Altman 1KL6 worst light ever?

jtweigandt

Well-Known Member
Was up in the FOH of the middle school doing a guerilla session to identify circuits, re patch so they can control from their little dj board, and create a basic plot.

The foh had a mix of 3 source fours 4 of these altmans and a random altman 360 q These 1kl6 units I played with for a while.. godawful shutter mechanism.. focus? I couldnt get anything that seemed to approach a defined beam. They have what appears to be a zoom mechanism and I found the mechanical drawings and parts list online.. Can anyone direct me to a tutorial on these monsters?

To my credit.. 2 work days about 5 hours total and I took them from a hodge podge of random lights with no known scheme to a standard of 5 zones from the FOH and 3 zones each first electric and second electric, and got their ancient strip light on the back wall patched so they don't have to turn it on and off with the breakers on the dimmer stack... But not having enough time I cant stop thinking about trying to retire those 1kl6 units yuk.
 
One of the local high schools has a FOH slot filled with 1KL6 units. The main issue seems to be that when they get re-lamped, the lamp cap is just shoved in and if the screws are stll there, tightened down.
This guarantees not getting a defined beam. Turn the fixture on and carefully move the lamp cap in or out until it looks good, then adjust the focus knob under the barrel to refine.
You mean your units still have 4 shutters? I had to search the FOH slot to find all the ones that were yanked out and not replaced. Usually the lenses are filthy dirty, which doesn't help either.
 
Famously awful.
 
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Well, Yes, toss as soon as possible, but in the mean time, they are still ellipsoidal spotlights, but admittedly a rather large and cumbersome variation with crappy output. They were created back in the 1980's, prior to the S4, when the desired lamp was the FLK 1000 watt, 2 pin lamp. I never tried the more modern GLC 575w lamp in it. The fixture was sized so as to allow heat to not destroy the internal parts, lenses, reflector, shutters, etc..... It was not Altmans shining moment in fixture design. They align like most, you loose the 2 screws holding the lamp cap in place, move the cap in/out of the fixture till the desired hot spot/flat field is achieved (good luck with this), then you can loosen the lamp screw on the back of the lamp cap to position the lamp in the middle of the reflector. They have odd shutters as I recall, with a handle that is on a 45 deg,. angle to the shutter edge ?, that's a hazy memory. I also do not recall if the slot the lamp cap was installed into was open at the end. Our 4.5" versions of this fixture had that slot closed, requiring the 2 screws to be completely removed to change a lamp, which was PITA when you were on a ladder int he semi-dark. We hacksawed that slot open so the cap could be removed for a lamp change while keeping the screws on the cap.

They are in high demand, once you remove the lamp cap, lenses and shutters, as anchors for small skiffs, canoes, boats, etc....
 
Maybe someone put the wrong bulbs in them, with the wrong filament position and shape. Here's the spec sheet with recommended bulbs.
 

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Maybe not the "worst light ever" (looking at you Kliegl Bros. 1355) but the only light that has ever totally defeated me:
I once encountered 30-some Altman 1KL8-10° units unused in an FOH catwalk. I thought they'd be more suitable than the ETC 419s. Wrong! Try as I might, I could not get an acceptable field out of any of several units. I ended up admitting defeat, cutting off the male 2P&G connectors for re-use, and removing the lamps. The fixtures remained unused until the building was demolished. I much prefer the 360Q series.

Whatcha tryin' to say there, GTG?
proxy.php

http://www.controlbooth.com/threads/altman-1kl6-12-ellipsoidal.17348/
http://www.controlbooth.com/threads/old-altman-1kl-ellipsoidals.22917/
http://www.controlbooth.com/threads/altman-1kl.8206/
 
When my old theatre was converted (from movies to live) in 1983 the entire FOH was KL's. I was not sad to see them go in 2008. (They might have been overhead also, but by 2000's were S4)
 
What's the skinny on the next series, The Altman 1K-L8's? Specifically, 1KL8-10? I gues I know now why those 1000 watts of lamps seemed to be mislabeled 250's...
 
Hated those. Blech, Icky, heavy, if I remember correctly. 🤮
 
Would yo u say the 1000 watt version was worth 50 bucks? 100 bucks? 200?
Depends on intended use. As a museum piece or "how NOT to do it", $25-50 sounds right for a doorstop/boat anchor. If depending on them to light a stage, not for all the money in Middleton, WI.

What's the skinny on the next series, The Altman 1K-L8's? Specifically, 1KL8-10?
Sadly, the larger lens, intended for a longer throw, exacerbated all the existing optical issues. IIRC, it was a 1KL8-10 that bested me. See post#8 above.
 
Hated those. Blech, Icky, heavy, if I remember correctly. 🤮

Well, every old-school Ellipsodial tend to tip the scales in weight due to the thick lenses and overall size. I'm just a bit put out now cuz I found 16 of them for a great price only to hear they're crap. I got some other 1000 watt Altmans (no idea the model - see photo) and think they're the bee's knees. But I'll admit even my Strand 18-30 Zooms at 750 watts are comparable to the 1K Altmans I have at 1/2 the size and weight. WTF is Altman's problem LOL?
Depends on intended use. As a museum piece or "how NOT to do it", $25-50 sounds right for a doorstop/boat anchor. If depending on them to light a stage, not for all the money in Middleton, WI.


Sadly, the larger lens, intended for a longer throw, exacerbated all the existing optical issues. IIRC, it was a 1KL8-10 that bested me. See post#8 above.
I feel like Laura Ingalls on Little House On The Prarie who cut school because she thinks she found gold, and wheelbarrows it all over to the bank only to find out it's worthless shiny minerals called "fool's gold."
 

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.WTF is Altman's problem LOL?

Loaded question. They built gear that price wise, was less expensive than the competition like Strand and Kliegl ( so, a few years before ETC started up). They had to cut some corners in order to win those bids. They seemingly did all design in house and often came up with some not so great ideas, 1KL being an example. The sheer size was to meet UL requirements for heat dispersal. Kliegls were not much smaller, but Kleigl built with sheet metal, so less weight than cast aluminum. I think one of the first times they sourced design outside the company when they moved into LED's and went to Color Kinetics for the engines. The Shakespeare was a poor copy of the S4 and I think they paid a licensing fee for aspects of the design. I can, unfortunalty recall some really bad Altman units, 1KFR as an example. A 1K rated fresnel that blew the lenses. Altmans answer when they got complaints was to provide an insulating materiel to sit between the lens and the mounting bracket, which meant the user had to cover the labor to install. I refused to buy Altman by that point, though I did like their MR16 ZipStrip, used a great socket. I also recall when Ward Leonard out bid Kleigl for the stage lights, dimmers and controls at the spanking new theater complex at the State University of NY at Purchase. The specifications called for a sheet metal lighting fixture, which only Kleigl made at the time. Somehow, WL got Altman to run off a few hundred 360Q's in sheet metal. It was actually a great fixture, every bit as useful as an aluminum 360Q, that was much lighter. Sadly they only equipped one theater, then the bid was thrown out and the rest of the facility went Kleigl.
 

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