Marquee Magnetics Set up

[Mad Mr H]

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I found this on my Travels, I hope of help to 'Quee owners


MARQUEE MAGNETICS SETUP 101 – A PROCEDURE Copyright © 2004 by Bill Blue

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Partial Rough Draft

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Though it’s possible to do a magnetics setup on an aligned projector, with the expectation of having
to go back through dynamic astigmatism and focus followed by a convergence touchup, it’s really
best to start from scratch. The following procedure is based on starting from scratch, and for the
moment is specific to the Marquee 8500 (only from the standpoint of determining the tube face
center point). The 8000 and 8110 would be similar except for astigmatism adjustments (noted in
text). The 8500LC’s and 9500LC’s require a special way of establishing true tube face center. If
you have an accurate technique for this, the text will apply almost as- is.
The physical placement of the projector relative to the screen is crucial. It needs to be exactly greentube
centered to the center of the screen, and square to the screen (not the wall) as well. This section
does not discuss physical projector alignment, but does depend on it.

1.
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[FONT=Times New Roman]Remove the HD8 lenses [/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman]from the projector.[/FONT]

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2.

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[FONT=Times New Roman]Establish an exact center point of the tube face [/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman]of each tube. There are several ways to[/FONT]

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accomplish this and may require a little creativeness on your part. You could carefully draw a

corner centered line from upper left to lower right corner, and again from upper right to lower
left corner. Where they intersect would be a center point. This could be confirmed by
measuring in each direction from the top, bottom, left, right edge of the phosphor, and establish
points exactly equidistant from left and right, and top and bottom. The goal is to establish the
exact center of the phosphor tube face. Leave a marker dot at that point.
3.

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[FONT=Times New Roman]Initialize the Projector (complete) [/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman]in the Utilities 9 (service) menu. Password is 0901. After[/FONT]

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initialization the projector will turn off.

a. Turn projector back on, Go into Utilities 9 service again, 7 stigmator adjustments. Step
through each double entry setting top and bottom numbers to 50 for each color. When
done with that, Save and Exit.
b. Now go to 2 RGB Focus and check or set each entry for all colors to 50. Save and Exit.
c. Exit Service menu, Enter Geometry and if you are really starting from scratch these
should all be at 50 as well.
d. Enter Utilities 1 (source setup) 6 (Internal Frequency) 2. Use this setting for all of the
following steps. If you want to fine tune for a very high scan rate, after completing the
steps at this rate, change to 5 and repeat process to see if any touch up is required. NOTE
that if you have a signal applied to the inputs, if you exit a crosshatch pattern or other
internal display and see your applied signal, you have just reset the frequency and will
need to reset it again. Usually during this phase it’s safer not to feed any external signals.

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MARQUEE MAGNETICS SETUP 101 – A PROCEDURE Copyright © 2004 by Bill Blue

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Partial Rough Draft

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e. Set Brightness to a low number such as 20, and Contrast to a low enough number that the
tube face can be easily viewed.
f. Go to Picture 2 (size) and adjust width to fill almost the entire screen left to right. Set
height to about 2/3 of the tube face.
4.

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[FONT=Times New Roman]Neutralize ring magnets [/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman]on the rear of each tube. Press # to display a crosshatch with dots[/FONT]

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pattern. Check to see if the rings or knobs have any hot-glue on them. If so, slowly peel it off so

all components can move freely. Move the rotating knob on the ring magnet closest to the focus
coil (that’s the 2 pole flare ring) upright, away from the chassis. Turn the rotating knob slowly
while rocking it slightly back and forth circularly. The display on the tube face will move
certain amounts as you rock back and forth. As you turn the knob (while rocking) slowly, one
way the screen movement will increase, the other way it will decrease. Keep turning toward the
direction of least movement, until you can rock back and forth and there is no movement at all
on the screen. That is your neutral point – the point where the ring is essentially doing nothing.
Repeat this process for each tube. Most 8500’s will have only this ring, but in some cases there
will additional ones:
If there are additional rings with a knob in the position immediately behind the flare ring, that
will be a 6 pole triangularity ring. Try to find the same neutral adjustment for this.
If there is a space and then a rear ring with knob, it will be a 4 pole astigmatism ring which
should be set to its neutral point as well.
5.

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[FONT=Times New Roman]Loosen Focus Coil wing -nuts[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman]. There are three brass wing- nuts at the rear of the focus coil[/FONT]

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assembly. There also may be hot-glue on these or on the edges of the plate and coil assembly

that the wing- nuts hold together. If there is, slowly peel it off so components move freely. The
wing-nuts should be loosened just enough to allow you to freely move the body of the focus coil
up/down/left/right on the neck of the tube. As you move this, you’ll see the display on that tube
move in the opposite direction.
6.

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[FONT=Times New Roman]Position Focus Coil [/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman]to produce the center of the crosshatch pattern to be right on top of your[/FONT]

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centered mark. Counting from and including the outermost line, from the top center is 7 lines

down (also 7 lines up from bottom), and from either side, 8 lines in. That intersection may not
be a perfectly clear, but line its center up on your mark and tighten one of the wing- nuts to
prevent the focus coil body from shifting. Repeat this process for each tube.
7.

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[FONT=Times New Roman]Remove your markings and remount the lenses. [/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman]Now that the center point has been[/FONT]

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established on the tube face mechanically, remove your ink marks, clean the tube face and

remount the lenses as they originally were.
8.

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[FONT=Times New Roman]Compare centering[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman]. Establish the real center point of your screen if you haven’t already. You[/FONT]

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can determine the real physical center point in exactly the same manner as we did on the tube

faces.

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MARQUEE MAGNETICS SETUP 101 – A PROCEDURE Copyright © 2004 by Bill Blue

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Partial Rough Draft

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Return brightness to its normal operating level, and contrast to a few numbers below its normal
operating level. Observe how the center grid alignment point of each tube’s position compares
to your screen center. Green, at least, should be very close. If it’s not, you’ll need to figure out
why not and adjust the projector mount or swivel accordingly. Don’t swivel unless you know it
is wrong, as it’s very important that the centered green tube and grid correspond directly to the
center of the screen.
Once green center has been established, adjust the angle toe- in for red and blue tubes so that
their grid center overlaps green in the center of the screen exactly. Don’t be concerned about
anything except the center point.

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9. Adjust Tilt.

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[FONT=Times New Roman]On the crosshatch display, check the center horizontal line for each color. They[/FONT]

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should be perfectly horizontal to each other and the screen. If not adjust the forward-most yoke
on each tube to achie ve perfect level. (mechanical details omitted for now)
10.

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[FONT=Times New Roman]Adjust magnetics[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman]! Now that centers are true mechanically, we can continue the centering and[/FONT]

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flare adjustments. Again, don’t be concerned with anything except in the middle, and don’t try

to correct anything electrically unless directed to do so.
a. Adjust Picture 4 (focus) down to zero.
b. Adjust Contrast to 100.
c. Start with the green tube. Press Color and then 2 to isolate just the green. What you’re
looking for here for the dots, is circular blobs with a shiny dot in the middle, as well as
very fat lines with a thinner shiny line in the middle. The horizontal and vertical
positions of the shiny lines inside the fat lines, and the shiny dots inside the blobs will
exactly correspond with each other. You’ll see that as the roundness of the blob changes,
the relationship of the horizontal and vertical lines also change. If the blob is perfectly
round, the lines will be equal in width, etc. The tubes may vary significantly in how far
off they are from each other. If the blobs are half circles, oblong or whatever, still try to
find the shiny dot.
d. Turn the flare ring knob and move it left or right, slowly, while watching where the shiny
dot is and the roundness of the blob. Find the spot where the dot starts moving into the
center of the blob, regardless of its shape. You’ll also notice that as you move the flare
ring around to achieve this goal, your grid centering is also shifting. This is normal and
is why the focus coil body will need to be adjusted.

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MARQUEE MAGNETICS SETUP 101 – A PROCEDURE Copyright © 2004 by Bill Blue

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Partial Rough Draft

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e. Now that the shiny dot is getting close to center, grab hold of the body of the focus coil
with one hand holding it stationary while you loosen the wing- nut we tightened earlier.
Move the body of the coil around until once again the grid is centered in the screen.
You’ll notice now that the shiny dot has shifted in the blob. This is normal. Go back and
forth between step 10d and 10e until you are pretty close to grid centered, AND the shiny
dot is in the middle of the blob. Tighten down one wing- nut and take a breather!
f. Now astigmatism enters into the picture because it also interacts with the previous steps,
but to a lesser degree. If you have an astigmatism ring on the ring assembly (probably
not) use it to achieve a round blob. Otherwise, you go to Utilities 9 <password> 7
(stigmator). Use the Color button to rotate through the colors, to green or the color you
are working on, and adjust the center (static) field only with left/right and up/down
buttons on the keypad to get as perfect a circular blob as you can. When you have
achieved that, Save and Exit. Keep repeating 10d, 10e, and 10f until you have shiny dots
inside round blobs (and the line equivalents) with the grid exactly centered.
g. Making progress! Now slowly advance Picture 4 (focus) to 100, or whatever number
gives you a center circle (blob) about 1/2 to 3/4 inch in diameter, and return to the
stigmator adjustment to fine tune this to a perfect circle. You will not usually see dots or
shiny lines in this over- focused state.
h. Now slowly lower and raise Picture 4 (focus) and watch the shape of the circle blob when
over focused and under focused, and what does it do at the transition. The goal is
maintain a perfectly circular blob/dot at both ends of Picture 4 focus, and in the center
area where it transitions through the in- focus point it should smoothly size up and down
from a tight dot to a perfect circle. You may need to touch up 10d-10h until this is
achieved. Try a lower contrast setting to see how it transitions – it should maintain shape
at any size or brightness. Don’t run the display for long periods of time at high contrast
levels with focus set to tight dots, just transition through them.
i. Start back at #10 for the next color, repeating until you have achieved the goal on all
three tubes.

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MARQUEE MAGNETICS SETUP 101 – A PROCEDURE Copyright © 2004 by Bill Blue

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Partial Rough Draft

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11. Electrical Adjustments.

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[FONT=Times New Roman]At this point you should have perfect flare and pretty close centering[/FONT]

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(within ½”) on all grids. Carefully tighten down all focus coil wing- nuts being careful not to
shift the grid or bump the flare adjus tments. Return contrast to a normal level, and return Picture
4 (focus) to 50.
a. Go to Utilities 9 (service), 2 (rgb focus) and adjust center focus only for each color to be
as sharp as you can. You may want to touch up optical center focus here too. You
should now find that dots are quite precise and the lines are equal and sharp in the center.
b. Now proceed to Convergence 5 (service) 2 (random) and adjust green center only to line
the grid up exactly on your screen center mark. Save and Exit.
c. Now to Convergence 3 (random) and adjust red center only to match green. Hit the
Color button to change to blue and adjust blue center to green. Save and Exit.

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12. Assessing Geometry.

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[FONT=Times New Roman]If your physical and mechanical setups have all been done correctly, what[/FONT]

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you should now see with the crosshatch/dot pattern is a perfectly centered grid and center
convergence looking good but some wild deviations extending out from there. But these
deviations should be fairly predictable. If the projector is floor mounted, all the colors should
get wider at the top of the screen. Blue should get wider top to bottom on the left side of the
screen, and red should get wider top to bottom on the right side of the screen. The reverse of all
this is true if projector is ceiling mounted.
Also, the green blocks (squares) should get larger at the top, blue blocks larger on the left and
red blocks wider on the right. This is due to the projection angle of the tube and lens relative to
the screen. As a general guideline this will be a symmetrical display with blue and red
deviations opposite each other, with green more or less in the middle. If you see this
relationship, your setup is pretty good so far. If not, you may still have a physical chassis to
screen alignment problem. On the plus side of that, the flare/focus magnetics adjustments are
now done and won’t need changing even if you move the projector.

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13. Adjusting Geometry.

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[FONT=Times New Roman]Press # to display the first crosshatch pattern (no dots), then press Color[/FONT]

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and 2 to isolate just green. Press Geometry 1 (size) to bring width and height close to your
screen requirements, then Geometry 2 (keystone). Width or height may not be the same on one
side or the other of the screen. Adjust size so that the widest side left/right and top/bottom are
just in the frame and opposite side is a little small.
a. Keystone: Adjust until the crosshatch appears to be the most square to the screen on all
four sides. Each side will dip in (concave) somewhat so adjust for best overall
uniformity.

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MARQUEE MAGNETICS SETUP 101 – A PROCEDURE Copyright © 2004 by Bill Blue

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Partial Rough Draft

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b. Side Pin: Adjust the curvature of the left and right sides to a minimum. Usually one side
will be right on, and the other will deviate from straight just a bit. Align one side or the
other to straight – which ever seem to give the best impression of total left/right
straightness without any further adjustment. You may want to go between keystone and
side pin a couple of times to get this as close as possible. We will re-evaluate and fine
tune this later.
c. Top Pin: Adjust for a straighter top line. Note that it will affect one side of the line more
than the other, so it’s usually best initially to under-adjust it. Get it so that it’s improved
but still looks linear from one side to the other. This adjustment, Bottom Pin and Bow
contribute to the famous Banding proble m so we’re being cautious at this point.
d. Bottom Pin: Same as above for bottom line. Under-adjust for a smooth continuity of the
line.
e. C Linearity: Center linearity is often misunderstood and misadjusted. In a nutshell, it
controls the relationship of the size of the left to right half of the screen (horizontal) and
top to bottom half of the screen (vertical). A tape measure is required. For horizontal C
linearity, measure the distance at the screen from the center grid line to the leftmost grid
line, and then the same for center to right grid lines. Adjust in small steps for an equal
distance on both halves. Likewise for vertical C linearity measure from the center grid
line to top line, and then to bottom line and adjust for equal distance. As yo u adjust these
controls, the center will remain stationary.
f. S Linearity: Stretch linearity controls the linearity of object sizes from left to right of the
screen (horizontal) and top to bottom of screen (vertical). For horizontal calibration,
measure the width of a box on the far left, the center, and the far right. They should all
be the same. Adjust until this is achieved as closely as possible. The same procedure is
used for the vertical adjustment except you use top, middle and bottom boxes heights as
your guideline.
C and S Linearity adjustments interact with each other to a degree so you will not be able
to achieve a perfect relationship on the first pass. Rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat. If
you can end up with ¼” deviation left to right, you’re doing extremely well. Stop!
g. Skew: Through all of this we have assumed a left-right middle line of the grid of each
tube is exactly horizontal to the screen. Even though this is the case, the middle vertical
line may not be exactly vertical. Use skew if needed, to align the center vertical grid line
to be perfectly vertical. Center markings on all four sides of the screen are quite helpful
in gauging this.

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MARQUEE MAGNETICS SETUP 101 – A PROCEDURE Copyright © 2004 by Bill Blue

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Partial Rough Draft

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h. Bow: I saved this for last since you may or may not need it. Confirm now that left to
right center grid line is horizontal. Sight across the screen from one edge at the point
where the center line stops, to the other edge. Get very close so that your eye sees the
whole span of the line in an inch or two of width. Does it look straight or does it raise or
lower in the middle? You would normally adjust Bow to make this line as straight as
possible.
Here we want to assess both its straightness, and determine if there’s any tendency to
band, where there may be one, two or three vertical layers showing on the screen with
what looks like a black streak separating them. You can easily see this by using # to
bring up the solid green screen and looking for any horizontal streaks that seem to
separate sections of the screen. If you don’t see any and your middle grid line is straight,
you’re done. If your line is not straight, carefully adjust bow a little at a time, checking
for banding with a solid green or white screen. Top and bottom pin (c and d above)
interact with bow differently from projector to projector. Usually, top and bottom pin
will neutralize each other if bow is centered. If bow needs adjustment, it may be
necessary to raise or lower one or both of the other two, and gauge the correction and
amount of banding accordingly. Sometimes you’ll get perfect pin and bow and no
banding at all, and other times you’ll have to sacrifice a little. Tune to taste.
14.

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[FONT=Times New Roman]Perfect Green Geometry[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman]. At this point on the green only screen, you should have an almost[/FONT]

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perfect symmetry with no convergence at all. Occasionally a corner might need a little tweak, or

slight pin correction, but that’s all. Go ahead and do that now to achieve a perfect green grid, by
going to Conv 5 (green) 2 (random) and adjust very sparingly. Use only random adjustment.
15.

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[FONT=Times New Roman]Red and Blue, height and width[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman]. Now that green is done, you should be able to go back to a[/FONT]

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white screen (Press Color 8) and the grid to see red and blue still centered with green, but their

oppositeness with green centered between them should be quite obvious. Before we converge
red and blue to green, however, we need to normalize the heights and widths. While viewing all
colors, go to Utilities 9 (service) 3 (red blue vertical size) and adjust red and blue to match green
only in the very middle of the screen. If they don’t match top and bottom exactly, match as close
as you can top and bottom for each color. Save and Exit. [width slug adjustment omitted for
now]
16.

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[FONT=Times New Roman]Dynamic Astigmatism[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman]: Before final red/blue convergence proceed to Utilities 9 (service) 7[/FONT]

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(stigmator) and adjust dynamic astigmatism for each color. Dynamic is everything EXCEPT

center. Do not adjust center! When ready to adjust and while in the astigmatism section, enter
Picture 4 (focus) and push it up to 100, then press Contrast and push it up to 100, then Picture 4
again, lowering it to create a 3/8” to 1/2” circle in the center. Then use RECALL to backup to
astigmatism and adjust everything but the center for as perfect a circle as you can make for each
position. It may take a couple of passes since there is averaging between areas going on. Repeat
for all colors then Save and Exit. Set Contrast back to normal levels, and Pic 4 (focus) back to
50.

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MARQUEE MAGNETICS SETUP 101 – A PROCEDURE Copyright © 2004 by Bill Blue

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Partial Rough Draft

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17.

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[FONT=Times New Roman]Dynamic Focus [/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman]: Go to Utilities 9 (service) 2 (RGB Focus) and adjust all dynamic fields[/FONT]

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including the static center to the finest round dot you can. As you complete each color, fine tune

the optical center focus for that tube again.
18.

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[FONT=Times New Roman]Convergence of Red and Blue [/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman]: Before attacking this, put your individual grids up for each[/FONT]

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color and touchup or ballpark optical lens flapping. Initially adjust for the thinnest lines at the

outside edges (left/right adjustments oppose each other, as do top/bottom). Left and right should
occur at the same time, and be approximately equal to center, but slightly softer. Same with Top
and Bottom. Once you have some uniformity across the screen with flapping adjustments,
continue on to red and blue convergence, matching each to green. Use random only! Other
adjustment options seem like they’re quicker, but in reality they’re not because they make errors.
Do a random of red, random of blue, then another random fine tune of red and random fine tune
of blue.
That’s all for now. This much if closely followed should result in an excellent picture as far as
magnetics, geometry, general focus and convergence are concerned. I hadn’t intended to get this
much out in the first pass, but so much of it is somewhat interdependent in this method that I decided
to push forward. It definitely needs more editing with pictures and other little tidbits here and there,
and that will come, but not right away. Hopefully this will provide a lot of useful information as- is.
I’m open to comments, suggestions, additional text or ideas, so let me know what you think. My
email is

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[FONT=Times New Roman]bblue@netoldies.com[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman].[/FONT]

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--Bill Blue
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