Oh right sealed gotcha.

Sigh after spending £75.00 and postal UPS delivery of £10.00 for an almost knackered busted in cone on a JBL G-125.

I mean look at the packing for starters! WTF is these tubes doing inside the box? And yes I have spoken to the company that sold me it. They said like anyone would “send it back and we’ll refund you”.

That’s not the point or principle I’m talking about.

If you look at the why its described in the sale not very photo creative are they. I bet the cone was like this when tested as you can clearly see its kinder almost dented-in! Its fortunate enough it doesn’t have holes in the cone which is common in most cases.

I have left the seller a rather neutral feedback and in most buys I purchase I leave 100% even if its god damn, piece of mains wire. There is no excuse for the packing for starters and most would fear and cringe on opening the box would be expecting the worst.

I’m surprised it even works after buying two pairs of JBL control 12SR this year that looked like they had world-tour tied to the back end of car.

It’s going to take days to straighten out the cone or let it settled and as for the packing it looked like it was placed in quickly and stuffed up with yesterdays rubbish from the outside dustbin.

You can also clearly see the box is bulging because its the WRONG SIZE BOX! Talk about fR$()king wasting money on half a** packing that cost me £10.00! I have had items far more fragile than this that have turned up in slightly oversized box with packing surrounding the item with item tucked away in the middle to ensure safe transit. SIGH

Also the seller said ”well its not in box” meaning its not in an enclosure LOL that is a poor excuse! It the box should have been at least an inch wider than the JBL G-125 and a few inches higher than the JBL G-125.

For all I know looking at the plastic backs they might have been pressing against the cone from the underside as you can see the JBL G-125 is facing downwards. So the plastic must have clearly been pressing on the cone not THE WAY TO PACK IT you idiots.

I’ve brought JBL GTO1202D and seen how smartly they’re packed and correctly as well!

Well I have see if its going to fit in the 12SR for all I know the basket might be warped!

Been viewing less than an hour on the LCD video projector with STAR TREK II the Wrath of Khan on ntsc laserdisc then a few moments from first edition region 2 DVD (I have the SE version as well) then viewed less than a very few minutes on bluray as the colour is just sickeningly poor quality and doesn’t even come near to the release print just a con-man at Paramount dicking around on computer to manipulate colour and make fools out us.

The colour balance looks better on the laserdisc and less difference on the region 2 DVD its mildly Hue-Tint adjustments they make BS they produced it from new film score material.


NTSC Laserdisc


NTSC Laserdisc


DVD region 2 main menu first edition DVD


Blu Sickening Ray colour! Note the colour of Kirk's uniform its light-years off the true colour balance! SIGH What am I supposed to with this then adjust the hue-tint on my CRT or LCD projector because that won’t fix what is now broken on bluray the so called perfect format its been made out to be! SIGH I could punch the person on the face that did this colour balance and slam his hand in door to break all his fingers so he can’t fudge and fiddle around with film colour ever again.


STAR TREK "Assignment Earth"

What do you make of the cat, Mr Spock?
Quiet a lovely creature captain. I find myself strangely drawn to it.

Vintage STAR TREK (I have the shows on region 2 DVD DOLBY DIGITAL6channel) but I like to watch the mono version sometimes which was recoded of BBC2 around 1986 the son of the re-run, on linear VCR mono. Transferred to DVD-RW some 6 episodes the rest of a few are on VHS.

Laserbite34-
What screen manufacture and screen gain are you using? I use a Elite Screens 1.1 gain white screen for my system but I know people that some people will like the gain as high as 1.4. Also, for those that are getting to bright or too much glare, you can get grey screens instead of white. Many home theater enthusiasts prefer these grey screens as they can produce better dark levels. The screen has just as much effect on quality as does the projector/player/media so it can't be underrated. I would not skimp on spending money on a quality screen as it will make a HUGE and very noticeable difference on picture quality.

I’m, using a BED SHEET which as matter of FACT that is what cinema used in the early days of cinema. Now then! Only I don’t have to wash the bed sheet like they did in the early days as cigarette smoke stuck to the screen and made it yellow yuck, smoking is a disgusting habit.

I have screen samples non-perforated, cinema perforation and super micro perforation for the home or when placed in small room you don’t really, want to looking at cinema perforated screen with millions of perforated holes do you?

I’ll buy a screen when I’m ready and it won’t be those overrated home cinema screens by SMX or Stewart screens, RIP OFF!

A screen for small home cinema and yes we all have small rooms, it shouldn’t be no more than £200.00 for perforated screen.

Some cinemas digital screens I have noticed they’re not using the masking and its all open around and its a little distracting. Because you can see were its brighter on the outside and slightly blacker in framing area.

Its the same in my room its distracting without masking to cut off the top and bottom of the 4:3 while the W/S or scope image is in the middle.

Also there are other fabrics that don’t have perforations but it will still allow sound to pass though high frequencies get though a bed sheet like water. Plastic perforated screens didn’t come about till the 1950’s.

Other thing is a cheaper way around using an anamorphic lens not those rip off home cinema ones costing thousands. Second hand cinema type ones show up on eBay for next to nothing.

What I’d like is manual lens change-over as it would bring back memories of projecting.

Close the light off shining onto the film, Mute sound, change from Dolby A-type to SR-type, open the masking from W/S to scope, change the aperture plate from W/S to scope, flip the lens over from W/S to scope and open the light back onto the film it fades in and creates the illusion, focus on white text or BBFC or wait till the film itself starts focus watch it for a few minutes then leave the booth to go to the next booth to lace up the next film.

Hey, that's cool. I'm not knocking the bedsheet.
I never tried a bedsheet so I don't know how it would work on my setup (although finding a 150 inch bedsheet might be a challenge). Is rippling not a problem? Even pull downs often suffer from rippling issues, that's why they sell framed screens which are pulled on all edges or they have retract ables with a tightening system build into the edges (I was actually originally going to purchase one of those).

I agree with you that you don't necessarily have to spend a few thousand dollars on the screen, I think a few hundred is very reasonable considering that represents a small fraction of descent projector's price.

The downside to the bed sheet is the threading in the fabric. Also its dropped down which means it has creases in it. And yes some eye-holes stitched into the bed sheet so I can lace it and tighten it up but that means I’d have to undone it for the CRT 32”. Or use that sticky fabric Velcro? So I can stick down the last 1/3 of the screen tightly.

Some of the creases even made Avatar 2D look like 4D I kid you not the left side of the screen was leaping out at me on few demo sound bite moments, that might watch for 10 mins then switch the projector off.

There are plenty of fabrics I see on the street and I gaze at it with amazement thinking I wonder if that would work as cheap means for video projector screen at home?

I was chatting with a projectionists last October and he mentioned when the screen guy came to cinema to size it up, and asked how much they spent on their screen which was £6grand? Which is a damn sight larger than any home cinema even $6million dollar home cinema!

The screen guy mentioned we have screens like that for home cinema at the same cost!!
I was shocked when the chap talked about that story.

So you needed spend thousands on home cinema because its just a blank nothing screen that doesn’t do anything? It needs a image projected onto it and I wonder would people now be looking at LED projectors the prices they sale for and the amount of lamp time they give 50,000hours I’ll have one for less than £300.00 or even under £200.00 until LCD fades away alone with CRT projectors as they are bulky ugly looking in room pain the a** to align I believe.

I think it might go the LED route brighter greener friendly and won’t have you changing the lamp twice or three times year.

The price for my lamp on eBay is under £100.00 a few years ago I'd be looking at a few hundred! sigh

Also the optical discs be it, Laserdisc DVD HD-DVD or bluray discs are dirt cheaper than then projection screen the loudspeakers the EQ modules the separate amps, the subs, the disc player the flat screen TV the CRT TV and video projector oh, and the real cinema seats.


You know those, planetarium screens, that is I think from what I can recall is 180 digress or more around the room?

IMAX with that OMIMAX with fish eye lens beaming upwards and around the front, never seen one only standard IMAX on front and very much focal forward screen, just like common cinema has been since the dawn of cinema only there has been academy to W/S to cinemascope, 3D to Todd-AO Cinerama and now 3D is trying to make a come back with the same BS only without the “best mind f%*k yet” eyestrain syndrome.

Where its it all going?

I want to see a screen that is projected on the sidewalls the ceiling the floor and rear wall with individual images action taking place along with a far more complex sound system yet placed behind it.
Only downside is perforated screens and rear projection won’t work. You’ll see the loudspeakers behind it! But if Avatar was to be impressive it should have been filmed in that way and find ways to place loudspeakers behind the screens and how do you do it for seating that is fitted a few feet above screen placed below. As the opening shot should have had that jungle swooping past are feet a few miles per hour then cut to outer space with an all-around blackness filed with stars!

That is my idea of what is 3D!

Laserbite, That's a nice projection setup you have going there. I don't know enough about projectors to talk technically, but is there an option somewhere that controls aspect ratio? It could just be the pictures but it sort of looks like the old Star Trek is squished vertically and displaying close to 1.85:1 while Wrath of Khan looks substantially wider than 2.20:1.

The setting there is 4:3 setting which I didn’t bothering using last night and another setting which moves the image up and down in three positions and another setting for 16:9.

That’s why it looks odd in the pictures for STAR TREK TV show. I changed the aspect on the Sony from 4:3 to 16:9 in one picture for STAR TREK II bluray.

I think the laserdisc has the better colour balance out of the DVD and bluray too bad the laserdisc isn’t in DOLBY AC-3 which would be plus extra as the mix is spot to theatrical release in the cinema the DVD and bluray have missing sound effect in one part of the film and you can only hear if you understand German and the language track is only Dolby stereo matrix.

As for the projector I'm using its a Hitachi CP-X430 and very much discontinued.

I don't think we'll see fully panoramic screens for a long time (or content for that matter). There are some curved screens. Some high end home theaters have this but they also require special lenses to be fitted to the projector. Elite Screens (the manufacturer of my screen) does sell some curved models. If your interested you can find it here: http://www.elitescreens.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=486&catid=12&Itemid=20&lang=en

They even have them with acoustic transparent material if you like. Surprisingly they're not "too" expensive with smaller models, well below $1000.

The other thing I like about their screens is that they have a nice black border. Ideally if your watching a movie on a screen you shouldn't see any "white" screen left over on the edge as this is artifact and decreases the overall experience. In the picture below you can see that even with direct lighting the screen "floats" in the background and there is no excess or "bleeding" into the room's back. With the lights off, all you see is the movie and no distractions. It took me awhile but I managed to line up my projector almost perfect with the screen. The projector is somewhere around 18 feet from the screen so every little nudge turned into a big movement on the screen. It was mostly trial and error but it's perfectly lined up now.

Nice height on the screen. What are the loudspeakers doing in front of the screen? Or are those speakers being tested while the others remain behind the screen?

Harkness screens UK will be where I’ll be getting screen material from when I’m ready.

I looked at their website, it looks really professional. Unfortunately, it seems like you have to register on their website just to look at their products...

Also, I don't know if they offer home theater products, it seems like they specialize for movie theaters which is kind of different...?

That they do but they also do supply (super micro perforated screens) I was quoted for my room under £200.00 a few years ago.

That seems like a very competitive price. I presume that the fixture (whether be pull down, motorized, or fixed frame) will be extra. Sometimes the shipping cost can be a killer. My shipping box for the screen was over 3 meters in length!

Well I only need 9 feet wide by 5 to 6 feet high.

Well it pays to shop around and spend less and get more from it. I’m only after the material what I do with it after I pay for it is my business.

Look around eBay for cinema stuff its often sold at lesser cost than home cinema gear I mean the cinema processor only cost £50.00 and that costs over £2grand new, and it still looks brand new out of the box.

I often buy equipment used as well. I think the savings can be incredible. Ebay often has good items, and of course Audiogon is great for high end equipment (I mostly use them now). I bought my Conrad Johnson Amplifier for $2k, originally it sold for around $10,000. Same thing with my Martin Logan speakers. Bought them for slightly over $2,000, MSRP is $5,600 plus I got extra's thrown in for free with the purchase: Mapleshade Threaded Heaveyfeet (x8), brass anti-vibration replacement spiked speaker feet ($350.00) and Shunyata Research Inc. Powersnakes (x2), Venon PowerCable replacement powercords ($200.00).

I can’t wait to order the Dolby kitty cat-515 card next week to get more, purring meowing from the surrounds!

The unit has been unplugged from audio leads for over a week now and miss the feeling of the fader underneath my fingertips. I’m not keen on AVR faders it takes forever to fade the level down or up at ever 0.1db.

Display: Mitsubishi 60638 (DLP)
AV Receiver: Yamaha RX-V467
Power: Monster HTS-5000

LD Player: Pioneer CLD-704
AC-3 Demodulator: Yamaha APD-1
DVD Recorder: Sony RDR-GX300
Line Doubler: DVDO Iscan Plus

Blu-ray/streaming: Sony PS3 slim
CD/SACD: Sony DVP-NS755V

Turntable: Pioneer
Phono Pre-Amp: Music Hall pa 1.2

Fronts: JBL S38
Center: JBL EC35
Surrounds: Klipsch SS-1
Subwoofer: Polk PSW-650

ucfmatt-

Funny, one of my subs is the psw650. I really enjoy it even though it's an older model it gives a solid, smooth, distortion free sound. Very cool setup.... congrats!

ucfmatt

Try setting the digital cameras mode to auto or manual and use slow-sync flash and stand a bit further back. I used to get this horrible colour with my other digital camera, also some digital cameras don’t like the contrast off the TV they tend to overexpose it.

I can see what you’re doing with the surrounds but move the seating forwards so you don’t get that hole in the back surround which is common or put a few more of the same loudspeaker on the back wall to fill in gap, wire them on to the same output on the AVR.

Also the film looks like Out of Sight (1998) good opening of the film where Clooney robs the bank, only to end up back in the joint.

Got a little bit of JBL going on there and Jedi’s use JBL for Jedi Blasters and Lightsabers! JBL!