Need follow spot recommendations for a school with 150' throw.

Jsarver

Jsarver

New Member
We have been upgrading our auditorium and have recently lost two follow spots and we are trying to replace them. The stage is up to 150' away so we need quite a bit of power. I like the idea of LED but need something that will give plenty of light for multiple shows/year and last. Budget $10-15k each.
 
For that throw and budget, I would 100% require a demo in the space or at least somewhere with a similar throw distance to confirm the spot will do what you want. My go-to when recommending followspots has been Robert Juliat for a while, very nice units. They have the new Arthur LT with an 800W LED, that would be a contender for sure. I've only seen their smaller LED models, but they're impressive. I'd also check out the new Lycian 1281, I haven't personally used their LED units but Lycian has always made good quality spots and I've used many sizes of their HMI units over the years. Even when beat to crap, the mechanics still tend to work well.
 
Why LED? 150ft is not trivial and a 2kW xenon lamp house is pretty common for that kind of distance.
 
Jsarver said:
I may be looking it up wrong but it looks like cost would be a large factor. $20k?
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And they last around 30 years, which IMHO is longer than an LED *anything* will last. They're well built and will probably survive student operation for their lifetime. I cannot comment on the Juliat 'Arthur' as I've not used one, but the other LED followspots I've seen and used have been crap to operate. I'd expect the Juliat to be well built and designed and to meet specified photometrics. It's also $16,000 US.

The architect did your room (and budget) no favors.
 
Jsarver said:
and have recently lost two follow spots and we are trying to replace them.
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Lost, as in "we went into the spot booth and saw only cigarette butts on one side and arc-carbon stubs on the other;" or Lost, "they broke." Do we suspect fowl play? Comets, Satellites, Orbitors, Explorers, Voyagers--The Russians?
Jsarver said:
The stage is up to 150' away so we need quite a bit of power.
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What does this mean? All we really care about is distance from Spot Position to Down Stage Center (just behind the curtain line). One rarely finds a 150' Throw Distance in a House of <2000.

What did the spots use to be? Those that were "lost"?

If the throw distance is accurate, the 2000W Xenon Lycian 1290 or the 2000W Strong Super Trouper would be ideal fixtures that have yet to be matched or exceeded by LED.

Go BobCats!
 
At 150' I'd be looking at a 1293 or 1295. These things last decades, and stage lighting/video is only getting brighter. You can always dim a spot, you can't make it brighter.

And don't let anyone try and sell you a Super trooper/trouper2 these days. They were wonderful for their time , but can't compete with lycian these days.

I wouldn't touch an LED without a demo, and be aware that LEDs love to push color temp way up to make them appear brighter in a dark space.
 
Derek’s insistence on what the previous units were is probably just a little important…. Beyond familiarity and better understanding your expectations there is the question of available power or what power service you can get. If your spot position is underserved with a couple of 120V 20A circuits (I’ve seen this in a number of these kinds of spaces) then getting a 2500W fixture isn’t going to fly unless you can get the appropriate 208V circuits pulled. In which case, the cost to add this might factor in when evaluating units.
 
jglodeklights said:
Derek’s insistence on what the previous units were is probably just a little important…. Beyond familiarity and better understanding your expectations there is the question of available power or what power service you can get. If your spot position is underserved with a couple of 120V 20A circuits (I’ve seen this in a number of these kinds of spaces) then getting a 2500W fixture isn’t going to fly unless you can get the appropriate 208V circuits pulled. In which case, the cost to add this might factor in when evaluating units.
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If he's stuck with 2, 120V 20A circuits, then choices meet with compromises. If only 1 circuit.... eh.... they'll likely be calling in electricians for other aspects of the project, too.

Our little game show of "Spin the Wheel of Speculation!" ;)
 
danTt said:
And don't let anyone try and sell you a Super trooper/trouper2 these days. They were wonderful for their time , but can't compete with lycian these days.
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I will readily admit to not enjoying any aspect of the ST2.
I'm not crazy about "the unengaged frames flapping in the breeze" design of the new boomerang on the STLT, but it's far from a deal-breaker to me.

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I've seen many different 1290 and STLT next to each other on concerts and award shows. Optical performance was so similar I couldn't tell them apart. The Strong just seems better built (some might say over-built) with beefier and better materials. I do worry about the future of Strong, but Paul R. appears to be doing okay as far as I can tell.

In what ways do you prefer the 1290 to the STLT?
 
derekleffew said:
I will readily admit to not enjoying any aspect of the ST2.
I'm not crazy about "the unengaged frames flapping in the breeze" design of the new boomerang on the STLT, but it's far from a deal-breaker to me.

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I've seen many different 1290 and STLT next to each other on concerts and award shows. Optical performance was so similar I couldn't tell them apart. The Strong just seems better built (some might say over-built) with beefier and better materials. I do worry about the future of Strong, but Paul R. appears to be doing okay as far as I can tell.

In what ways do you prefer the 1290 to the STLT?
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I'd like to weigh in, two different venues in my hometown one got 1295's the other got ST2's the 1295's have had to have one iris replaced in the 6 years they've been going, in the same time frame the ST2's have had to have dousers replaced, multiple iris's, and two ballasts replaced. Construction wise Lycian is leagues ahead of Strong these days.
 
derekleffew said:
I will readily admit to not enjoying any aspect of the ST2.
I'm not crazy about "the unengaged frames flapping in the breeze" design of the new boomerang on the STLT, but it's far from a deal-breaker to me.

proxy.php



I've seen many different 1290 and STLT next to each other on concerts and award shows. Optical performance was so similar I couldn't tell them apart. The Strong just seems better built (some might say over-built) with beefier and better materials. I do worry about the future of Strong, but Paul R. appears to be doing okay as far as I can tell.

In what ways do you prefer the 1290 to the STLT?
Click to expand...
I have not seen a *new* super trouper in... forever... so perhaps the new ones are indeed magical, but in my experience they run much hotter, the balance is much worse, and the boomerang is in an awful position. On days when there's a case with a spotlight at the bottom of the arena and a perch without a spotlight at the top of the arena, I certainly prefer super troupers--the built in ballast of a 1290 makes them very unpleasant to move, but as an operator... I think there's no comparison.
 
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