Author Topic: Panasonic PT-AE4000U  (Read 22230 times)

Offline kovacs01

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Panasonic PT-AE4000U
« on: January 26, 2011, 05:23:22 PM »
I am thinking about picking up a Panasonic PT-AE4000U.  Does anyone here have any experience with them?
Schan
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Offline Harry Caul

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Re: Panasonic PT-AE4000U
« Reply #1 on: January 26, 2011, 05:39:26 PM »
I've been drooling over it for a year now, if that helps.  ;D

I want to get that one so I can do a motorized scope screen setup (2.35:1).

Offline kovacs01

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Re: Panasonic PT-AE4000U
« Reply #2 on: January 26, 2011, 05:56:21 PM »
Exactly, that is really the biggest thing it offers over some of the Epsons.  It has some more features as well that are nice, but that one that I would use quite a bit.  Since I am moving in 6 months, it will be a little while though.  I dont really want to buy a projector until I know where I will be putting it.  Buying a house around a projector seems like it would be a bad idea ;)
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Offline ddilts399

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Re: Panasonic PT-AE4000U
« Reply #3 on: January 27, 2011, 09:28:44 AM »
That is one thing I wanted as well, but for me it came down to being able to return the item if things didnt work out. The Epson ended up being pretty much my only option locally. Online is a tough return and the local independent electronics stores don't stock anything so you get nailed with ridiculous restock fees, figured I would upgrade down the road if need be.

Panny sure gets rave reviews. I love avsforum, but I tell ya, trying to pull useful information out of 5,000K post subjects gets a bit tough!

Use your theater room setup as a parameter for your home scouter!

Offline kovacs01

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Re: Panasonic PT-AE4000U
« Reply #4 on: November 29, 2011, 03:50:11 AM »
Well, now that I am finally in the house, I am making the projector decision.  My room (once I remove a wall) will be 27x10.5 feet.  The wall the screen is going to go on will accommodate a 150" diagonal 16x9 screen.  However, there is not a calibrated projector/screen combo in my price range that will provide sufficient foot lumens with 66 or so sq/ft of screen surface. 

But, I did the research, and the LG CF181 is getting rave reviews, and will work superbly on a 135" diagonal screen.  So, I am 99% sure that I will go with it.  The other stuff that will go with it:

Speakers: Golden Ear Tech TritonCinema 2 (the towers have onboard subs.  I will probably wait to see how they perform before I buy a stand alone)
Receiver: Marantz 7005 (maybe with an outboard amp as well)
BD Player: Oppo BDP83
Screen: Elite Cinetension 2 (probably)
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Offline jayn_j

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Re: Panasonic PT-AE4000U
« Reply #5 on: November 29, 2011, 07:51:03 AM »
Well, now that I am finally in the house, I am making the projector decision.  My room (once I remove a wall) will be 27x10.5 feet.  The wall the screen is going to go on will accommodate a 150" diagonal 16x9 screen.  However, there is not a calibrated projector/screen combo in my price range that will provide sufficient foot lumens with 66 or so sq/ft of screen surface. 

Screen: Elite Cinetension 2 (probably)

Are you putting the screen against the 10.5' wall?  My own theater room is 11.5' wide and I am using a 120" Elite fixed frame screen.  I find it challenging to properly fit speakers in that narrow room around the screen.  With your room being a foot narrower and looking at screens that are a foot wider, I wonder if you can make it fit.

The best solution is to go with an acoustic transparent screen and place the speakers behind them.  Not a big fan of the perforated vinyl AT screens, but the woven ones get pricey very quickly, especially in tensioned roll down style.

I feed the image with an Epson.  BTW, the 8700 series does support a 16:9 and widescreen mode with electronic (not optical) masking and zoom.  Still, if I had it to do over again, I'd likely hdo something similar to your choices.

The speakers I am using are full size Klipsch.  I am a proponent of using good speakers in the HT.  I have seen too many where people go for the biggest screen possible and match it with tinnyy HTIB bookshelf speakers.  LARGE EXPANSIVE PICTURE...tiny little soundstage.  The sound is an equal player in HT IMHO.
-Jay-

Offline jayn_j

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Re: Panasonic PT-AE4000U
« Reply #6 on: November 29, 2011, 07:58:37 AM »
Here is an older shot of my (in progress) HT showing what I mean.  The mains have since been replaced with narrower towers, and the nice wood KG-4s have been moved upstairs.  The problem is keeping the speakers away from the sidewalls and still clearing the screen.

-Jay-

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Re: Panasonic PT-AE4000U
« Reply #7 on: November 29, 2011, 12:50:58 PM »
All that sounds fancy schmancy ;) I have an older model Epson 8100 .. and it projects just fine on my 120" screen it is not motorized at all though .. So thats the only "downside" I have with it .. Other than that its been running for over a year now with no problems whatsoever .. and at half the cost of some of the others listed in this thread ..

My room is a bit narrow as well .. So I have some nice JBL satellite speakers mounted around the screen .. There is lack of good sound quality from little speakers if you get the right ones.

You can see here how mine all lines up.

Offline kovacs01

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Re: Panasonic PT-AE4000U
« Reply #8 on: November 30, 2011, 03:47:50 AM »
Are you putting the screen against the 10.5' wall? 

I actually misspoke.  The wall is 137 inches wide,  so nearly 11.5 feet.  And, one of the great thing about the Golden Ear speakers is that the Triton towers are 7.5 inches wide.  I have looked at the acoustically transparent screens, but you are right about prohibitive cost.  To be honest, I would rather get a fixed frame screen because you can get a lot better one for the money.  But, with a toddler running around, I really need a retractable one.
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Offline Harry Caul

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Re: Panasonic PT-AE4000U
« Reply #9 on: November 30, 2011, 01:50:03 PM »
If you are worried about brightness, but you also need a retractable screen... I would recommend that you look at the Da-lite Hi-Power (2.8 gain!).  It does a really great job of boosting light levels.  The main drawbacks are a narrow viewing cone (which shouldn't be an issue in your narrow room) and slightly elevated black-levels.  However, I've been using these screens for years and never found black-levels to be an issue... and your PJ will have much better black levels than anything I've used.  The benefits are great:

1. Really bright (2.8 gain)
2. Rejects ambient light outside the viewing cone (so light from the PJ will be amplified, but light from a side window will not)
3. Minimizes the appearance of waves (which is a huge problem with retractable screens... especially big ones like you want -- unless you upgrade to tab-tensioned for more $$$)

By the way, one more thing... the screen is 'retro-reflective'.  Which means it amplifies the light in the direction of the source.  So it actually will amplify light from a window, but it will do it back towards the window, not towards the viewer.  That means if you use ceiling can lights or side lights the screen will also reject them well for the viewer.  But, if your PJ is mounted on a tall ceiling, you loose some of the brightness benefit as it will be amplifying the light back toward the PJ (ceiling).  Ideally, with this screen you would want a wall mount a few feet above the viewers heads.  I'm not sure if your long room will accomadate that, but a ceiling mount with a long pole to drop it would also work.

http://www.da-lite.com/education/angles_of_view.php?action=details&issueid=29

There are other reflective screens that work more like mirrors (meaning the light will be reflected and amplified at expected angles) and your room is actually well suited to that if you can use a long-throw setup with your PJ.  If you have a short throw (PJ close to screen) the angles and lengths of the light paths will be very different across the screen, which usually leads to darker sides (or uneven brightness if you are seated at the side of the room).  However, the further you push the PJ back in the room, the less of a problem this becomes. 

This stuff is a pain to write out... if you want to chat on the phone/skype sometime, just PM me.

Offline kovacs01

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Re: Panasonic PT-AE4000U
« Reply #10 on: December 05, 2011, 02:15:09 AM »
I did have a look at the high gain screens Matt.  2.8 gain is pretty sick, but I don't really need that much.  1.4 or 1.6 would do it for me in terms of getting the foot lumens I'm after.  In fact, what I was told that any higher with the LG and you end up with a screen that is actually TOO bright.  The room will actually have close to zero ambient light since its a dedicated theater room  And of all the good things about that projector, its weakest point is actually the black levels.  I am planning on going with a tab tensioned screen though, which seems to be the way to go with retractables.
Schan
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Offline kovacs01

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Re: Panasonic PT-AE4000U
« Reply #11 on: February 23, 2012, 04:19:25 AM »
Well, all the stuff is on the way or in my house and the contractor will be coming in a couple of weeks to remove a wall.  Its all coming together!  Here is what I ended up going with.

LG CF181D Projector
Elite Cinetension2 120" electric tensioned screen
GoldenEar Technology Triton Cinema 2 Towers
GoldenEar Surrounds and a Center
Marantz SR7005 receiver (I will probably add an outboard amp in the future)
Monster HTS 3600 MKII power conditioner
an Oppo BDP83 blu ray player that I had previously
and finally a Sanus rack to hold it all

Notably missing is a subwoofer.  The Triton 2 towers have subwoofers built into them.  I don't really expect the whole thing to sound like I want without a stand alone sub, but I figure I will give them a shot before dropping extra cash.  Once the burn in time is complete, if it is as I suspect, I will go with either an SVS PB13-Ultra or a B&W ASW10CM
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guest8

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Re: Panasonic PT-AE4000U
« Reply #12 on: February 23, 2012, 09:11:30 AM »
Thats a nice setup .. What sold you on the LG CF181D Projector?

Offline ddilts399

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Re: Panasonic PT-AE4000U
« Reply #13 on: February 23, 2012, 09:19:12 AM »
Have not heard of the speaker company, look like same design as Definitive Tech.

outlawaudio used to run a hell of a deal on the marantz stuff since they gave up trying to keep up with technology on their own processor.

Offline jayn_j

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Re: Panasonic PT-AE4000U
« Reply #14 on: February 23, 2012, 09:23:29 AM »
Sounds like a nice setup.  Can't wait to see the pictures.  pics or it didn't happen :)

I think you might be looking at a sub sooner than you think.  I spent several years fooling myself that my full range Klipsch's provided adequate bass, so a sub wouldn't add much.  I eventually stumbled across a Velodyne 12" at a price I couldn't refuse.  The difference was amazing, not necessarily in what I could hear, but in what I could feel in that chest thumping bass that you feel in your internal organs.
-Jay-

Offline kovacs01

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Re: Panasonic PT-AE4000U
« Reply #15 on: February 25, 2012, 03:57:27 AM »
It looks like definitive because the company is a new start up by Sandy Gross (of Polk and Definitive fame) and Don Givogue (another DT cofounder).  They have been making quite a name for themselves, as if those 2 need to prove anything.  Anyway, typical of a new name, they were relatively cheap, but just jumped $500 apiece last week.

I got a pretty good deal on the Marantz.  We will see what it does to drive those speakers though.  The guy really wanted to sell me some Integra gear, but I had a bad experience with Onkyo and won't buy anything connected to them anymore.

I am in Vegas right now for 3 weeks or so, but when I get back I will be getting everything hooked up and post some pics.
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Offline ddilts399

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Re: Panasonic PT-AE4000U
« Reply #16 on: April 06, 2012, 09:12:53 PM »
How did the Ears end up sounding, happy with them?

Offline kovacs01

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Re: Panasonic PT-AE4000U
« Reply #17 on: April 07, 2012, 08:15:01 PM »
They sound great Dale, at least the fronts do.  The whole system is not even set up yet.  I spent 4 weeks in Vegas and just had company in town for a week so I have not had time to install everything to this point.  Ask me next weekend, and I will have a better answer for you.  But, even then, it will be a pre-break in impression.
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Offline kovacs01

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Re: Panasonic PT-AE4000U
« Reply #18 on: April 28, 2012, 02:22:43 PM »
Dale, they are awesome.  I still haven't hit the recommended break-in time yet, but these things are awesome.  Once they are properly broken in, I will run Audyssey, and I am sure they will sound even better.  Depending on the size of your room, you probably won't even need a sub if you get the triton IIs.  They outperform most of the high end systems I have heard.  I think the value you get with these is very good, and am definitely pleased with the decision.
Schan
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