Home Theater

   Probably nothing could be less interesting to the true audiophile than commingling video with the sound. Although I have always had a few Cds, Laser discs were basically my CDs in the eighties. The only way I could justify that overwhelming (underwhelming?) digital sound were if I had a picture to go with it. I only bought concerts, maybe a handful of movies. (I still have a shipload of Beta HiFi tapes, nothing currently to play them on).

  If I could name any one category of product I repeatedly have upgraded at Rowe it would be projectors. I became infatuated with the earliest Sharpvisions, having sold the original Advent projection sets at JB years earlier for $4000+ in 1982 $$!

Here was a reasonably priced consumer product that didn't weigh 400 lbs. and was relatively easy to setup and use. Therefore, when the first used one became available for $1500. I jumped on it. Wowed my friends and neighbors, huge, bright (at the time) picture, like looking through a screen door, it was so pixelated! Over the course of the years, I think I have had no fewer than 10 projectors, at least seven of them purchased from Rowe.

Somewhere in the middle  there were a couple of CRT projectors, I still have this Sony in the closet,   I bought it from an outfit in California. A tractor trailer pulled up in front of the house, unloaded this on a skid, and it was mine! Probably weighs 150lbs. 

Have had it listed on Craigslist for a couple of years, still looking for that "special someone" to buy it.

At some point, I graduated from Laserdisc to DVD, and of course I rejected them just like CD. How could something that much smaller be better?  They got better along the way, and now I own probably 100 mostly concert DVDs.

 Had fun at the same time with the automation thing. X10 modules, motorized 100" screen, "Astro Ventilation" (a phrase I coined from the Chevies my dad sold years ago before cars had AC), this was a window fan in the ceiling to suck the cigarette smoke out through a grate I had mounted, all controlled by the remote, which does RF as well as IR. 

Suspended ceilings give you all kinds of options. If you mess up, get another ceiling tile.

Got a remote fetish, I have gone through two Philips Iprontos, and I still use one today. $1600.back in the day, these can be had for a song, and I won't even go into all the cool aspects of them.

To end this entry without alienating all of you audio dudes, let me digress that I have finally gotten into Blu Ray- had a Google TV capable of this a couple of years ago, but it was so bad I didn't even bother to buy any discs! Finally have 1080P HD on my projector,the best sound (for video) ever,

Bought a Mitsubishi projector from (guess who) a week ago along with the  Sony Blu ray player.

Video and Digital are fine, as long as you approach it like you are Amish. The early adopters should stick to analog. Plus, the price always comes down, right? Unlike quality analog where the price always goes up. 

Even watch an occasional movie......