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[Scott Bower]

A few times a year I work on a larger stage than usual, about 40 feet wide and 12 feet deep. Currently using 16 LED par 56 fixtures on 4 trees, the flat ones available for about $100. They work fine for smaller stages but don't have the "throw" or intensity for larger stages. It is so hard to compare these to find the next step up. Any advice on fixtures in the under $200 range that would help? I'm hoping to add 1 or 2 per tree to augment my current set up.

Thanks,
Scott

[duane massey]

What wattage and beam angle are your current fixtures?

[Scott Bower]

What wattage and beam angle are your current fixtures?

They are Chauvet SlimPAR 56. Looks like the beam angle is 14 and wattage is 1/4 watt if I'm reading the specs correctly. Is it as simple as choosing fixtures with more watts?
Not much of a lighting guy here but trying to provide decent basic lighting along with my sound work.

Thanks,
Scott

[duane massey]

Those are pretty weak fixtures by most standards, 27w at full on.. Something like the Mega Baby Color would make a ridiculous difference:
http://www.venuesupply.com/detail/mega-lite-baby-color-q70-ultra-compact-color-changing-rgbw-led-wash-fixture-w-double-mounting-yoke-diffuser-and-more-5753

There are quite a few fixtures out there in this range. Look for fixtures that have a narrow beam angle (25 or less) and that use either quad or hex led's. Buy the highest wattage fixture in your price range.
I've used the Baby Colors in several installs and have found them to be the best performer at that price point. Well-built, small footprint, but take the diffuser off for your purposes.

[Josh Daws]

try either Chauvet SLimParQUAD6 IRC, or Microh Blade P56 Pro....the chauvet product its fantastic...i love it!

[Scott Bower]

try either Chauvet SLimParQUAD6 IRC, or Microh Blade P56 Pro....the chauvet product its fantastic...i love it!

I'll look into the Mega Baby and the Chauvet. I figured it might be as simple as looking at bulb wattage but it seems like the specs aren't always presented the same way for each manufacturer. I guess the price tells the story, $200 lights are brighter than $100 lights. I didn't want to overspend on my first purchase of LED lights because I was unsure of the technology and reliability but I guess it's time to step up and get the right stuff.
Thanks for all the help.

Scott

[Steve Garris]

The band I work with purchased 8 of these low-cost, high output lights, and they're fantastic. The number you need to look for is Lux - measured at 2 meters. I agree that the "lite-bright" looking lights do not have a lot of beam output.

At $90 each, you can't go wrong. Check out the review - it's by me. In the Youtube video, these lights are on a tree to the right. They are alternating RBGW and RBGA, so they have a slightly different mix of colors. All of these 8 lights are set to slave, running sound activated from one fixture.

http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/LEDJ-LEDJ59B-/555-27075

[Gordon Brinton]

...Is it as simple as choosing fixtures with more watts?
Not much of a lighting guy here but trying to provide decent basic lighting along with my sound work...

There are a few more things to consider when buying lights. For instance, RGB means that the fixture has three colored LED's; Red (R), Green (G), and Blue (B). RGBW means that the light consists of four different colors; Red (R), Green (G), Blue (B), and White (W). Others have four colors with the forth being Amber instead of White, called RGBA.

RGB gives somewhat darker, but more vivid prime colors. RGBW offers brighter pastel colors as well as vivid primes, while RGBA can produce much more rich looking yellows, golds, and pinks.

Wattage doesn't always determine brightness or lumens, but sometimes it is all we have to go on. Cheap lights generally don't give the lumen rating because it wouldn't be much of a selling point for them. You can get a "very rough" idea of brightness by multiplying the individual LED wattage by the number of LED's installed on the fixture. Add to that total a few more watts for internal circuitry and fans, and you can understand the overall Power Consumption rating.

Beam Angle is the spread width of light coming out of the fixture. For small stages where the light tree may only be 6 or 8 feet away from the artists, too narrow of a Beam Angle will create only a small spot on the subject. Sometimes a wider spread is desired. However, wider Beam Angles lose brightness due to dispersion of light. Some cheap and "dim" LED lights are purposely designed with a very narrow Beam Angle just to make them look brighter. Here are a few examples of how wide the light spot would be for different angles at 10 feet away.

10 degrees @ 10 Ft. = 2 Ft. Diameter
19 degrees @ 10 Ft. = 4 Ft. Diameter
26 degrees @ 10 Ft. = 5 Ft. Diameter
36 degrees @ 10 Ft. = 6 Ft. Diameter
50 degrees @ 10 Ft. = 11 Ft. Diameter

The best place I've found to buy budget lights in the US is from Andy Burr in Florida. http://www.burrightlights.com/ Although they are generic, they probably come from the same manufacturer as all of the other brands you've been looking at. I already own several of his lights and they are great, (albeit two of them had some loose screws that I had to snug up. So what.)

The 18x3 RGB are plenty bright at around 54 watts and well suited for small stages and close work. The 54x3's are RGBW and seem way brighter at 162 watts. Better for larger stages where you can get them back further. Neither of these lights have the Beam Angle listed in their specs, but I did measure them both to find out for myself.

At 10 feet out from the wall, the 18x3 had a light spot of 4 feet wide. I figure that to be around 20 degrees.
The 54x3 had a light spot of somewhere between 4 and 5 feet wide. (Although it was bright as hell, the edge was not well defined.) I figure that spread to be somewhere between 20 and 25 degrees.

Hope this helps.

[Scott Bower]

There are a few more things to consider when buying lights. For instance, RGB means that the fixture has three colored LED's; Red (R), Green (G), and Blue (B). RGBW means that the light consists of four different colors; Red (R), Green (G), Blue (B), and White (W). Others have four colors with the forth being Amber instead of White, called RGBA.

RGB gives somewhat darker, but more vivid prime colors. RGBW offers brighter pastel colors as well as vivid primes, while RGBA can produce much more rich looking yellows, golds, and pinks.

Wattage doesn't always determine brightness or lumens, but sometimes it is all we have to go on. Cheap lights generally don't give the lumen rating because it wouldn't be much of a selling point for them. You can get a "very rough" idea of brightness by multiplying the individual LED wattage by the number of LED's installed on the fixture. Add to that total a few more watts for internal circuitry and fans, and you can understand the overall Power Consumption rating.

Beam Angle is the spread width of light coming out of the fixture. For small stages where the light tree may only be 6 or 8 feet away from the artists, too narrow of a Beam Angle will create only a small spot on the subject. Sometimes a wider spread is desired. However, wider Beam Angles lose brightness due to dispersion of light. Some cheap and "dim" LED lights are purposely designed with a very narrow Beam Angle just to make them look brighter. Here are a few examples of how wide the light spot would be for different angles at 10 feet away.

10 degrees @ 10 Ft. = 2 Ft. Diameter
19 degrees @ 10 Ft. = 4 Ft. Diameter
26 degrees @ 10 Ft. = 5 Ft. Diameter
36 degrees @ 10 Ft. = 6 Ft. Diameter
50 degrees @ 10 Ft. = 11 Ft. Diameter

The best place I've found to buy budget lights in the US is from Andy Burr in Florida. http://www.burrightlights.com/ Although they are generic, they probably come from the same manufacturer as all of the other brands you've been looking at. I already own several of his lights and they are great, (albeit two of them had some loose screws that I had to snug up. So what.)

The 18x3 RGB are plenty bright at around 54 watts and well suited for small stages and close work. The 54x3's are RGBW and seem way brighter at 162 watts. Better for larger stages where you can get them back further. Neither of these lights have the Beam Angle listed in their specs, but I did measure them both to find out for myself.

At 10 feet out from the wall, the 18x3 had a light spot of 4 feet wide. I figure that to be around 20 degrees.
The 54x3 had a light spot of somewhere between 4 and 5 feet wide. (Although it was bright as hell, the edge was not well defined.) I figure that spread to be somewhere between 20 and 25 degrees.

Hope this helps.

Great information. Mike Pyle fixed me up with some Blizzard Q12W at a good price that look like they'll get the job done.

[Debbie Dunkley]

Great information. Mike Pyle fixed me up with some Blizzard Q12W at a good price that look like they'll get the job done.

Funny... I just came across this thread and was reading with the intention of suggesting exactly what you already ordered AND I was going to say contact Mike.!!!! .. I have 8 of the Q12's and I love them!!

[ProSoundWeb Community]