We are not overdriving the LEDs, we are just overly conservative in our published numbers. We are driving the LEDs well within their maximum rated conditions.
I stand corrected then, and I have some people to correct, I will follow through with that believe me.
As far as the Phoenixes I recommend, it depends on the application. The 250W is my standard recommendation, but the 150W is good for spaces that need a beyond silent
fixture and can deal with the output
drop. Recital halls come to mind as a perfect application - and then you don't have to deal with the heat fluctuations on
stage with instruments that come from kicking on a full
conventional rig when the musicians walk out.
I do appreciate that both
ETC and
Altman went with a warm white
LED as their white, especially when these fixtures are often used as frontlight. So many times an RGBW/
RGBAW/RGBwhatever
system consists of cool white. When a
fixture is more for colors and top/backlight, I actually find the cool white to be useful, but for front I think the warm white is the way to go.
With respect to the
ETC Color Source series though, I'd only use them for frontlight - they do NOT have the color gamut that I'd put in a top/side/back/
drop lighting situation. I am disappointed that every
venue that get's spec'd with Color Source all around now I won't be able to get the deep blue that I consistently use in every show. I always add just a little
bit of other colors to it for color
rendering, but I am a die hard user of deep blue. My favorite blue
gel is R74, and when I found LEDs I was able to go even deeper blue.
As far as the top notch service goes, yes, I understand that
ETC is second to none. That's why I'll recommend their consoles in a theatrical/educational situation until I'm blue in the
face. My place of employment has 4 IONs in rental
stock, and we may be adding an
Element or two and possibly a
GIO. If we can't answer a client's question, we tell them to
call ETC - and we never hear back from the people we
send their way, assumedly because they get their problem sorted out right quick. When I've had questions before, no matter the time of day or night, I can get a
call back within 15 minutes telling me exactly how to do/fix whatever I need. However, I agree with Les that the first place I would go in the case of a
fixture issue is the dealer.
Another quick customer service story while we're on the topic to boost the
profile of another company we're talking about here - Chauvet. The company I work for recently purchased some Rogue R2 Spots for rental inventory (still don't like that stick man
gobo, we did follow through on ordering
Apollo MS-1041 to use in its place on our shows). They're great, we love them. However, there was an issue with a few of the omega brackets that the tolerances on the washers that hold the quarter turn part on were a
bit loose, so I lost 2 of the quarter turns. I also had a
gobo door that wasn't seating right. Called & talked to Chauvet, and wham bam shazam, I've got 3 complete omega brackets and 3
gobo doors very quickly. So now I have spares in addition if I ever have any more issues. Chauvet has really done a complete 180 in many respects, and are putting out a great mid-range product. They're not the entry-level, low-end, issue-ridden company they once were. If that's what you think they are (and I found someone else just the other day who gave me almost that exact description), it's time you give them another look.