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Loewe Aconda 93102
Widescreen gets bigger
By Steve Ballantyne
October 2002
Feel free to park Loewe’s Aconda 93102 next to a typical plasma screen. The largest CRT display available, with a 40in diagonal (102cm) screen, the Aconda’s screen really isn’t much smaller than the 42in (106cm) of $15,000-$20,000 plasma screens. Its big lustrous black body, 63cm deep and 92kg heavy to accommodate a tried-and-true vacuum tube, is actually seriously more substantial than an plasma’s 15cm depth.
On the other hand, the plasma screen is all picture – the Aconda only manages to fill 38in (97cm) with image, and that 4in difference is enough to be noticeable. There’s also the matter of flatness; not only do plasma screens typically fill their entire area with image, they also have intrinsically perfect geometry over a completely flat area. The Aconda may have a ‘Super Flatline’ screen that claims to be the largest of any European TV, but actually it’s just flattish.
It’s physics – CRTs are glass bottles full of vacuum, and the larger they are the more pressure differential they have to withstand. They are stronger if their screens are curved.
But that price thing: at $15,000 the Aconda costs about as much as many similarly-sized plasma screen screens, so what exactly does it have going for it? A TV tuner for a start, something usually lacking with plasma screens. It almost goes without saying that none of the other makers’ similarly-priced plasma TVs (that I’ve seen) have quite the features of the Aconda, but most of that extra value Loewe puts in comes from the gorgeous design and superior underlying electronics, most obviously those embodied in the fancy alloy-bodied remote control unit typical of Loewe.
The Aconda incorporates the customary range of sophisticated Loewe features. Digital signal processing of a 100Hz image? Check. Picture-in-picture, zooming, split screen teletext? Check. Digital line control and interpolation, digital motion interpolation, noise control and comb filter? Naturally – a screen this size needs digital help to handle images of objects whipping across the screen at speed, and Loewe’s system does this very well. A comprehensive remotely accessed on-line owners’ manual and the ability to change just about every parameter of the system without leaving your sofa? Well, of course; that’s the sort of thing people buy Loewes for.
The Aconda also boasts a version of Loewe’s MediaPlus digital chassis, which means it should be able to withstand a few years of technical progress yet. In particular, the Aconda is ready for an assortment of alternative inputs from PCs, game consoles, VCRs, DVD players and whatever other innovations may emerge in the near future. Right now, three SCART sockets – all of which accept s-video, two which accept RGB signals and one which accepts component video – should be enough to connect up whatever other equipment you may have at hand.
Generally
the big plasma screens give a dramatic viewing experience, but not necessarily
a superior one. Plasma screens have the major advantage of being flat
with perfect image geometry, but are otherwise not up to the quality standard
set by the very mature CRT technology.
To my eye, plasma screens have an inherently ‘bitty’ look to them. By contrast, the Aconda has the smoothness that so far only seems to come from a real CRT screen – it’s TV as you’ve long been used to it, only sharper and clearer thanks to Loewe’s behind-the-screen digital manipulations. Another subjective impression: the colour phosphors used in the Aconda’s CRT allow a wider range of better saturated colours than those used in plasma screens.
Really it depends how you live your life. Shelling out $15,000 for a TV is not a decision most of us can take lightly – but if you have decided to part with that much, you should next ask yourself how you use a TV.
If you have a rich social life and mainly only need a TV to look great hanging on a wall, then a gas plasma screen is probably for you. On the other hand, if you want to watch broadcast television (or at least think that it may improve someday) or DVDs on a large, quality screen, then you’ll probably find the Aconda experience the better one.
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