CANON REALiS WUX6000 Projector Review – Performance

Brightness

The Canon WUX6000 is specified to have 6000 lumens using it’s brightest mode.  When set to “Dynamic” picture mode, the brightest image mode, and with all of the other picture settings at their factory default, I was not able confirmed the accuracy of the published specification.  More specific, I measured under 4900 lumens at mid-zoom position using either the standard zoom lens (mid-throw) or the short throw zoom lens that Canon had provided with the review unit.  However, using the short throw zoom at its maximum zoom setting and adjusting the contrast control to a setting of +7 (the maximum before white clipping became obvious) the the light output increased to just under 5500 lumens. This was still short of the rated 6000 lumens, but closer.  Of course there will be some variations in the brightness of specific projection lamps, so it’s possible that the lamp in the review unit was not as bright as the best examples.  I would note that when we reviewed the lower resolution Canon WX6000 a couple of years ago, its brightness also measured lower than the manufacturer’s rating.  In any case a real world brightness of nearly 5000 lumens (in brightest) mode is still very bright.

The following measured brightness values are for when the WUX6000 is equipped with the “standard” Canon zoom lens, model RS-IL01ST, and with the lens set at it’s mid-zoom position.  The lamp was operated in full power (high) mode and factory default settings were used for all image modes.

Picture Mode       Lumens

Dynamic                    4783

Standard                   3854

Video                          3458

Cinema                       3975

Photo/sRGB               3975

Note that when the Canon short throw zoom lens (model RS-IL05WZ) was installed, the measured lumens were just a little lighter.  For example the brightness in Dynamic image mode was measured at 4861 lumens.

The above measurements were taken with the projector’s lamp in full power (i.e., high) mode.  Power Saver (Eco) mode reduced the light output by about 27%.

With the standard zoom lens, going from mid-zoom to maximum zoom increased the light output by about 2% while going from mid-zoom to minimum zoom decreased the light output by about 8%.

Brightness uniformity was excellent with a maximum 11% drop in brightness between the center of the projected image and the dimmest corner of the image (with lens shift adjustment set to its middle position).  Note that this characteristic may vary depending on which of the available Canon lenses is used and also with the lens shift setting.

Audible Noise

As the WX6000 has a single 340 watt lamp to keep cool, fan noise is substantial and the projector is rated at 40 dB.  However, the intended large-venue use of a projector like the WUX6000 means that noise is unlikely to be a concern.

Even when used in a smaller venue, it’s unlikely that the noise level of the WUX6000 would be objectionable, especially in the lower brightness mode.  Bottom line is that for a projector this bright that is intended to be permanently installed away from viewers, the noise level is not an issue.

Audio Performance

The WUX6000 has a single 5 watt mono speaker that produces a volume level loud enough for a small to moderate size office conference room.  The sound quality would be suitable for narrations, less so for music due to the lack of any bass.  However, given this projector is really intended for larger venues, if there is need for audio to accompany the video then an external, amplified speaker system would be appropriate.

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