Review for Source 4wrds?

Hello Everyone,

My venue is looking to purchase 30 new Source 4s. In a surprise turn our Board asked about the LED options, so here I am researching the ETC Source 4wrds. I know they are still relatively new, but I can't seem to find a lot of reviews about them. Does anyone have hands on experience with these?!

They look great for energy cost, cooler fixtures, and a more even beam (you know how excited I would be to not have to bench focus!), but I'm worried about their fading ability and how they will blend with our other conventionals. (We are looking to add to our inventory, not replace it, at least for the moment.)

It looks like they pop on a little harshly around 5% and I'm worried these are going to stick out like a sore thumb compared to the conventionals. Any feedback would be great!

You'll find they have a much nicer dimming curve when run via constant power and dmx. There are some small steps you can take if you are running them off of dimmers instead, like providing a pre-heat level of 1 or 2%. You won't get rid of it entirely. I know that you are integrating into a larger inventory, but I still recommend that you take a look at the Colorsource line as a comparison. You give up a little output, but you gain color mixing.

I have a handful in use currently.

Mollynoka said:

It looks like they pop on a little harshly around 5% and I'm worried these are going to stick out like a sore thumb compared to the conventionals. Any feedback would be great!

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This is if you have them on AC dimming. If you use DMX dimming, the fade is pretty smooth.

Color temp on the S4wrd is consistent from top to bottom, which is nice. The only issue I have with this (and it's a small issue) is that the color temp of the S4 and S4wrd is the same at 100%. You'll see the temp differences when you start going lower.

The only other issue that I take with these fixtures is that there is no way to set the DMX loss behavior on the fixture. If you loose DMX for some reason, the lights go out. Not a fan of this.

Other than that, overall, I love the S4wrds and would recommend them to anyone.

cbrandt said:

You give up a little output, but you gain color mixing

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Also, you'll give up more out of your wallet as well.

If you're looking at adding fixtures, I would go with Colorsource Spots or PARs instead. At the price points for a 4WRD cap, body, and lens tube, you might as well be buying CS Spot or CS PAR that can do the color mixing. The CS PARs natively have a pretty tight beam before you put any lenses on them, so for applications where you can give up shutters/gobos, the CS PAR's can be very cost-effective and you won't be feeling the need to replace them in 3-5 years if/when you go all LED all the time.

In general for most applications I see the 4WRD's as a half-measure toward doing what venues actually want to do. A hole into which money gets thrown for a solution that will seem archaic within 5-6 years. If you are willing to purchase a few less fixtures and recoup some of the investment in labor savings/gel, the CS fixtures will likely serve you better in the long-term.

If you cannot afford the CS fixtures, Chauvet's professional division has a similar product also with the special lime LED emitters that so far no one I've spoken to has been able to distinguish significantly from the ETC lineup. It would be worthwhile to get a side-by-side demo before you commit though.

As for integrating with your existing plot, the cleanest way to minimize obvious blending differences is to divide responsibilities up by system. Make your front light tungsten and your down light or high sides LED or vise versa, rather than mixing and matching spontaneously. This will be easier to cable DMX and non-dim power to as well.

I see the reason for trying to go-to something from Chauvet or a ColorSource spot over a S4WRD for not much more money, but my new venue has decided to the way of S4WRDs for a few reasons that I'll just share.

Firstly we will be using them with constant power and DMX. We have decided to go with them because we already have a few source fours and want to go all LED in our new space. At $600 dollars for each Source Four they are simply the cheapest way to go all LED for our front lighting and the cost savings from this over a ColorSource spot that is about $900+ more expensive is significant. That money we save there we can use to get more backlighting/on stage moving lights. We are a very modern church and want to create an amazing contemporary environment, and for us moving lights will make a difference onstage, nobody will ever see/notice what our front lighting looks like, it just need to get the job done. That being said we will only have 6 S4WRDs as supplements to 5 Rogue r3 washes (anyone have the chance to see these in action?), but the cost savings make a difference for our situation and is why we are going the S4WRD route.

I'm not saying ColorSource spots don't look awesome for the price, in my specific scenario they do not make much sense or an impact to our audience.

Those are my thoughts on the S4WRD.

Colin.

I was in the first group to get a preview unit and I thought they were pretty good. I don't have any and haven't used one since so it was a limited test but the color was alright, It was pretty smooth, the unit I had was only steppy at the low end and that wasn't very noticeable. Overall I was happy with it but didn't have a need to pay that much when my LED money could be going to color wash units.

This is all great feedback, thank you!

We do currently have 15 ColorSource Pars onstage and I love them. What I'm really looking for are just white light spots, color changing on these guys isn't too important. Being at a school I have plenty of students who are happy to sit and change gel frames during a show if needed. Our stage is large enough that I just need more instruments then I currently have to achieve an even wash. I will look into the CS Spots however.

It's good to know that they fade smoother with constant power. This is probably how we would use them if we go this way. All of our other LEDs are parked ON, so it would make sense that we would also do this with our 4wrds.

It seems like know I need to find a local demo!

Colin Bishop said:

I see the reason for trying to go-to something from Chauvet or a ColorSource spot over a S4WRD for not much more money, but my new venue has decided to the way of S4WRDs for a few reasons that I'll just share.

Firstly we will be using them with constant power and DMX. We have decided to go with them because we already have a few source fours and want to go all LED in our new space. At $600 dollars for each Source Four they are simply the cheapest way to go all LED for our front lighting and the cost savings from this over a ColorSource spot that is about $900+ more expensive is significant. That money we save there we can use to get more backlighting/on stage moving lights. We are a very modern church and want to create an amazing contemporary environment, and for us moving lights will make a difference onstage, nobody will ever see/notice what our front lighting looks like, it just need to get the job done. That being said we will only have 6 S4WRDs as supplements to 5 Rogue r3 washes (anyone have the chance to see these in action?), but the cost savings make a difference for our situation and is why we are going the S4WRD route.

I'm not saying ColorSource spots don't look awesome for the price, in my specific scenario they do not make much sense or an impact to our audience.

Those are my thoughts on the S4WRD.

Colin.

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This pretty much makes sense. I have not used the R3 wash, but I have used the R2 wash a lot, and it is one of my favorite fixtures, and it is also extremely reliable. The R3 is the same fixture but bigger so I would expect exceptional results, even for matching color temp of conventionals and video use.

To the OP, I really don't like that the 4WRD does not have standard 5-pin DMX connectors, also you DO HAVE TO BENCH FOCUS the S4wrd, and it still used the original reflector, known for losing its reflective coating and cracking. It has a warmer color temp than a standard HPL; it is supposed to match a 575 long life. If White is all you need, and you are buying entire fixture consider the Chauvet Ovation 160ww these should be under $999.99 each including an HD lens.

The S4wrd seems like a good idea, but it's like spending $12k on a new motor for your 1993 civic that still needs shocks, tires and tranny work, when you can but a brand new whole car for only $20k.