Priority should be in supplementing and service calling what you have.
Seems like a decent start to an inventory and sufficient gear so far, is the intent to get brighter and or more efficient or just new given the “age.”
On the Fresnels, there has been no big major improvements to them since they lost the
asbestos and became grounded. A 12 year old
Fresnel as long as in good working condition has nothing wrong with continuing to use it even after 30 or more years. Pay to service
call them instead
thru a dealer recommended by
Altman. At least have that dealer or perhaps compitent and well trained tech person supervise the maintenance
call. Perhaps you can
call up the local branch of the IA and have them recommend someone who is rated as a ME professionally and get them to either
send that someone for free to supervise and instruct or for a price to give a service
call to the fixtures. Lots to learn in assisting someone who does such stuff for a living. No real reason to go with something like a
PARnel as it’s not a
Fresnel - it is a different animal.
The
Altman 360Q’s
Ellipsoidal Reflector Spotlights one assumes you have are still good and decent fixtures. Less efficient perhaps but nothing to complain about in doing a controlled beam of light. Again, get them professionally service called and perhaps change to a 575w/115v GLA lamp so as to get more light out of them. Given 12 Lekos, this I might look into supplementing with more fixtures. Beyond that, yep as everyone else says what to choose for
fixture highly depends upon what sort of space you are in and a few more things - that’s where the local sales person has the advantage, they come out and see than recommend based upon your situation. I love
Altman 3.5Q5 fixtures, not ideal for all situations.
On Lekos, I might go with S-4 or consider Shakesphere,
Strand SL and or the new
Leviton/
Colortran line, stuff from L&E and or Times Square. Fixed
lens - not so much a fan of zooms and I also tend to dislike the S-4 mini-lekos. Just wait until a lamp explodes or becomes bloated, it’s a question of completely taking apart the
fixture to remove the lamp than. This plus they are not that efficient just cheap. I might consider such other than
ETC fixtures because they would be using the same GLA lamp as the
360Q fixtures.
Fixture efficiency is not a huge amount better on a S-4 especially considering that you have nothing modern to compare light output with. Sure, if you had a completely S-4 inventory, other brands side by side in comparison might or might not be as bright but you don’t have - you are attempting to supplement a
360Q inventory. Most third generation fixtures next to the second generation
Altman 360Q will be more efficient but not by a huge amount once better lamps are installed in the
360Q.
I would probably look towards used fixtures. Something with a
return policy if not happy and coming from a reputable dealer and or production company - no Joe Bob’s garage lights. Nothing wrong with used lights normally other than some dings and wear given they come from a place that does factory repairs and maintenance to their inventory. - Lots more bang for the buck on a limited budget. In other words, instead of say buying at most 10 new fixtures and going over budget, you might be able to afford 10 fixtures and also be able to afford both having the rest of your gear serviced and the dimmers and light board looked at and fixed. Yearly maintenance on light boards and dimmers is what keeps them running for decades not just “currently running.”
First take care of what you have and bring it up to operational condition and factory spec. before asking for more.
Beyond this and assuming cable and more top hats and or barn doors are not in need, I might go for some
wash lights. Anything from
cyc, to single
cell wash to
scoop. L&E has a interesting “Runt” but again it’s all a question of need and area of fill requirements. Can’t
beat a 14"
scoop for some applications, on the other
hand a six
cell cyc or MR-16
cyc also has it’s own flavoring. Washing of light on a
backdrop or from overhead and the color mixing and or blending from
wash lights has nothing similar to be produced. I would shoot for ten more Lekos, repair and service of what you have than if money is left over at least two scoops.