i think you are correct about speed but i have found if you offer a high quality 'click to enlarge' button for most product images.
But on your home page people need to know the price. be upfront with your pricing and so on the home page have a product 'special' or just a product with a price as an example of what is to offer.
People spend a few seconds on home pages and leave if you keep them guessing with too much text and not enough product.

sorry one more thing with your site is the left hand menu -- toooooooooo messy. have to separate your products from you services so people look at the menu and find what they want easily. if you want to see one of our sites we just started to see what i mean.

on y va
http://www.invisiblebra.com.au

regards
stan