Automated Fixtures New Design Spot and Design Wash 1400E

S

SerraAva

Active Member
Here they are finally, the new DS 1400 series from Elation. First, the Design Spot 1400E.
25 DMX Channels
CMY
CTO
Color Wheel with 6 replaceable colors
2 Rotating Gobo Wheels each with 5 Gobos a piece
3 Face, 5 Face, and Infinity Prisms
Frost
Iris
12-32 Degree Zoom
MSR 1200 Gold SE Fastfit Lamp, 1000 hrs
Weight is 114 Lbs, 52 kg

Next up is the Design Wash 1400E.
17 DMX Channels
2 Color Wheels each with 4 replaceable Colors
10-40 Degree Zoom
MSR 1200 SE Fastfit, 1000 hrs
Weight is 110 lbs, 50 kg

I am pretty sure the DS1400 Wash will also have CMY and frost at least, if going off of the DS250 and DS575 Washes. I also wouldn't be surprised if it had a CTO wheel like the DS1400 Spot. It also will most likely have a beam shaper, as the DS250 and DS575 both have them.

The DS1400 will also most likely have an animation wheel of some sort, the PS700CMY has it, and the DS575 has it as well.

The one thing that urks me a little about these guys, the weight. A Mac 2k Wash weighs 75 lbs, and a Mac 2k Profile weighs 84 lbs, the Performance weights 87 lbs. Spec wise they are the same, so why do the DS's weigh so much more?

Another thing is it might be a little late getting into the 1200w market. Vari-lite and Martin are stepping it up to 1500w arcs now.

Nice part about these guys will be the cost. I am sure you will be able to find them under 9 grand, possibly even as low as 7 if you look very hard.

Thoughts, ideas, comments?
 
I was going to post this thread, but I was waiting until the data sheets were made available. The lights have had links on the website for 2 weeks, but no spec sheet available as of yet.
 
Yea, dead links. but....
114 pounds !?! 10 on a truss and you're over a half ton! To say nothing of lifting them up to move them! Must be a magnetic ballast.
 
Nope, both are Electronic Ballast. The E denotes that, and it is listed in the specs given for the Wash at least. So what makes them weigh so much?
 
JD said:
Yea, dead links. but....
114 pounds !?! 10 on a truss and you're over a half ton! To say nothing of lifting them up to move them!
Click to expand...
These are 1200 watt fixtures so I would imagine they are not targeted at djs cranking them up on T stands. The venues these are made for should be able to handle the load and besides you need at least 2 motors to fly a truss anyway so even when using 1/2 tons you can toss 16 or so on a 2 motor truss.

Now dealing with the weight everywhere else is going to suck if you are in a gym djing a dance or an arena doing tours.
 
soundman said:
These are 1200 watt fixtures so I would imagine they are not targeted at djs cranking them up on T stands. The venues these are made for should be able to handle the load and besides you need at least 2 motors to fly a truss anyway so even when using 1/2 tons you can toss 16 or so on a 2 motor truss.

Now dealing with the weight everywhere else is going to suck if you are in a gym djing a dance or an arena doing tours.
Click to expand...

Lets see if elation can deal with their logic board issues first.
 
A VL3000 91 pounds. This is more than that. Why? The VL3000 is a 1200W fixture, has 3 rotating gobo wheels, CMY, and an impressive zoom range. Maybe Elation just doesn't have the engineering needed to get fixture weight down?
 
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soundman said:
These are 1200 watt fixtures so I would imagine they are not targeted at djs cranking them up on T stands. The venues these are made for should be able to handle the load and besides you need at least 2 motors to fly a truss anyway so even when using 1/2 tons you can toss 16 or so on a 2 motor truss.
Click to expand...

Still no excuse for the weight when competitive products are 50 pounds lighter!

Also, remember the safety factor! Two 1/2 ton motors = 1 ton lift. 16 fixtures at 140 pounds comes to 2240 pounds, over one ton without factoring cable or truss.

EDIT: Woops, flipped a number! At 114 pounds, 16 would be 1824 pounds, 176 shy of a ton without truss weight, cable weight, and at a 0% safety factor. Not doing that one!
 
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Wow, hold on a sec. The Mac 2k wash weighs in at 75 lbs. That is a difference of 35 lbs, not 50. And the spots are closer in weight, at 27 lbs difference for a 2k Performance and 30 lbs difference for a 2k Profile.

A VL3000 Spot weighs in at 91 lbs, or 23 lbs difference. The VL3500 Spot comes in at 91 lbs as well. The Q versions only weigh 3 pounds more, but those are silent versions.

I have to believe that it can't be engineering. The Impression weighs just 16 lbs and keeps up with 40 lbs 575 Wash lights. Also, the Power Spot 700 CMY weighs 63 lbs, Mac 700 Profile comes in at 76 lbs. The VL2500 Spot is 59 lbs. So they can engineer the things to be light weight, or the same weight as others.
 
That's why I'm disappointed...after fixtures like the Impression, the DS250 (weighs less than 2lbs more than a MAC250 Entour with more features!), and the Power Spot 700, I expected them to engineer a lighter fixture.
 
I suspect within the next generation or two, you will see fixtures get a lot lighter. Import container shipping prices have increased by a factor of 5 in the last two years. The technology is out there, its just that the manufacturers haven't been under much pressure regarding weight until now. There is no reason a 1200 watt mover has to weigh more that the Martian Rover did!
 
my only question is if you need a 1200 watt fixture what on earth are you doing buying an elation one?

Isn't the mac 700 price point right around there, and it probably has the same amount of punch.
 
Mac 700s are indeed around the same price point. However, I highly doubt that a Mac 700 will keep up with a Design Spot 1400. The Power Spot 700 keeps up with a Mac 700, for about two-thirds to half the cost. The optic trains on the Design line tend to be better then the ones on the Power line as well.

As to why you are buying an Elation one, price. Elation has managed to under cut everyone price wise, give similar performance optically, and the same or more features. Pure and simple, they offer the most bang for the buck right now.

I agree soundlight, I would expect something lighter. Maybe the have some more features that aren't listed yet, though I don't know how much more you can add to a wash light. Also, with the channel counts like that, I doubt there is much they haven't listed. Maybe Padawan is right and it is a typo. Elation isn't exactly known for their editing skills on their website or manuals for that matter.
 
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To comment on their engineering and editing skills, I've got four DS250s and love their output.. I've seen them head-to-head with Mac 250 Entours and they win in my book especially for the price when you get more features and great light output too..

I had an issue recently and their support was great on this by the way, but I had a DS250 side mounted on a truss because my owners manual said no problem.. but when I talked to support about why the pan sensor wasn't working they said the DS250s weren't designed to be side mounted and I should read my manual..

Waiting to hear back from them because I pointed out the manual I had specifically said you could do side mounting.. support said they'd talk with engineering and work on a solution.. still waiting.
 
Figured I would bump this thread with some more info. Here is a video demoing the DS1400E. Skip to about 1:10 in, the beginning is just stuff highlighting Everlast.

As for other news with regards to LDI and new products, Elation is getting ready to release a bunch of new toys. Design Spot LED, Design Wash LED, Design Spot 300 Pro, Design Beam 300, Design Spot 1200C, Design Beam 1200C, and Design Wash 1200C. More info to come. Can say this much though, the DS Spot LED is packing a 200w LED, the DS Wash LED is packing 324w (108x3) Rebel LEDs, and the DS 1200 series is suppose to be the size of the DS 575, but with a 1200w lamp.

Elation is also getting ready to release some RGBAW LED products. Imagine squeezing RGBAW into one LED like Elation Tri-LED does for RGB.
 
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