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[Robert Weston]

Pardon if this topic has been brought up in previous posts; though, I was unable to find an answer.

Sometime ago I upgraded my older lighting (scanners) with the suggestions and help for this board; thank you again!  The new lighting has worked great.  I’m at the point now where I need to upgrade my PAR 56 300 watt medium flood cans and Stage Setter 8 controller.

In a previous post, looks like a Stage Designer 50 would be a good replacement for the Stage Setter 8 – I don’t need anything large or fancy - I’m planning on this upgrade.

For the lighting, it’s been painful trying to determine what’s better than one over the other.  Some internet research is showing these (below) as a possible (and affordable) solution to the 300 incandescent PAR cans. 

I’m looking for something that would be considered a “medium” flood (no spots).  The shows I do would be stages less than 30’ across and 20’ deep, and not every square foot of this area would need to be lit.  Mostly bars and small church stages; nothing large.

Does anyone have experience/knowledge of these fixtures as far as quality of light, the amount of light, the bean width, quality of the fixture, etc....? (this is what I have narrowed down to).

Chavauet:
 LED PAR 64 TRI-B  (this is my first choice)
 SlimPAR TRI 7 (or TRI 12)  - second choice
 SlimPAR PRO TRI – third choice
 SlimPAR 56 / SlimPar 64 (these appear too cheap)
 PIXPAR (too in depth to program)

I’m assuming the Stage Designer 50 would have no issues with these lights (and vice/versa).  I need to be able to change the colors of the lights “on the fly”, so a 3 chnl mode for each fixture (for live use) will probably be employed (though, I know these fixtures have more than 3 channels available).

Also, for security cables, what do you all use or recommend?

Thanks.

[Rob Spence]

While I have no experience with either the controller you mention or the specific lights, if you are moving from incandescent to LED, you may want to consider 4 color units that include an amber LED (known as RGBA). With only RGB, it is very difficult to get warm colors (warm white, yellow, orange etc). Full on RGB is a pretty bluish white.

I have some RGBAW units that I use when lighting the front line and I want to get good flesh tones.
I use the RGBs for pure colors like purple, blue, green, red, teal. The yellows and such look awful.

Get good bright units. It is easy to turn em down a bit when needed but for the size areas you mention, you want pretty bright ones. I would look at 3 watt units (mini rant - I wish the lower/mid level units would publish light intensity figures rather than power).

Remember, the wrong piece of gear at a good price is still the wrong piece of gear. Buy once, cry once.

[Kyle Leonard]

I really like and use the Mega Lite NE Color Par 38. They blew me away the first time I used them. I've also had them doused in a thunderstorm and they still work. The programing is very simple. There's no automated preprogrammed chases. Just RBG and strobe/dimmer.

[Robert Weston]

Thanks for the suggestions.  Had wondered about how well "white" is reproduced; and even considered getting a couple of just white LED lights.

On the RGBA fixtures, the ones I've seen have different colored LED's spread across the "lens", whereas the "TRI" fixtures have the LEDS grouped together into "one" LED.

Is one of these better for washes than the other?  The ones that have the LED's spread all around don't appear to produce a "full" color (as the TRI LED's do.)

What do you think?

[Randall Hyde]

Thanks for the suggestions.  Had wondered about how well "white" is reproduced; and even considered getting a couple of just white LED lights.

On the RGBA fixtures, the ones I've seen have different colored LED's spread across the "lens", whereas the "TRI" fixtures have the LEDS grouped together into "one" LED.

Is one of these better for washes than the other?  The ones that have the LED's spread all around don't appear to produce a "full" color (as the TRI LED's do.)

What do you think?

I've seen some "quad" LEDs (4-in-1 LEDs). Sadly, they are RGBW, not RGBA (which I would prefer). I would pick the 3-in-1/4-in-1 LEDs over the separate colored LEDs if you have the option. I just got a batch of Blizzard Rocklite RGBAW fixtures (5 separate colors) and the fact that the separate colors focus differently would be a real drawback to me if I needed good color control (I do mostly concerts, so I don't need *totally* precise color control). If I stick with my new lights on the front truss for any time, I'll probably complement them with a bunch of Rocklite AW fixtures to get better whites. Another alternative is to move the fixtures off to the side and stick "n-in-1" LEDs on the front to get better color control up there.

If you have separate LEDs, more (lots more) is a lot better as they'll be able to mix the colors better. E.g., more 1W LEDs is probably better than 1/3 or 1/5 as many 3W or 5W LEDs (talking separate colors here).
Cheers,
Randy Hyde
P.S. Disclaimer: I don't own any 3-in-1 or 4-in-1 fixtures, but having seen out the separate colored LEDS mix their light, I can see the benefit of using the n-in-1 LEDs. Then again, I haven't seen them so I could be totally wrong, too.

[Robert Weston]

Thanks for the info!!  I do only want to buy these once!

[Scott Hofmann]

Pardon if this topic has been brought up in previous posts; though, I was unable to find an answer.

Sometime ago I upgraded my older lighting (scanners) with the suggestions and help for this board; thank you again!  The new lighting has worked great.  I’m at the point now where I need to upgrade my PAR 56 300 watt medium flood cans and Stage Setter 8 controller.
In a previous post, looks like a Stage Designer 50 would be a good replacement for the Stage Setter 8 – I don’t need anything large or fancy - I’m planning on this upgrade.

For the lighting, it’s been painful trying to determine what’s better than one over the other.  Some internet research is showing these (below) as a possible (and affordable) solution to the 300 incandescent PAR cans. 

I’m looking for something that would be considered a “medium” flood (no spots).  The shows I do would be stages less than 30’ across and 20’ deep, and not every square foot of this area would need to be lit.  Mostly bars and small church stages; nothing large.

Does anyone have experience/knowledge of these fixtures as far as quality of light, the amount of light, the bean width, quality of the fixture, etc....? (this is what I have narrowed down to).

Chavauet:
 LED PAR 64 TRI-B  (this is my first choice)
 SlimPAR TRI 7 (or TRI 12)  - second choice
 SlimPAR PRO TRI – third choice
 SlimPAR 56 / SlimPar 64 (these appear too cheap)
 PIXPAR (too in depth to program)

I’m assuming the Stage Designer 50 would have no issues with these lights (and vice/versa).  I need to be able to change the colors of the lights “on the fly”, so a 3 chnl mode for each fixture (for live use) will probably be employed (though, I know these fixtures have more than 3 channels available).

Also, for security cables, what do you all use or recommend?

Thanks.

I've been very happy with my six Chauvet PAR64 Tri-B units. Although I only give them occasional use, and primarily for sidelight color washes, I really love the primary colors, especially the blue. It is hard to get a good white out of them, put that's not what I'm using them for. I used 7 in a church install to light some truss used as scenery, and they look great. Unfortunately, one unit became erratic after a short period, but Chauvet replaced it very quickly under the 2-year warranty.
They have a fairly wide 40 degree (spec says 39) field angle, which I find very useful for the smaller stages as well as uplighting gigs I do. Many LED PARs have too narrow of a spread for my taste. Uses 18 3-watt tri-color LEDs so pretty bright for the price.

[Steve Alves]

I have the Chauvet Slim Par Pro RGBA lights and love them. Very solid and bright.

http://www.chauvetlighting.com/slim-par-pro-rgba.html

[Robert Weston]

Thanks for the feedback guys!

Yep - been considering the Slim Par Pro RGBA as well.

[Mike Pyle]

Thanks for the feedback guys!

Yep - been considering the Slim Par Pro RGBA as well.

TJ Cornish did a pretty thorough review here:
http://soundforums.net/lighting-electrical/2419-chauvet-slimpar-pro-rgba-review.html

[ProSoundWeb Community]