Sony Grand WEGA KDF-70XBR950 70 in. HDTV LCD TV
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- Digital TV Standard: HDTV
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9 14:9
- Weight: 222.2 lb.
- Projector Technology: LCD
- Built-in Tuner: ATSC
- Screen Size: 70 inch
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User ReviewRead All Reviews »
A No-Brainer. This Is One Terrific Television Set!
Pros
Huge, clear picture. Good sound, even without a surround sound system. Very sleek and modern.
Cons
Make sure you have the room. This is not a set for the living room.
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
As I am not a fan of front projection or the older rear projection sets and the plasma technology is overpriced and still in it's infancy, this is perfect alternative.
To begin with, yes, it is big. But if you have the room, I couldn't recommend this set any higher. My wife and I just purchased our first house. While we were house hunting, I knew the basement was going to be an integral part of the decision process for me. After we closed escrow, I went to our local home improvement center to buy the supplies needed to build the home theater of my dreams.
I built a room, about 18' x 24' just to house my home theater. I already had all the necessary equipment from our old apartment and only wanted to upgrade our television from an old NEC 26" monitor that I had purchased back in 1986 to a high-definition plasma screen.
As I had spent months prior to purchasing the house doing my research on plasma screens, the prices dropped pretty sharply, particularly on the 42" variety. During a visit to the SONY building on East 56th Street in Manhattan, I was just looking at the various displays and pricing the plasma screens. I wandered into one the back rooms and saw a 61" SONY plasma that was priced at $20,000. After I closed my jaw, I turned to my right and saw the 70" Grand WEGA XBR. From my view point it looked like like a plasma, only bigger. I figured that if the 61" set I had just seen cost $20,000, than this set must cost $30,000 or more. I went over just out of curiosity to see what the price tag read. To my unbelievable surprise it read $6,999!!! Not that cheap, but when I looked at the bang I was getting for my buck and the shear size of the set, suddenly I got very interested. I looked behind the set and then it all became clear, this was not a plasma set, but a rear projection set. But who cared, I had built a room and could care less about hanging it on the wall.
Upon further research, I found that other than the thinness of the screens, plasma was not the way to go. Yes, the picture is sharper, but the fact that the lifespan of plasma sets is 5-7 years, given the price and with burn-in and all the rest, this purchase seemed more and more like a no-brainer.
I visited several retail stores and was able to cut a deal with one salesman and paid $5,899 for the set. The only problem now was, what about the stand? The stand that SONY sells for the set is very short on space for components, not to mention high on price ($999), so I looked at several and settled on the BDI Icon 9427, which I was able to purchase for $480. Yes, the top shelf rating is only 200 lbs and the set weighs 222 lbs, but one quick call to BDI and I was assured that the stands are tested at almost 300 lbs and this would be fine.
Both the stand and the set arrived this past weekend and I couldn't be happier. I now feel like one of the Jetsons watching a screen that is very much the focal point of one terrific home theater. And even better, I built it myself!
I built a room, about 18' x 24' just to house my home theater. I already had all the necessary equipment from our old apartment and only wanted to upgrade our television from an old NEC 26" monitor that I had purchased back in 1986 to a high-definition plasma screen.
As I had spent months prior to purchasing the house doing my research on plasma screens, the prices dropped pretty sharply, particularly on the 42" variety. During a visit to the SONY building on East 56th Street in Manhattan, I was just looking at the various displays and pricing the plasma screens. I wandered into one the back rooms and saw a 61" SONY plasma that was priced at $20,000. After I closed my jaw, I turned to my right and saw the 70" Grand WEGA XBR. From my view point it looked like like a plasma, only bigger. I figured that if the 61" set I had just seen cost $20,000, than this set must cost $30,000 or more. I went over just out of curiosity to see what the price tag read. To my unbelievable surprise it read $6,999!!! Not that cheap, but when I looked at the bang I was getting for my buck and the shear size of the set, suddenly I got very interested. I looked behind the set and then it all became clear, this was not a plasma set, but a rear projection set. But who cared, I had built a room and could care less about hanging it on the wall.
Upon further research, I found that other than the thinness of the screens, plasma was not the way to go. Yes, the picture is sharper, but the fact that the lifespan of plasma sets is 5-7 years, given the price and with burn-in and all the rest, this purchase seemed more and more like a no-brainer.
I visited several retail stores and was able to cut a deal with one salesman and paid $5,899 for the set. The only problem now was, what about the stand? The stand that SONY sells for the set is very short on space for components, not to mention high on price ($999), so I looked at several and settled on the BDI Icon 9427, which I was able to purchase for $480. Yes, the top shelf rating is only 200 lbs and the set weighs 222 lbs, but one quick call to BDI and I was assured that the stands are tested at almost 300 lbs and this would be fine.
Both the stand and the set arrived this past weekend and I couldn't be happier. I now feel like one of the Jetsons watching a screen that is very much the focal point of one terrific home theater. And even better, I built it myself!
