Ampro

Ampro 2000, 2300, 2600

Ampro was a US made CRT series of projectors from 1984 to 1998 when they went out of business.. Ampro was known also as: ESP, Gretag Image Systems, and Esprit depending of the year of manufacture. In general, the picture quality was excellent out of all Ampro projectors, but have a somewhat lower than average reliability record. There are many Ampro projectors in the surplus market now, so parts availability is excellent, and great deals are to be had, as Ampros sell for less than the equivalent model from a company that is still in business. The image out of an Ampro is at least equal to that of the ‘big 4’ name brand sets, and are easy to set up.

Ampro 3600

Ampro made 7”, 8” and 9” projectors.

The 7” models were:

 - 1400, 1500: Video only, ES focus
 - 2000, 2600 D and G: Data grade, ES focus
 - 2300: EM focus data grade

The 8” were:

 - 3300, 3600: 8” EM focus data grade

The 9” were:

 - 4000: 9” ES focus data grade
 - 4200, 4300, 4600: EM focus data grade

All of the Ampros required a serial computer interface or a custom Ampro wired or wireless remote to operate and set up. Without either, the projector is useless.

Overall , however, many Ampros were sold, and they are plentiful on the surplus market. I was told that Ampro started because of NASA, and continued to be their largest customer.

Ampro 4600

Ampro Strengths and Weaknesses

The biggest weakness of course is that the company is out of business. Factory support is nonexistent, and aftermarket parts specific to the Ampros are found only on the surplus market and from one or two companies consisting of ex-Ampro employees. . The upside is that Ampros generally sell for less due to this than equivalent Sony, Barco, NEC or Electrohome models. This can make them an excellent bargain, as there are lots of parts out there on the surplus market. Ampro used the same tubes as other brands of projectors, either Sony or MEC.

Common faults with the Ampros are bad solder joints, and high voltage arcing can cause havoc with the microprocessor circuits. CRT socket cards are a common problem (repaired easily), but the HV power supply is made by the same company that sells them to Electrohome, and failures are usually only solved by replacing the entire supply.

By 1996 or so, Ampro seemed to have solved some of the reliability issues of the earlier sets, so some of the later 2000’s and the 3600 and 4600 are on par with  other brands of similar vintage.

I’ve got a good stock of Ampro parts, and can service all models of them.

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