Sanyo PLV-70. Pulled the BIG TRIGGER!! (1 Viewer)

[Gordon Groff]

I want to say a BIG THANK YOU!!! to my friends on the Home Theater Forum!!!!

On Novemeber 27, I signed up here. Was my first Forum experience. I had no real plans for a HT, was just looking for a new big screen TV. Thanks to Neil Joseph and others for guiding me toward front projection. Anyone who buys a RPTV in these days really needs to have their head examined! I guess that's a little harsh, but one can have a STUNNING big screen image for as little as $1500 if you've got a white wall to project onto. The technology and pricing have changed so dramatically in the last few years that I can't imagine plunking down $3K for a RPTV now. I digress and don't mean to demean anyone elses decision. There are lots of factors and reasons for RPTV, but FPTV is really something!!

Okay, friends, I pulled the BIG TRIGGER yesterday afternoon.

Dropped a $10K bomb.

I got full WAF for the - now get this - Sanyo PLV-70

What made this happen was simply ONE factor - light output. When I told Sweet Nancy that this PJ would be bright enough that we could have significant ambient light and still have a great image, she was ALL for it! She does not relish the idea of being constrained to a cave-dark room for hours on end. I explained that with this PJ, we could even hook it to regular TV and still have enough light to read/sort laundry/iron or whatever one does while watching TV if you wanted to. The added resolution & contrast won't hurt either. Also- it has a longer throw to fit my mounting and screen locations which I had designed around a Sony HS-10. I had planned to get the HS-10 until I saw the Z1 and read of all the tweaking you'd have to do to the Sony BEFORE it could approach the PQ of the Z1.

FWIW, Larrylll came over last night with his Z1 so I could see the first organized photons hit my screen. STUNNING picture!!! The dalite high-contrast matte white screen improved the blacks and contrast over the white wall I saw it on before. Not a lot, but I think I could see an improvement. I also saw screendoor for the first time as we had the focus as sharp as possible. From a viewing distance, it is simply a pleasing "texture" to the image. I did not realize it was there until I got close enough to resolve the screendoor and recognize it for what it was. I can HIGHLY recommend the Z1 to anyone leaning that way. I haven't seen the Pann L300U, but from what I've read, it's in the same general PQ league as the Sanyo Z1. Talk about VALUE!!! I can simply trust (hope/believe) that the PLV-70 at over 3X the cost of a Z1 will be at least as good.

Having done all the research I could on these forums for the past 3-4 months, I was ready to pull the BIG trigger and also got:

Full Rocket system (RS750's w/risers, RSS300's, RS250's, and a RSC200 bigfoot)(I was on the fence w/Klipsch to the last moment when I realized I could not wait for their new RB-75 and their RF-7's will NOT fit in my room. Of course I have the 30 trial period from Onix for the Rockets if I dont' like them)

SVS Ultra sub

Denon 3803 reciever.

BOOM! Instant Home Theater!! We're not wealthy, so for us $10K is not any easy thing to do, but we believe in debt-free living as a general (but not rigid) rule, so I figured the cost of interest on this money vs. losing the 10 months or so I would need to save up for it was worth it. I could have gotten started a lot cheaper, but did not make sense to waste the time and money when I think I knew what I wanted. I am NOT a tweaker!!

Thanks again to all here who guided me along the way. I've got to a lot of work to do in the week before the big packages start arriving!!


Gordon

 

[Parker Clack]

I want pictures when you get this all set up. I know you are going to be smiling a lot once you get this set up and running. You are also going to be either going to the movies less or when you go to the movies you are going to walk out thinking "I wonder how this is going to look on my HT when it comes out."

Also, be prepared to have friends over a lot more than usual and lots of movie parties.

Parker

 

[Michael Mathius]

This is indeed instant home theater It took me almost three years to do what you did in four months. Congrats.

 

[Gordon Groff]

Thanks Michael and Parker. Pulling the trigger was the easy part. The last 3 months of drywalling, painting, wiring, flooring was the hard part. I need to get back down there and get the cove base molding done.

I just learned how to cope.

I will post some pictures at some point.

Gordon

 

[Gordon Groff]

I just posted photos of my HT work in progress. Room almost done. Good shots of the DaLite Advantage (in-ceiling) screen and new (TODAY! -Wheee!) SVS ULTRA sub.

If interested, they are here

Gordon

 

[Neil Joseph]

Gordon, awesome!!!

You have got yourself a nice bright projector good for movies and parties and a bunch of other nice equipment to go with it. Congratulations.

What size of image are you going to project?

 

[Gordon Groff]

Neil asked:

What size of image are you going to project?

It's 106" (92x52) screen.

Hey, my Rockets just arrived. Woa, baby!!

Gordon

 

[David Giles]

Patrick said:

when you go to the movies you are going to walk out thinking "I wonder how this is going to look on my HT when it comes out."

I hate to correct Patrick, but what you will ACTUALLY be thinking is "I can't WAIT to see how much BETTER this will look in my own HT, not to mention how much BETTER it will sound".

But if you're as fond of the "ambience" as I am, you might miss the couple chatting behind you, the baby crying during the most important scene in the movie, the sticky floors, the one busted speaker, the poor focus, etc. etc. Just thinking about it makes me want to go spend $8.00 right now just for the privilege.

 

[Gordon Groff]

You know, That's what stuck me. The image of the "humble" Sanyo Z1 on my screen was better than that at a theater

Can't wait to see my PLV-70!

Gordon

 

[Parker Clack]

David:

Thanks for quoting me but I prefer Parker to Patrick.

Gordon:

I can't wait to see what you think of the 70. If I were going to be getting one this would be my projector of choice too.

What do you think of your Rockets?

PS: I like what you have done for a HT room too. Just be aware that you are probably never going to leave this room again. So get all your outdoor activities taken care of before you get the projector installed.

 

[Gordon Groff]

What do you think of your Rockets?

Parker, I'm keeping them. That really says it all.

I don't have time for a major review, but tonight I got the RS750's hooked up via discman and a haffler 2 channel amp I had laying around. Just heard them for the first time an hour or so ago.

The CD that sold Nancy and I was Flim and the BB's "Tricycle". Oh yeah! It was all there- the slam of the kick, the cool plucking on "Lunch Hour Wedding March" Crystal clear. Great sound stage. I am a believer. Everything we listened to took on a new dimension of clarity and character. They are not Klipsch (this is both good and bad, depending on who you talk to), but if my audio memory serves (not too reliable), they KILLED the high end Sonus Faber's and such that we auditioned at Tweeters for half of their price.

The other thing - They are the most beautiful speakers in the world! Stunning cabinet work - the pictures on AV123's site do not do them justice. In person the luster of the rosewood veneer and the mirror-finish blacks are drop-dead gorgeous. The are simply far beyond anything I've seen (other than our Schimmel grand piano). They look like a million bucks and they are packed like they are - each is double-boxed and has it's own cotton tee shirt (sleeve) Every box is packed with a pair of white cotton gloves to handle them without gettin finger prints on them. I'll post some pictures soon. I hope the ones I took do them justice.

Gordon

Can't wait for my receiver for 7.1 sound!!

 

[Craig W]

Gordon,

Congrats on the new equipment. You are the envy of a lot of members right now.

You should be extremely happy with that light cannon.

If you don't mind me asking, did you rule out DLP projectors for certain reasons?

Have fun with the big screen.

Craig

 

[Gordon Groff]

If you don't mind me asking, did you rule out DLP projectors for certain reasons?

Yes. My wife is very susceptable to eye strain. About 15 minutes of viewing a Samsung DLP RPT bothered her. My daughter also gets frequent headaches (unknown cause).

I don't KNOW we would have had an issue, but I decided early-on to play it safe and stick with LCD. Possible headaches, eye fatigue, and maybe obnoxious levels of rainbows could have been ruination to this whole project. Besides, I really liked the color accuracy, saturation and PQ of the humble Sanyo Z1 we had a chance to view. Screendoor was not a problem to us.

Gordon

 

[Craig W]

Thanks for taking the time to answer Gordon. I have nothing against LCD I was just curious if you considered DLP.

Happy viewing. I hope to be able to put together a FP system in the near future and step up to a big screen.

 

[Gordon Groff]

I mentioned that I'd tell you guys when I had some pictures up. Well, here they are!

I'm adding to this as pieces come in. Some great shots of my Rockets here! Did I mention that we LOVE them??? I think they are the BEST value in a high-end sound system you can get. They sound and look STUNNING!

I hope to get the PJ and receiver sometime this week and maybe (maybe!) have my HT up and runnign this weekend! As you'll see, I still have a few wiring terminations to make

Gordon

 

[Max Leung]

I love those laundry baskets! And the tshirts and pants for screen masking...genius!

I'm prone to the rainbow effect, even on the superb NEC HT1000 projector, unfortunately. How does the PLV-70 stack up, if you had a chance to demo one against? If you haven't seen an NEC HT1000, what about the Sharp 10000 or the Marantz S2? (HD2 chips with the 12 degree DMDs)

 

[Gordon Groff]

I'm prone to the rainbow effect, even on the superb NEC HT1000 projector, unfortunately. How does the PLV-70 stack up, if you had a chance to demo one against? If you haven't seen an NEC HT1000, what about the Sharp 10000 or the Marantz S2? (HD2 chips with the 12 degree DMDs)

Hi Max. I really have no idea how any of these DLP projectors stack up with anything else. I've never even seen a Sanyo PLV-70 (LCD). Buying on faith. The only PJ that I've really had a chance to look at in detail was the Sanyo Z-1, which is an LCD unit. We loved it! Screendoor was not an issue for us. Colors and picture sharpness were great! The only thing I know of the PLV-70 is that it has higher resolution than the Z-1, better published contrast spec, and higher light output. So, my logic was if we were happy with a $1500 Z-1, we should be thrilled with the PLV-70! Did not spend much time trying to evaluate DLP projectors.

For more information on the PJ's you mention, you may want to start a thread off with them in the title. A search on AVS Forum should yield a lot of results too.

Gordon

 

[MickeS]

I'm hanging out in the non-hardware forums too much... I'd never even heard of Onix Rocket speakers. They do indeed look awesome, as does your whole setup. Can't wait to see what it'll look like hwne it's all done!

/Mike

 

[Parker Clack]

Mike:

You really should look into the rockets. For the money they are hard to beat. They have some really good package deals here.

Parker

 

[Max Leung]

Thanks for your response Gordon...I am 90% sure I will be returning the HT1000, and was quoted a price for the PLV-70 that gave me sticker shock! It wasn't a bad price, but easily more than 3 times the price of the Z1!

I am thinking of getting the Z1. You said screendoor wasn't an issue...how big was the screen and what distance were you sitting at when you saw the Z1?

Oh yeah...it is impossible to search on "Z1" at the AVS Forum...you need more than 3 letters to get any search result! Oops.