Etc Lustr 2 vs the new Stand LED Leko

Jackalope

Active Member
hi all,
does anyone have experience with one or both of these fixtures? They have a comparable LED engine and I think they probably have very similar color gamuts.
I am looking for a brightness comparision, ease of use, maintenance etc.

Thanks!
Richard
 
If you mean the Strand LED Leko (https://www.strandlighting.com/global/products/leko-led-profile), it may be a little too new to the market for most folks to have put hands on it. Probably your best bet is to find a local dealer that carries it and ask for a demo, or, better yet, a side-by-side shootout with one or two other fixtures.

The Strand company's gone through a number of changes throughout the years; currently, IIRC they're part of the Phillips family now. I would generally expect high quality of build, but not exceptional customer service.
 
Haven't put my hands on one but based of cut sheets I'll take a stab at comparing. Priced at Colorsource Spot, so I'll compare off of that.

Reports TM-15, but doesn't show the full reports...
2 year warranty instead of 5 yrs parts, 10 yrs LED array...
Be wary of comparing Max Lumens -- nobody ever runs the fixtures with all emitter colors at full so that's not a meaningful stat.
Draws twice as much power...

In terms of photometrics, not really much information to go on. Looks like most of the lumen output and illuminance they describe is based on "all-on", which isn't useful. A specific gels or color temps might be more interesting but seeing as they haven't published that it feels more like they're hiding something than anything else.

===

Noise-wise...

30-43 dBA @ 1m instead of 21dBA (note: perceptually, that's 2-4x as loud.)
Some quick math below if you had 41 fixtures on an FOH catwalk about 25' above the audience and you were seated underneath of that catwalk at center.

In this application, most theaters do not achieve 16dBA background noise so the CS Spots are insignificant noise wise. However perceptually, the Whisper mode of the Strand fixtures is twice as loud as CS Spots, and is at a level where professional theaters and theaters with close proximity of lighting fixtures to audience members would find it unacceptable. At 37dBA in normal mode, it's four times louder than CS Spots and would be unacceptable for any theater application except those where the HVAC was given no serious attention whatsoever during design.


1600986840793.png


Let's say you had a black box theater or a small CCTV studio or community theater where the fixtures are in closer proximity to microphones or the audience.

The 45dBA in normal mode would be untenable.
The 34dBA in Whisper mode would be undesirable.
The 25dBA of CS Spots would be on the margin for broadcast but generally acceptable for live theater.

1600987485995.png



Like many Strand endeavors, it appears to be a fixture that attempts to compete with ETC while compromising on features without a substantial cost savings. At least from the street pricing I can find online, it actually costs more than a CS Spot. Maybe if you're getting a CS Spot with an EDLT it's a wash, but I don't see any compelling savings.

If forced to pursue cost savings on a project and if this actually was available at a meaningfully lower price that CS Spots, I would rather select Chauvet Professional than this. In part because the pricing doesn't seem to offer any significant savings unless Strand is trying to a buy a job by bidding it low, but also because I've seen too many theaters burned by Strand in the past and every time they've tried to substitute on projects of mine in the past they've done so while treating me and my clients like idiots -- they assume you will focus on the cost savings and ignore glaring deficiencies obvious on the cut sheets to anyone who knows what to look for.

Maybe would be more interesting if it was obviously and significantly cheaper, but that 2 year warranty instead of the 5/10 warranty from ETC really makes it more an illusion of cost savings that you will pay dearly for in a matter of years.
 
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Haven't put my hands on one but based of cut sheets I'll take a stab at comparing. Priced at Colorsource Spot, so I'll compare off of that.

Reports TM-15, but doesn't show the full reports...
2 year warranty instead of 5 yrs parts, 10 yrs LED array...
Be wary of comparing Max Lumens -- nobody ever runs the fixtures with all emitter colors at full so that's not a meaningful stat.
Draws twice as much power...

In terms of photometrics, not really much information to go on. Looks like most of the lumen output and illuminance they describe is based on "all-on", which isn't useful. A specific gels or color temps might be more interesting but seeing as they haven't published that it feels more like they're hiding something than anything else.

===

Noise-wise...

30-43 dBA @ 1m instead of 21dBA (note: perceptually, that's 2-4x as loud.)
Some quick math below if you had 41 fixtures on an FOH catwalk about 25' above the audience and you were seated underneath of that catwalk at center.

In this application, most theaters do not achieve 16dBA background noise so the CS Spots are insignificant noise wise. However perceptually, the Whisper mode of the Strand fixtures is twice as loud as CS Spots, is at a level where professional theaters and theaters with close proximity of lighting fixtures to audience members would find it unacceptable. At 37dBA in normal mode, it's four times louder than CS Spots and would be unacceptable for any theater application except those where the HVAC was given no serious attention whatsoever during design.


View attachment 20784

Let's say you had a black box theater or a small CCTV studio or community theater where the fixtures are in closer proximity to microphones or the audience.

The 45dBA in normal mode would be untenable.
The 34dBA in Whisper mode would be undesirable.
The 25dBA of CS Spots would be on the margin for broadcast but generally acceptable for live theater.

View attachment 20786


Like many Strand endeavors, it appears to be a fixture that attempts to compete with ETC while compromising on features without a substantial cost savings. At least from the street pricing I can find online, it actually costs more than a CS Spot. Maybe if you're getting a CS Spot with an EDLT it's a wash, but I don't see any compelling savings.

If forced to pursue cost savings on a project and if this actually was available at a meaningfully lower price that CS Spots, I would rather select Chauvet Professional than this. In part because the pricing doesn't seem to offer any significant savings unless Strand is trying to a buy a job by bidding it low, but also because I've seen too many theaters burned by Strand in the past and every time they've tried to substitute on projects of mine in the past they've done so while treating me and my clients like idiots -- they assume you will focus on the cost savings and ignore glaring deficiencies obvious on the cut sheets to anyone who knows what to look for.

Maybe would be more interesting if it was obviously and significantly cheaper, but that 2 year warranty instead of the 5/10 warranty from ETC really makes it more an illusion of cost savings that you will pay dearly for in a matter of years.

A very good analysis, Mike.

ST
 

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