Fan Noise levels from Movers - a concern?

[dbaxter]

Looking at starting transitioning some of our lighting to LED. (Why should I be different?). I wanted to start with our washes and am considering the Rogue R1 and/or R2 as possibles. But I'm frightened by the large fans on the back of them.
Our theater is small - 126 seats - with a 14' height for hanging. It's a thrust with 4 rows of audience, first row about 8' back from the floor level stage and raked up from there. That puts the back row about 10'. For reference, when the room is quiet, you can hear the scrollers at idle and for sure when they move. I expect the Rogue moving noise to be pretty much the same, so we're used to that.
Should I be concerned about fan noise from the Rogue's? The LED pars we have now don't have fans, so I have no basis for comparison.

 

[josh88]

Quick and dirty answer, rent a couple and play with them in your space, that should tell you all you need pretty quickly.

 

[seanandkate]

I was you a year ago. I'm in a black box space, 12' grid, audience members literally 5' from the movers. Josh is right--you totally have to do a shoot out with both of them to see what your noise tolerance is in your space. For me, the fan noise of the Rogues were unacceptable (which was a pity, because they're gorgeous instruments and very bright for the the size and price point, especially the Rogue 2). I found almost no difference in the noise between the R1 and R2. If anything, bizarrely, I measured the R2 as a bit quieter. I even brought them back again because their new software had an "Econo Mode" which I had hoped would lesson the fan speed, but it only affected output. I ended up going with the Martin Rush MH6 wash fixtures that are whisper quiet. Their fans don't even turn on until they build up enough heat to dissipate. They are less bright then the Rogues, but noise for me was the critical element. YMMV. Any good dealer should let you borrow one of each for a couple days and put them to a side by side test. Happy testing!

 

[robmerow]

Personally I prefer a little "white noise" in small theater spaces. So long as the fans are running when the audience comes in, they acclimate to it, and it then helps reduce the perceived intensity of other noises like people dropping their keys, turning pages, etc.

But obviously it would be best to test in your space. Muffled white noise = not so bad. Whiny wizzing vacuum cleaner sounds = no good.

 

[derekleffew]

Personally I prefer a little "white noise" in small theater spaces. So long as the fans are running when the audience comes in, they acclimate to it, and it then helps reduce the perceived intensity of other noises like people dropping their keys, turning pages, etc. ...

Not sure I agree with your premise, but I'll share a story supporting it nonetheless.

Picture it, Las Vegas, summer of 2001--A casino here, having the theme of a large eastern city, has a roller coaster and built (remodeled/repurposed) a showroom directly under it. A soundtrack of roller coaster sounds was played at very low (almost imperceptible) volume during walk-in to acclimate the audience. I can't recall, but don't think the track was played during the performance. The funny part of the story, when I asked the soundman what the DAT was playing? He said, "that's the coaster soundtrack." I was quite confused, as Cornell Gunter's Coasters was on the bill. Hilarity ensued, directed mostly at @derekleffew's naivete.

Even while wearing a single-muff headset and with my inherent hearing loss, running spot or lightboard, I still noticed the roller coaster going by during quieter parts of the performance. Well, maybe not during The Coasters performance, but definitely during the female stand-up comedienne. Come to think of it, it may have been feeling the vibration more than hearing the sound, that alerted me.

N.B.--We didn't having any automated lighting. The fans in the Lycian arc spots seemed fairly quiet.

N.B.2--Scrollers are the worst, especially if/when the LD tries to get from one end of the string to the other in zero time.

 

[SteveB]

We run our 9 Aura fans full on when in use. Our 6 MAC 700 profiles get set to "as needed" mode for quieter music events and for theater plays.

Our audio head is generally OK with this, the fixtures are on a pipe about +20 ft. and US of the proscenium, so possibly some of the fan noise goes up and away.

 

[robmerow]

Not sure I agree with your premise, but I'll share a story supporting it nonetheless.

Picture it, Las Vegas, summer of 2001--A casino here, having the theme of a large eastern city, has a roller coaster and built (remodeled/repurposed) a showroom directly under it. A soundtrack of roller coaster sounds was played at very low (almost imperceptible) volume during walk-in to acclimate the audience. I can't recall, but don't think the track was played during the performance. The funny part of the story, when I asked the soundman what the DAT was playing? He said, "that's the coaster soundtrack." I was quite confused, as Cornell Gunter's Coasters was on the bill. Hilarity ensued, directed mostly at @derekleffew's naivete.

Even while wearing a single-muff headset and with my inherent hearing loss, running spot or lightboard, I still noticed the roller coaster going by during quieter parts of the performance. Well, maybe not during The Coasters performance, but definitely during the female stand-up comedienne. Come to think of it, it may have been feeling the vibration more than hearing the sound, that alerted me.

N.B.--We didn't having any automated lighting. The fans in the Lycian arc spots seemed fairly quiet.

N.B.2--Scrollers are the worst, especially if/when the LD tries to get from one end of the string to the other in zero time.

Haha thats great. But no - I would agree that it doesnt work well at all with things that aren't completely consistent/constant... Periodic roller coasters included.