Reasonable cost LED movers that are quiet

[tk2k]

Hey CB,
We have a multiuse performance venue we're looking to add some intelligent fixtures to. Looking at LEDs mostly because the space is fairly small (13' grid) and its likely to be a one time budget, so not having to buy lamps or service as often is appealing.

Mostly though, a quite operations mode is key. Not always, but being at a school with a conservatory means we've gotta deal with opera, unmiced vocal performance, and live accustic instruments. Since the art is getting more adventurous lighting requirements have gone up dramatically and the flexibility of movers seems ideal. Working in a house with 12 mac700 now and loving it for one off shows.

Any suggestions? I've even considered auto yokes on s4 LEDs if I could figure out a zoom....

[Pie4Weebl]

As I'm sure soundlight will come in and post about in a bit, Mac Auras are pretty banging and fit into a small package. But if you want a hard edged fixture you're gonna have to be spending a lot more per fixture than you think. A GLP spot one can end up running about the same as a mac 700, if not a little more.

[tk2k]

As I'm sure soundlight will come in and post about in a bit, Mac Auras are pretty banging and fit into a small package. But if you want a hard edged fixture you're gonna have to be spending a lot more per fixture than you think. A GLP spot one can end up running about the same as a mac 700, if not a little more.

grr.
It'd be great to have a gobo selection for some flash-n-trash

[gafftaper]

What's your budget? Unless it's huge you should probably rethink this . The words Reasonably Priced and LED generally don't go together. Unless you want generic branded Chinese gear.

[BillESC]

Although Chinese manufacturered, Blizzards like of moving head LEDs will impress the socks off you for the price.

Check them out. Blizzard Lighting - Moving Head Lights

[tk2k]

What's your budget? Unless it's huge you should probably rethink this . The words Reasonably Priced and LED generally don't go together. Unless you want generic branded Chinese gear.

It's a proposal budget so really 'as low as it can be' but there's no cap. It's gotta be approved first anyway as a capital project. My thinking was the cost would be less overtime as we'll save on lamps and service? maybe that's not the case?

Although Chinese manufacturered, Blizzards like of moving head LEDs will impress the socks off you for the price.


Check them out. Blizzard Lighting - Moving Head Lights

Wow, that's a pretty great price on the northstar randomword something professional. Gotten okay reviews in terms of longevity?

[BillESC]

No reported problems or issues to date.

[SteveB]

Robe makes an LED profile ML, the Robin DLX.

I have no idea if it has a fan, suspect it does if only to keep the LED's cool.

Looks intriguing though.

http://www.robe.cz/products/article/robin-dlx-spot/

[tk2k]

Robe makes an LED profile ML, the Robin DLX.

I have no idea if it has a fan, suspect it does if only to keep the LED's cool.

Looks intriguing though.

ROBIN® DLX Spot - ROBE lighting

yeah MSRP is 11k though

[JD]

If you break LED lighting into Spots and Washes, LED is near prime time in the Wash department. Lots of good products at reasonable prices.

The Spot department is another story. Still need a few years for things to get reasonable in price. There are several Discharge (HMI and Plasma) movers on the market that are very quiet. At work right now so I don't have models at my fingertips, but at least a few of the lower wattage Plasma units actually do not even have fans. (100 to 150 watt) This would be the route to go as the output of a discharge mover is an area that LEDs haven't gotten to unless you happen to have a few bricks of gold laying around.

[StNic54]

We run the Mac 301 and the Varilite VLX- both are incredibly solid, and the Mac 301 is speedy. Nice wash units overall, and well worth the cost. The VLX zoom is out of this world.

[Esoteric]

We have our own line of LED fixtures, moving heads both spot and wash at a variety of price ranges. We have a 90W single source unit in the $1200 range and 3W Tri Washes with 100 diodes in the $1000 range.

That said we just sold a load of VLX's and those things really make me drool.

[JChenault]

There are a couple of things I would watch out for in this situation

First the grid height in the OP is very low (13 feet). Most movers have a relatively narrow beam spread and would not work well with this beam throw.

Secondly if you are doing concerts or quiet drama I expect you will hate fans. When you test a unit in your space remember that there will be a number of them

If you are set on LED units, I would seriously consider a wide angle fixture on a right arm or auto-yoke ( Perhaps with iris) instead of a mover. I have not used the auto yoke but it is available with a remote focus option.

[gafftaper]

Great point John, a wide angle LED fixture on an Apollo right arm would be an excellent idea for a space that small. The right arm is quiet, smooth, and reliable. Much quieter than an LED mover. A wide angle LED Wash of some sort would be much better for that throw distance. It also fits nicely with "the gafftaper method". You can use those Right Arms to do other tricks when you don't need movers and the LED Wash is going to be useful for everything moving or not.

[gafftapegreenia]

northstar randomword something professional

I lol'd.

That's not the first comment I've ever heard on the "flashy" names companies come up with for their LED products. (Color FORCE & BLAST ! anyone?)

[traxman25]

Have you thought about the Elation Platinum Wash ZFX Pro? I saw the fixture at the Elation Road Show and was quite impressed with it. It has a great zoom range up to 43 degrees that will be helpful with that trim.

[Kelite]

Great point John, a wide angle LED fixture on an Apollo right arm would be an excellent idea for a space that small. The right arm is quiet, smooth, and reliable. Much quieter than an LED mover. A wide angle LED Wash of some sort would be much better for that throw distance. It also fits nicely with "the gafftaper method". You can use those Right Arms to do other tricks when you don't need movers and the LED Wash is going to be useful for everything moving or not.

Very valid point, gafftaper.
This scenario is somewhat common and teaming a silent Right Arm with a fanless 40* LED wash fixture solves a variety of issues. A package price for the Right Arm and Apollo's RGB HP3 and/or RGBAW HP5 has been discussed recently as the need for such a solution continues to arise.

I'll see if there is a photo available-

[Kelite]

HP3 RGB fixture mounted on the Apollo Right Arm. Both are fanless (and noiseless) and versatile.

[tk2k]

There are a couple of things I would watch out for in this situation

First the grid height in the OP is very low (13 feet). Most movers have a relatively narrow beam spread and would not work well with this beam throw.

Secondly if you are doing concerts or quiet drama I expect you will hate fans. When you test a unit in your space remember that there will be a number of them

If you are set on LED units, I would seriously consider a wide angle fixture on a right arm or auto-yoke ( Perhaps with iris) instead of a mover. I have not used the auto yoke but it is available with a remote focus option.

Yes, I actually considered this but really we need something a bit more flashy for the rock concert style shows.

Thanks everyone there's some great options here

[Pie4Weebl]

a GLP Volklicht might do the trick!

[soundlight]

If you can afford them, the MAC Auras are amazing, as Victor mentioned earlier in the thread. They really have an amazing effects package with the aura & beam combos and they work great at short throws with the super-wide zoom. And they are BRIGHT for an LED wash. Coming in close to a 575 watt discharge wash in terms of white output but easily surpassing the VL2500 wash we did a shootout with in certain saturated colors (any 2 color flags at full saturation in a CMY system knocks out a LOT of intensity). So they would be able to have some real intensity even at a wide zoom. I would also consider them if you have more rock-style shows because they do an amazing beam in haze, narrower than a MAC101 at the narrowest zoom. We recently (a few months ago) acquired 54 of the auras at the rental/production house where I work and they are simply amazing. We can't keep them in the shop because of the high rental demand and we try to take them on just about every production that we can - from low ceiling ballroom gigs to concerts. They're just amazing. One of the other huge features that I haven't mentioned yet that's great for intimate spaces is that this is the only LED wash at its size/weight/price where the whole front lens can be the color that you're projecting (I say can be because it can also be a different color with the Aura LEDs!). They're quite quiet units and you can adjust fan settings of the (2) small, quiet fans via DMX or the unit.

As far as hard-edge stuff, I would definitely wait until after LDI and see what that brings. Martin recently discontinued their MAC250 Entour and MAC250 Krypton, so they might be coming out with some new hard-edge stuff since the MAC350 Entour is actually already quite old as far as LED fixtures go. There's been a whole lot of development in the past 2 years and I'm interested to see what Martin could come out with after stating that the Viper family is the "last" line of arc-source fixtures they're going to develop.