Par Can Question

ewards71

Member
I have a question about par 56 cans and various bulbs . . . I bought 4 par 56 cans with Medium flood bulbs . . . the Medium spread angle is 30 degrees . . . if I get the Wide flood bulbs at 45 degrees, would I notice that much of the 45 degrees since the bulbs sit back in the can so far ? or should I stick to Medium floods ? Would there even be a noticeable difference in the bulbs with the Narrow angle ?

Thanx
 
You will notice the difference. Since the diameter of the bulb is 7" there is enough lens surface that the entire 45 degrees of the wide is transmitted and realized on the floor.
 
if your dimmers can handle it, and if you need it. it all depends on what you need them for.
 
Wanting to Wash a back drop behind the band . . . thinking that four par 56's with 500 watt Wide Floods would be very nice . . . of course I would never need to push the full juice to it, but always nice to have it just in case :wink: running a total of eight cans on two dimmers with four being 500 watt Wides flooding the back drop and four being 300 watt Mediums facing the back of the band . . . never all eight on at once . . . :!:
 
then i think you would be ok with going with the 500watts. im assuming your dimmers are 2.4K, and not 1.2K, right? just make sure of that.
 
Since you've stated this is for a band, and I'll assume you work in small to medium sized clubs, power consumption is always a problem.

Four 500w par cans will just about use up a 20 amp circuit...just for the backdrop!

I'd suggest you re-think the approach and look at the Omega 250C color changer. The Omega is a 250w halogen fixture with a wash lens. It features 14 colors plus white (open,) dimming and strobing. Four of these will nicely wash your backdrop and give you over 50,000 possible color combinations for less than 10 amps of draw!

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The MAP price of the Omega 250C's is $ 149.99 but they can be had for less on the street and no dimmer packs are needed.
 
yea but whats the light output? and how long will those filters last, im assuming theyre diocloric, but for that price, they have to be bad quality.
 
also, its made by Chauvet, who are known for shotty equipment and just poor parts.
 
Actually . . . I have been looking at color changers as well . . . to work with the convetionals . . . kinda costly . . . but everything is these days ! The beam angle on the changers is fairly narrow compared to a wide flood par can . . . but they still look groovie . . . who knows . . . if the right price shows up on EBay . . . I may have to snag a couple changers as well !
 
Yeah. I think the Martin Robocolour was meant to be the "cost-effective" solution to a par-can. Just as this is. (Don't know about the cost effective part though.)

Also the colours are dichoric - no need to change them.
 
Can you not use 300W lamps in your PAR 56's as opposed to the 500W ones?

Depending upon the size of the drop, I would imagine that you would get away with them. I use 300W MFL lamps in my 56's for such applications. At a total of 1200W you will only need 10A of power to run them.
 
I agree. Not to mention that if the backdrop is to bright you won't be able to focus on the band, your eyes will be drawn to the background. However, if instead you switched to 500w lamps and then took some lights off the drop then you could use them elsewhere. But in turn this means that if you had a different color in each instrument before, your color pallate would now be limited. So basically if you want lotsa color but don't want to overpower the musicians, stick with 300w. But if you only have a few colors anyways, and would like to benefit from more power elsewhere, then up the lamps to 500w and use a few of those instruments elsewhere.

Just my thoughts.
 
I would use your current 300s for the backdrop and get 500s for the front.
 
i dont know if this has any relavance in thsi thread but in PLSN they had a thing on Parcans. they compare most top and common brands and types.
 
I see . . . Thanx everybody . . . keep the suggestions coming . . . I have tons of scrap paper with diagrams drawn on them . . . a few cans in the back . . . . a few on each side . . . some up front . . . I may stick with the 300's but I was really curious how different the Tungsten 500's look compared to the Incandescent 300's . . . and maybe I should not worry about it . . . I do like my dimmers not having to strain with the 300's :wink:
 
hmm...im not find it on the site but if you can get your hands on this months copy it gives a good comparison.
 

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