had to go and open the front door so the repair guys could come and take it out of the house to the repair facility.

[kitchen]

I have a $1600 pair of Thiel speakers I picked up for $40 at a garage sale.

Do you live in Aspen? :)

If you run across a pair of JSE 2.0s or a Belles 400 could you give me a ping? (I suppose it's too much to hope for a TNT Turntable or a pair of Crown Macro References.)

[JoeSixPack1]

Here's how it works.....Your wallet determines how much grief your going to put into your TV experience.

Me....I tap the remote and the plasma starts frolicking playfully encased in premolded hi-resin shoulder stands.

Semper Fi