Altman 75Q's

[gafftapegreenia]

I've been looking into ways to rehab approx. 20 Altman 75Q's. Currently, half are operational. Half are wired for double-ended halongen T lamps, mostly the ones that are not in "working" order. Refer to the discussion on the Kliegl ERS's that used similar double-end lamps and to how much this idea sucks. The other half are wired for the more conventional 1,000 watt BVT lamps. While the thought crossed my mind that I could easily upgrade all to use BVT's, I can't help but wonder if there are better options than the BVT.

What suggestions does the Booth have for lamping a 75Q?

[derekleffew]

I'd say stick with the BVT but ship may have a better alternative. Also, nothing all that wrong with the double-ended lamp in a Fresnel, but I'd want them all to match. You would have had a field day at my graduate school with almost all Kliegl instrumentation. Can you post the link to the thread regarding double-end lamps in ERS so I don't have to search?

[gafftapegreenia]

I've used some old Kliegl's before. With the replacement halogen lamps installed, they were brighter than the 360Q's they were hanging next to. Kliegl had good ideas and did many things well, and others things...not so well.

Here's the link you asked for:
http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/s...ghlight=kliegl

[ship]

Nope, sorry nothing better than the BVT for now. 500hr, not the most efficient of lamps but unless if even still available and you want to go half output for 6x the lamp life the GE #21950 620PS40P would be a bad choice. 1Kw 8" Fresnels are what they are. Short of doing a 5Kw Studio Fresnel modified for 1and 2Kw lamps that take the same size lamp, is nothing else on the market with the same lamp size which would last longer or be more efficient - this short of major modification to what you have. Even there, unless you can find some GE#41734 Q1000T20BP lamps, not much on the market you can put into the fixture at this point. Still give it a few months more... there are new Fresnel lamps in the works, perhaps they can also at some point become useful to such equipment. If not, the 8" Fresnel is a dinosaur of the industry I’m sorry to say. Totally useful for stage design but not so much of a lamp that sells much thus is on the list for further upgrade beyond what was done almost 40 years ago. Dead lamp and fixture type.

Given this, my recommendation if long term planning of the theater is involved would be to sell them off and buy 6" Fresnels. The upgraded lamp for them is coming or at least has been designed and designated. More per square foot sure but at least still an active fixture type. The 8" Fresnel I’m sorry is not getting anywhere and in time will become discontinued by way of the lamp companies making such lamps still.

Here is a thought - anyone still using them should contact Eiko brand dirctly. They are new and finding their nitche. There might just be some amount of sway and interest in upgrading the 8" Fresnel lamp to something more efficient. Most other brands one will find this lamp to be on TBA gone from their system list.

[gafftapegreenia]

Now, when you say dinosaur, are you referring to 1,000 watt 8" Fresnels, or all 8" in general. What about 2K, 8" Fresnels? I have used some 8" Colortran Fresnels before. A very different fixture as compared to the 75Q. It was easier to focus, well built and much more of a "studio" quality fixture.

Really, if we end up buying new Fresnels, I was going to push for 6" Selecons or the like. Currently, our inventory is built around Source 4 ERS and PAR's for the mainstage. The studio is all 360Q. The again, if ETC comes up with a Fresnel, and Steveterry hinted to a while back, I might push for that. I might insist on a few PARnels as well so people know that there IS a difference. We have a few old 65Q'd that are on my list to rehab, along with some old Kliegl 6" Fresnels. Forget the Source 4, its the 65Q and its look alikes that will never die.

[ship]

No matter if Fresnel, scoop, ERS or moving light, the smaller the cubic area of the filament, the more effective it’s reflector is able to get light to it’s desired angle. A double ended RSC lamp with a linear filament with a parabolic reflector and round Fresnel lens won’t be very efficient of a round beam of light. Nor will it’s luminous output be very efficient.

Should be a quick upgrade from RSC assembly to Altman 75Q lamp base/reflector assembly. Did the same with a old Kliegl double ended 6" Fresnel once without problems. Same slide etc. just upgraded wiring, strain relief etc.

On the lamps, sure there is lots of more efficient lamps than a mog. Prefocus 1Kw lamp and there is no upgrades for the BVT in the works that I’m aware of. In exchange for a few hundred hours of lamp life, even the FEL is more efficient. The challenge would be to align the focal center of the lamp / reflector assembly once you change lamp bases - this is tricky but can be done.

First question is if you are going for longer lamp life in the 1500 to 2000 hour range or more output than the BVT. In addition to this, if you want 115v high output for the higher color temperature in matching up to Lekos or normal 120v. After that a lamp could theoretically be selected as long as the LCL combination of the lamp in it’s lamp base is the same length or shorter than that of the 3.15/16" + lamp base seat height in the lamp base of the BVT lamp. Lots of options out there that would be shorter than that.

Disclaimer here - your reflectors might stand up to some extent to the more heat but your fixtures UL listing will now be gone.

[ship]

the 2Kw Fresnels in a studio line are a different animal than the 8" Stage Fresnel. Thorn a few years ago came out with the HP-2400/CYX. Never learned of a GE part number for it or general adapton into the line but it's certainly an upgrade to the CYX. Planar Grid Filament, I believe it's 2.4Kw/115v, but after that not much info about the lamp is availlable beyond it being a 400hr over a 300hr lamp.

Studio Fresnel lamps won't go away in the near future, it's just the Mog. Prefocus lamps that are not much used.

As with the above post, were I running a theater proper, I don't know if I would get rid of the classic 8" Fresnel - it has good uses. On upgrading to something different in lamp or leaving it BVT, that's another question. Never seen a double ended RSC version of this fixture but that fixture I probably would upgrade at least to standard BVT or something else. If these fixtures are the crank version instead of the bottom adjustment focus screw version, Altman should still have parts available for the 175Q which would than be standardized parts for the Kliegl fixture. - This in theory at least, depends a lot on platform height given a totally different lamp system. In my case on the 6" Fresnel RSC version, it was all the same.