Above stage wash help.

jumpjet

Active Member
Hello all!

I've read through most of the other "I need LED's for purpose x or y" and didn't find anything quite like my situation, or at least not current and like my situation. If I've missed something, my apologies.

I need to fill two purposes here:

1.) I need a solution to drop some nice color washes from above stage.
2.) I need to provide down light for orchestra/band concerts to read music.

The above stage grid is 16', and I need to cover about 800 sq ft of stage.
I have around 2k USD to spend.

Can I do this with LED fixtures alone, and should I be looking more for pars, or strips?
Or would I be better off getting cheaper LED fixtures, and augmenting that with a mess of conventional pars?

Thoughts? I would appreciate any and all input!
 
Since we are only talking about down light I think you can do really well with some of the "high end cheap" products out there. Don't get the really cheap LEDs on ebay. But you don't need to spend thousands for each fixture either. There are some really good off brand products out there with some serious kick that are around the $200-$400 range for a PAR. To me the key is buying these things from a dealer you trust. If you have a problem you can go back to that dealer for support. If you buy it on Ebay you are stuck.

So call your local shop and see what they stock. Everyone is going to have a different house brand for this sort of fixture these days. My local shop Pnta has an LED Par they call the Bulldog for under $400 with a 45 degree lens. It's got some serious kick. If you don't like what your local shop carries you can call CB sponsor Barbizon (Be sure to say you are calling because you saw their advertisement on CB) or you can try one of CB's two resident dealers BillESC or Esoteric. Any of those three can help you. If I were you I would spend an hour or two and call all of them.

Don't forget to budget for DMX Cable in your package or you will be in big trouble.
 
Another advantage of using a local supplier, is you want to get a sample unit, and test it, do you need smooth dimming, does the fixture provide that.
"High end cheap" units will still also be 3 pin dmx so remember to get adapters. Do you have direct AC to your grid, or is it all on dimmers, if so you will also need to find a way to get power to the led units. Adding some duffusion might also be good.
 
Another advantage of using a local supplier, is you want to get a sample unit, and test it, do you need smooth dimming, does the fixture provide that.
"High end cheap" units will still also be 3 pin dmx so remember to get adapters. Do you have direct AC to your grid, or is it all on dimmers, if so you will also need to find a way to get power to the led units. Adding some duffusion might also be good.

That is not only an advantage for local dealers. We provide demos to customers all over the nation. In fact, we have a couple of 150W source LED Moving Spots going out on demo next month to a school in PA. We are posting some pics of that same school using the Esoteric Visions Visioneer RGBAW PARs being used in a wash configuration on our website later today. Also on our Facebook. You can also see their dimming on our Youtube site.
 
Thanks for all the great responses! This is very helpful. I'll let you know what I end up going with!
 

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