ETC S4WRD Color?

Maybe RGBL is unavailable in the form factor. Maybe there is a marketing plan for an S4WRD v2 a couple of years out. Maybe they wanted to leave some incentive in the portfolio to upgrade to ColorSource.
 
I'm not aware of significant differences in the form factor of different LED emitters -- the elements that affect the wavelength of light being generated are literally microscopic.

A change in color gamut from v1 to a potential v2 would leave me feeling the way I do about the differences between Lustr+ and Lustr Series 2 ... or ColorSource and ColorSource Deep Blue. I suppose the change in form factor between the ColorSource RGBL array and the color 4Wrd would probably mean having the same elements in the array wouldn't yield the same color results to the user; and I'm sure ETC did some phenomenal testing to make certain the color range it could generate was the most practical possible.

Low-key, I'm kind of surprised they didn't announce a tuneable-white 4wrd before the color array. But frankly, I'm slack-jaw amazed they're continuing to push new products to market in this environment!
 
When he plugs in the DMX, he appears to mating a female cable connector.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard
 
Curious why they went with RGBA, rather than a lime emitter, which is ETC's "secret weapon" in their LED fixtures.

Because of the four-surface array geometry required by the reflector, and the need for a symmetrical layout with an equal number of each emitter color, broadband amber was the choice over lime for best balance between color gamut and brightest output.

ST
 
List on the Source 4WRD Color is $732 USD, so street price will be somewhere around $585
 
Question for @STEVETERRY , can the Source 4wrd Color still project gobos with that homogenizer film in front of the reflector? In the video, @Jim Uphoff had his hand in front of the beam and the shadow looked pretty good, but gobos weren't mentioned in the video, one way or another.
 
Question for @STEVETERRY , can the Source 4wrd Color still project gobos with that homogenizer film in front of the reflector? In the video, @Jim Uphoff had his hand in front of the beam and the shadow looked pretty good, but gobos weren't mentioned in the video, one way or another.

On the product page it says that they can do them fine.

 
Not surprisingly, it's much dimmer than I think most venues might hope for. 4880 lumens at full. Obviously, when in saturated colors it will be ok vs 575, but most folks are using 750's these days it seems. But, the design required for this device doesn't leave much room for a bright array so i'm sure it's about as much as they could do at this point. It will certainly allow more facilities to get into the technology at least due to price point and existing inventory of S4 bodies and lenses.

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Not surprisingly, it's much dimmer than I think most venues might hope for. 4880 lumens at full. Obviously, when in saturated colors it will be ok vs 575, but most folks are using 750's these days it seems. But, the design required for this device doesn't leave much room for a bright array so i'm sure it's about as much as they could do at this point. It will certainly allow more facilities to get into the technology at least due to price point and existing inventory of S4 bodies and lenses.

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Yeah, there's the catch. Like you said, not surprising and it's actually amazing that they have been able to cram that many lumens into such a small space. But as you said, my wash is all 750's, so outright upgrading everything in my wash isn't an option. Going back to ETC's "Layers of Light" theory, adding them into your existing wash of 750's would be a big win. So if you have the fixtures to do that it's a great option. I currently have a pair of 750's for front light in each area of the stage (one R02, one R60). Swapping over to an R02 and an S4WRD Color in each area might be a pretty sweet trick. We'll have to do some real world experimenting on that.

I love the idea of retrofitting some spare S4 PARs I have on a shelf. I also have 10 S4's in my box booms with Seachangers and breakup gobos that I use for a colored texture wash. They are currently lamped as 750's but the Seachangers cut a lot of lumens. Switching to S4WRD Color would probably give me at least the same amount of light and add some additional depth to the color too. So, yeah... not the dream 750 replacement, but give them a couple of years and that may happen. In the mean time, it's still incredibly useful in a lot of applications.
 
Yeah, there's the catch. Like you said, not surprising and it's actually amazing that they have been able to cram that many lumens into such a small space. But as you said, my wash is all 750's, so outright upgrading everything in my wash isn't an option. Going back to ETC's "Layers of Light" theory, adding them into your existing wash of 750's would be a big win. So if you have the fixtures to do that it's a great option. I currently have a pair of 750's for front light in each area of the stage (one R02, one R60). Swapping over to an R02 and an S4WRD Color in each area might be a pretty sweet trick. We'll have to do some real world experimenting on that.

I love the idea of retrofitting some spare S4 PARs I have on a shelf. I also have 10 S4's in my box booms with Seachangers and breakup gobos that I use for a colored texture wash. They are currently lamped as 750's but the Seachangers cut a lot of lumens. Switching to S4WRD Color would probably give me at least the same amount of light and add some additional depth to the color too. So, yeah... not the dream 750 replacement, but give them a couple of years and that may happen. In the mean time, it's still incredibly useful in a lot of applications.

Be aware that the S4WRD and S4WRD Color do not retrofit onto existing S4 PAR bodies as they do with S4 ellipsoidals. A new PAR body is required. which is still very economical in light of the fixture's performance.

ST
 
Be aware that the S4WRD and S4WRD Color do not retrofit onto existing S4 PAR bodies as they do with S4 ellipsoidals. A new PAR body is required. which is still very economical in light of the fixture's performance.

ST
Bummer, but still an exciting product. Congratulations on this Steve. I'm sure your team has put in a lot of work for a VERY long time to figure out how to do the impossible on this one.
 
So from pictures I have seen. The color array looks to be smaller than the white array from the original. Can you speak on why the white post didn’t go away completely or shrunk considerably in order to fit in double the array or possibly add a ring of lime to get you that 5 “secret” weapon. Also how is the array lined up out of curiosity. Is it RBGA down the line or a single color per side hard to tell from the video. I can assume doubling the array would draw more heat I feel that the heatsink would be capable of still dissipating the extra.
 
not the dream 750 replacement

I have a possibly unpopular opinion but at some point in the next ~5 years I think it has to be OK to forfeit the old reflector assemblies and bodies. ETC, representing a global market with millions of units out there obviously needs to diversify their offerings and take care of existing customers without tossing a bunch of metalwork and optics into the scrap bin, but I was thinking the other day that the Colorsource Spot Jr might be one of the few recent fixtures that ETC has made that didn't come with a laundry list of legacy dependencies, such as must be compatible with x from 5 years ago, y from 15 years ago, and z from 30 years ago and the engine needs a form factor so you can tilt the fixture past 50/50 to get connectors around the yoke without having to unplug anything.

Seems like by not shouldering the burden of legacy fixture designs from years past, the CS Spot Jr, aside from not being able to zoom down to 19° is a pretty bangin' fixture for the cost while also being nice and lightweight.

Even Series 2 feels a lot like the evolution of a DSLR camera system to me -- heavy, with a lot of slightly different configurations (not to mention console personalities), and in 2020 made largely irrelevant by smartphones. Not saying there isn't a market for that because there is, but it might be refreshing to let go of legacy form factors and in the case of 4WRD, let go of life support accessories that are a still a hefty investment just to eek a few more years of juice out of before that paradigm of fixture designs is swallowed up entirely by more evolution in the marketplace.

And yes, I'm one of those people who - while reluctant at first - hasn't minded losing my headphone jack and I don't miss it in the least. Please go easy on me with the forthcoming voodoo dolls in my likeness.
 

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