Scannermax 506s

[Bradfo69]

I would tend to think that it's not the scanners as well, based on the variables. I was just really surprised at the output the last couple of days when running some shows and I'm really curious now to put 3 projectors on a table next to each other and run the same content at the same size and speeds side by side and provide some insight into what I'm seeing. Bill... the "born on date" for this Clubmax was May 8, 2015 if that's any help in identifying that time line. Unless...... they do that backwards thing of writing the day first and then then month in which case this would have been manufactured August 5th, 2015 and have been built 1 week before SELEM. Maybe we'll discover a need to replace the amps.

I'm still anxiously holding out for a nice "retail box" with the famed Mach Mini amp paired with the 506's before my inevitable heavy contribution to the William Benner retirement fund. I know it's coming....!

[swamidog]

brad, if you're referring to that little white kvant projector, I had the same experience. I bought my laptop and lsx to the gallery and ran some shows and test patterns though it. I was quite surprised at how bad the output was.

I also spent some time with a very small laserworld/rti projector (it had ct6215's) backstage and it was amazing.

Well..... I inadvertently got my first set of Compact 506's. I'm a little underwhelmed - at least at this point.

The backstory - at SELEM I impulsively purchased a brand new Kvant Clubmax projector because.... well.... I guess that's what I do. Hey... it was cute. And it has 506's along with Kvant amps.

Anyway, this week I've been running a number of LD2000 shows with it - both graphic and beam and it seems like every show I've had to go in and adjust the scan rate to eliminate tails, fix unclosed circles and sort other weird artifacts. The flicker on a number of graphic shows has been somewhat unwatchable. I don't think there is any issue with the projector or the tuning or anything... I just don't see them as being particularly the cat's meow at this point. I've had to slow some beam shows down to 14k or 15k in some cases just to eliminate tails from circles or to make dots look like dots. Or, I've had to crank it up to 40k to try and clean up some graphics. It's had to be adjusted some nearly every song. And I've used all sorts of scan angles from a small 4' x 4' square 40 feet away to 14' x 14' and even wider for beams.

Based on this, today I'm going to set up 3 different projectors side by side and run them all through a DZ splitter to get a fair side by side "shoot out" between the 506's, a set of PT-A40's and a set of CT-6215's. I can't believe the performance is really that lacking. I'll see about posting pics.

[Bradfo69]

That's the one....

[swamidog]

That's the one....

yeah. i was pretty keen on buying one, but rejected it quickly after testing. sorry i didn't share my findings with you. it was kind of a mad house with people milling about.

[Bradfo69]

To be fair, your requirements are a lot more stringent than most. The output isn't bad and it's a fairly tight beam. I'm not certain what I'm going to use it for yet but, I have a couple ideas in mind - neither of which are as mission critical as your abstracts.

Edit: Main things is I really wanted to mess around with the disco scan lens without having to jump through a lot of hoops of trying to fabricate some sort of holder.

[swamidog]

To be fair, your requirements are a lot more stringent than most.

yes. absolutely.

[absolom7691]

As others have said, it isn't the galvos. See this post that I made a little while back about the KVANT driver:

http://www.photonlexicon.com/forums/...776#post317776

[Bradfo69]

Ok.... preliminary set up.







Upon turning on the test pattern, I discovered the only one close to being in tune is the new ClubMax. For sake of reference, the three projectors are: A new Lightspace Venus with PT-A40's, A new Kvant ClubMax with Compact 506's and an older Kvant Spectrum with Cambridge 6215's.

The test pattern with the Lightspace:


The test pattern with the ClubMax:


The test pattern with the Spectrum:




So... obviously I have some tuning to do.

Interestingly, when switching from the "12k" pattern without the large white box around it, this is what I got. When switching to the "30k" pattern with the huge white box around it and the pattern itself being much smaller, the ClubMax output flickered like hell.

I ran some graphic shows and, they all looked pretty evenly matched. Perhaps because the size wasn't blown up terribly large. When one flickered, the others flickered at about the same rate. I ran a couple beam shows and they all looked pretty similar too.

Next I'm going to adjust the size of the output fairly wide on each one and see what we get so I can show tails and other issues. I'll try to actually do video as well.

[polishedball]

The stiffest power supply I bet wins when you open up the angle.

[Bradfo69]

Sadly, I can't test with LD2000 for the moment as the .net box and/or QM now isn't working. All I get is a power light on the .net box and the laptop doesn't see it anymore. I didn't touch a thing! I just left the room for a bit to upload the pictures above. Grr...

I switched over to an FB3 and Quickshow and started again. Pics to follow.