In order to light a 54'
cyc you would need 30 of those to light evenly across. However, as the
cyc is 25' tall is it doubtful the coverage from top to bottom would be acceptably consistent. That's gonna be a lot of cable. Not going to fit into $6k. Also, how long each day are you running the
cyc fixtures? It isn't going to save that much money on your electricity bill since you aren't likely to be running them except during shows and tech. If you are using them a lot outside of shows and tech, then it begs the question, "Why are they being used so often?"
If more even coverage is required than as provided by
border strip style fixtures and you have pipes available
downstage of the
cyc where it would be necessary to hang them, then I would strongly consider the
purchase of a standard
CYC fixture. My favorite fixtures on the market right now are the
Strand/
Selecon HUI and Aurora. They don't cost signifcantly, if at all more, than comparable instruments from
Altman. Yet, they offer a range of improvements from previous generations of instruments. These include an automatic
disconnect of the lamps from
power when the front of the
instrument is opened to change a lamp, which is a result of the built in glass
safety shield and heat management
system. This helps your
gel last longer. Also, HUI instruments get 4 cuts per sheet, and Aurora get 2 (versus one for the
Altman Sky
CYC fixtures). Little things that make them nicer- when used with the two
Apollo manufacturered C-Clamps for mounting to the
batten they are remarkably rigid as the
yoke is designed to perfectly fit the clamp. You must use longer bolts in order to use a standard clamp. This means you can use only one of the side mounted tilt locks to adjust tilt focus. If you've ever really only been able to reach one side of a
CYC instrument before because a set was in your way....you'll appreciate this. You can also use a single clamp to mount the
instrument should you for some reason do a curved
cyc or scenic piece.