Your best bet would really be to
call up a couple companies who sell the fixtures and ask for prices. The more you buy, the better a deal they'll be willing to cut.
MSRP means nothing with these kinds of fixtures - with any kind of significant quantity you'll be hundreds or thousands (depending on the
fixture & quantity) below listed
MSRP. Besides, a lot of these items are
POA from the manufacturer - so it comes down to the more you buy the cheaper it is. Don't worry about getting your dealer fired up about a sale - tell them what's up and just get some numbers. And make sure to get from more than one dealer, always a good idea to compare when getting a package this big.
I'd also look at the brand new 1500
watt VLs - the VL 3015, 3515, and 3015LT (the 3015LT in particular). I haven't seen 'em yet, but the 3015 and 3515 are just 1500
watt versions of the 3000 and 3500 spots. The 3015LT is a behemoth
fixture designed to compete with the MACIII. Pretty sweet effects package in that one. As for the 2500 spots, they're being phased out - don't even consider. Go for the VL770 or the VL880 which is on your list - great fixtures. The 2500s gotten much more expensive since they're being phased out, which is odd to me. The VL880s are phenomenal little fixtures - we had all 3 new little VL spots in for a demo and they are sweet. Much better than the 2500 Spot in my opinion for a lot of reasons - not the least of which is the lack of those annoying square/oblong/whatever gobos. Great
gobo selection, great color mixing, and the generally phenomenal VL optical train.
As for the Auras - we got some of those in a few months ago and they're stellar fixtures. They can get really beamy down at the 11 degree end which is great, and they do great flood at the wide end of the
zoom (though there is some significant
intensity loss, obviously). They are beamier than the 101s though, which surprised me, because the 101s are already pretty beamy. Make sure to get a demo and ensure that the
intensity will cut it in your
venue - I don't think you'll have a problem with that though.
As for the Sharpys - just make sure that you won't be having them on the
deck in places where you could toast people or things. Elevate them enough to avoid that. I've heard some pretty bad stories about people almost setting sets or instruments on fire. One guy told me that he left one pointing at a grand piano
cover for a few minutes and someone started yelling at him and he saw the piano
cover start to
smoke. As is listed directly on the
fixture, minimum 40'
throw. And if you leave them
in one place for too long without the
prism engaged, you'll have a dozen pissed off patrons coming up to you at the
console in the middle of the show and telling you to stop pointing the lasers in their eyes (yes, apparently that actually happened when someone pointed Sharpys in to the audience and left them static for too long - but it is a story from the sound guy at the gig, so he might have been exaggerating when he said 12 people).
