JBRichter Posted February 24, 2004 Share Posted February 24, 2004 My wife said it best...... "We finally have a screen size that fits our sound". We have been watching our 92" diag for 3 weeks now. 50" and 60" are now medium screens to us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhawk92 Posted February 24, 2004 Share Posted February 24, 2004 JB- Tell me how you like the Carada screen? I am going to be finishing our basement this spring and one room will be a dedicated HT. I've been reviewing all the different screen manufacturers and Carada certainly sounds interesting. They seem to be the SVS of the screen industry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrPyro Posted February 24, 2004 Share Posted February 24, 2004 JB- Congrats on your setup, its very nice! There is no substitute for a big screen that is properly setup! Its now really funny to go into the BestBuys's of the world and take a look at their "big screens" and think...I paid less, bigger screen, SMALLER/LIGHTER footprint, and better picture, Muhahahahaha . Please do tell us your opinion of the Carada screen!! Everything I have read about David Giles (sp?) has been excelent and his product fit & finish is fantastic. I have looked into their screen several times, but simply can't justify the modest $ when a white wall is very pleasing to my eye. Also, how do you like your PLV-Z2? I have the Z1 and love it, but I kinda wish that I had slightly higher resolution and a DVI input..... -Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Adams Posted February 24, 2004 Share Posted February 24, 2004 Bless you my son for mentioning Carada screens! My HT room is now at the point of needing the projector and screen and the wife & I have been choking on the $1300 to $1800 price tags from Stewart, Da-Lite, and Vu-Tec. While I'm sure an argument can be made for the aforementioned being better, I can't help but wonder how much better considering the nearly $1000 price differential. And this savings translates into either a better projector or that SVS PB2+ I've been drooling over. There's no possible way to express the joy in learning about these folks. I'm beside myself. Once again - the Klipsch forum comes through in a big way. Hell...I'm smilin like smilin is smilin!! Tom ps: JBR - you've got a PM from me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBRichter Posted February 24, 2004 Author Share Posted February 24, 2004 The PLV-Z2 is very nice for this price range. The dials on the front panel for horizontal and vertical adjustment are a great feature. I do not need to use the key stoning adjustments. DVD's look great. Superbit DVD's and DVD's shot with HD video cameras are even better. If your a Dave Matthews fan, I recommend his 'Live in Central Park' which was shot with HD equipment. The Carada screen is excellent. Although Projector Central advises a high contrast gray, I still went with the brilliant white on the word of my Seattle dealer who sets up high end HT. He's right, brilliant white is the choice. When I was doing the A B switch, the grey washed out the skin tones. I would rather sacrifice black levels to get a more brighter picture. Besides, black is in the eye of the beholder. Carada is glad to send you 3 samples that are 8" x 11". Tape them up with your DVD on pause. Move them around to see black levels and skin tone. Carada's packaging was suppurb. I got it in the default 3 days shipping time through Airborn. I had the screen up in 40 min. Mine sits 33" off the floor and I'm 10+ feet back. The RC-7 is directly underneath. When I kick back in the reclining position, My eyes are pointed right at the screen. The Z2 looked great on my white wall. It looks excellent on the Carada. The Z2 dealer was telling me that 12 people sat in a room one weekend doing blind testing and the Carada always came out on top. Well, enough rambling. JBR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBRichter Posted February 24, 2004 Author Share Posted February 24, 2004 Tom, I have a PM for you?. What's PM? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Adams Posted February 24, 2004 Share Posted February 24, 2004 PM stands for private message. Go to your "My Profile" and click on it and you'll see an email in your inbox. Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhawk92 Posted February 24, 2004 Share Posted February 24, 2004 Yes, David Giles has been excellent in our email conversations. Since I don't have a white wall to start from (unfinished basement) I'd rather go with a screen straight off. Like Tom, I have a hard time with the higher cost screens from Stewart, Dalite, Vutec, and Screen Research. I'm sure they are great screens, but I do have a limited budget, especially since I have to finish the basement in addition to buying the projector, scaler, etc. Carada sounds like a great middle ground. JB- How do you like the center below the screen? My original thought was to get an accoustically transparent screen and place a Chorus II behind, vertically. But the cost for those screens can push $3k or more. So now I'm thinking about laying one horizontally below the screen and angled up to the listening area. I wasn't sure if it would be distracting having it below the screen. My experience there comes from hearing an Academy below a TV, but the Academy was sitting inside the TV stand, so I'm sure I was getting funny reflections. On a related note, what scalers do people use? I've heard good things about Lumagen, DVDO, and Focus Enhancements. I'd like to get something that has lots of inputs, somewhat future-proof, and doesn't break the bank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avman Posted February 25, 2004 Share Posted February 25, 2004 ---------------- On 2/24/2004 11:53:42 AM DrPyro wrote: when a white wall is very pleasing to my eye. -Dave ---------------- Dave!- would you put wagon wheels on a Ferrari!?! if you haven't yet, TRY a screen!! there are dramatic differences in SCREENS, not to mention the improvement going from 'wall' to screen. give it a shot! JMO- avman. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picky Posted February 25, 2004 Share Posted February 25, 2004 JBRichter: Looks like a very nice setup that you have. Any photos? Until your post, I had not heard of Carada Screens (I obviously live in a cave). I visited their site and I noticed the construction of their screens is quite similar to that of my Stewart 78" Screen, yet the Carada is about one-third the price of the Stewart. It would be interesting to compare the effectiveness of the actual screen materials. Just for the record, we are completely happy with our Stewart Screen, but we also enjoy saving money when we can, too. Best of luck with your new setup! -Picky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrPyro Posted February 25, 2004 Share Posted February 25, 2004 avman- Yeah, yeah, I know... I actually have looked at several samples of DaLite and taken a screen from work home to give it a shot and there was a small improvement in the images. However, I'll be finishing up my PhD work shortly and will be forced to move to a new job and location. So, any screen that I would purchase might or might not be the proper size and configuration for my future location. Given this simple fact, I have been very happy with the current configuration and I'm much more picky about sound then video anyways...... I'll just have to take a little trip down south to see your place! Muhahahahah -Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avman Posted February 25, 2004 Share Posted February 25, 2004 that would be GREAT!! we currently(at the store)have the da-lite High Contrast Matte White (slightly gray w/ 1.1 gain) 106" 16:9 permwall. i am going to install a 2.8 gain High Power which can be pulled down to show the difference. i also hope to get a stewart firehawk (darker gray than the da-lite HCMW, but higher gain at 1.35) i started w/a plastic dropcloth, 'upgraded'to a white vinyl pull-down windowshade(rough-side-OUT! )then an 84" diag. 4x3 to my current da-lite HCMW 106" 16:9. it WILL be replaced w/a stewart firehawk. got to go now, i feel a 'placebo jones' coming on avman. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBRichter Posted February 25, 2004 Author Share Posted February 25, 2004 JHawk, I really like the center channel below. My screen is 33" off the floor and with the speaker directly below, I don't have to angle it up. In fact, it is just about in line with the KLF-20's mid-range horn. As far as getting a transparent screen, I never tried it or looked at one. I heard the the sound was OK, but, keep in mind you may have to remove the grill to make up the acoustical difference. There was also a comment about how light leaked through the back and washed out the picture a bit. That might be cured by putting velvet or velour behind the screen. Scalers: I don't know too much about them. DVDO has 480P Output only. The FSR MAS-4100 or the TVOne #CSC-1600HP, has selectable outputs to 1080i and are both price competitive with the DVDO. I heard this my from my projector dealer. Check around the net for prices. JBR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhawk92 Posted February 25, 2004 Share Posted February 25, 2004 JB- Sounds good, I'm not sure if I'll have to adjust the speaker or not. Guess it will depend on stands and other options. Yes, the microperf screens can let light through, so you'd have to do the black fabric behind the screen. And you could get moire effects if you have a digital PJ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rudy81 Posted February 26, 2004 Share Posted February 26, 2004 If any of you guys looking for screens are into DIY projects, I might tempt you with checking out a DIY screen made of Parkland Plastic. You can find out all the information you will ever need on that DIY project at the AVSForum in the screen section. Carada certainly makes a terrific product as well as the other screen manufacturers, but if you want to give the Parkland a shot, for about $50-70 total, you can't go wrong. This link will help if you are interested: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=93780&highlight=parkland Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffinator Posted February 26, 2004 Share Posted February 26, 2004 ---------------- On 2/25/2004 4:49:46 PM avman wrote: that would be GREAT!! we currently(at the store)have the da-lite High Contrast Matte White (slightly gray w/ 1.1 gain) 106" 16:9 permwall. i am going to install a 2.8 gain High Power which can be pulled down to show the difference. i also hope to get a stewart firehawk (darker gray than the da-lite HCMW, but higher gain at 1.35) i started w/a plastic dropcloth, 'upgraded'to a white vinyl pull-down windowshade(rough-side-OUT! )then an 84" diag. 4x3 to my current da-lite HCMW 106" 16:9. it WILL be replaced w/a stewart firehawk. got to go now, i feel a 'placebo jones' coming on avman. ---------------- So what do you think of the Da-Lites vs. the Stewarts? We just started carrying Da-Lite, so we haven't had a chance to really put them to the test. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avman Posted February 27, 2004 Share Posted February 27, 2004 the stewart screens are clearly superior,i especially like the firehawk,which i will have one day.having said that, i sell da-lite 20 to 1 over stewart because of the price. we usually use the high contrast matte white which is slightly gray, and has 1.1 gain. i just recently used a da-lite video spectra(white screen w/1.5 gain)for a 119"diag 16:9 screen. the pj was a sony vpl-hs20. i figured that the larger screen size could use the brighter material, and the customer had nothing but praise for the picture quality! if da-lite had an equal for the firehawk(darker gray than the da-lite HCMW,but w/1.3 gain)i would give it a try,but the firehawk can't be beat for black level/overall p.q. avman. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffinator Posted February 27, 2004 Share Posted February 27, 2004 Sounds like I need to get hooked up with Stewart, then. We're positioning ourselves in a non-cost-sensitive portion of the market - our clients want the best, they want it installed for them, and they don't care about a few extra bucks for a better screen. Of course, Da-Lite will still be an option for our lower-tier packages or to help us fit into a specified budget... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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