ProSoundWeb Community
Sound Reinforcement - Forums for Live Sound Professionals - Your Displayed Name Must Be Your Real Full Name To Post In The Live Sound Forums => Lighting Forum => Topic started by: Jonathan Gould on March 14, 2011, 06:17:42 PM
-
We have four old intellibeams that we use for small concerts with high school bands at a youth center. They are getting old and logic boards are starting to fail (they don't boot - led display is all on).
I have between $6500 and $7500 to replace them, and need some help narrowing down my options.
First - the criteria:
- Dont need to light the whole stage - we have a conventional PAR64 rig for that - this is just for aerial effects, etc.
- No heavy touring - but they are moved around. Used about twice a month? I'll be buying ATA case for them.
- We have a Showdesigner 2CF board.
So, here are the choices I am looking at right now: (Prices all came from Venue Supply)
1. Four ADJ Vizi Spot 5R (about $5700)
Not sure of quality here - but I saw them at the local GC and they looked pretty nice. American DJ has always felt like, well DJ stuff to me, but it seems they are moving up in the world (perhaps Elations influence?) How do they compare to Elation in durability now that Elation basically owns them?
2. Four Elation Platinum 5R (about $7600)
These fixtures look great and have lots of features. Its a little on the top end of our budget though.
3. Two Elation Design Beam 1200c (about $6700)
Less fixtures, and a tighter beam than I would like (6.7 deg), but man what a punch they would give. They are normally very expensive but right now you can get them from Venue Supply at a pretty big discount. (I'm guess they are unloading them because of the upcoming Platinum 15R?)
4. Four Chauvet Legend 550 (about $7200)
Dont know much about these, but they have quite a lot of features and 575w lamps.
Any thoughts / comments / other fixtures / other suppliers we should be looking at?
Thanks for the help.
-
I bet you could get 4-6 used Cyberlights (with cases) for that price range, and they would kick the hell out of all of the units you listed.
-
ADJ and Elation are the same company, always have been, just different divisions for two different markets. The Vizi-series is very cost-effective and well-made. I'm eager to get a look at the new ViziScan, which has a 50w LED source. Given your budget I'd go for 4 or 6 of something, rather than 2 really bright fixtures. You'll get more possible effects and combinations.
Also, consider the fact that moving heads are slower than scanners, although each type has it's own look and application.
I'd avoid the Cybers. They're big, heavy, limited in gobos and colors, and can be very expensive to repair. I've had mixed experiences with Chauvet gear over the past 3 years, but YMMV.
-
''help me spend some money'' = send it my way ;) lol
-
lets see...off the top of my head, you could get;
4 mac 250 krypton (~$7000)
-or-
6 Mac 500 (~7500)
-or-
4-8 High End Studio Spot 250 (~$7000 depending on where you find them, I've seen them as low as $750 each)
-or-
4 Elation Power spot 575 (~$7500)
-or-
4 Elation Vision 575 (~$6000)
-or-
4 High End X Spot Extreme (~$6500)
Personally I'd go with the Mac 500s...they're a quality unit, rider friendly and easy to get parts for...that's just from browsing solaris/gear source for 5 minutes, assuming you want moving profiles somewhere in the $1000-1500/fixture price range...if you shop around more you can probably even get a better deal
-
lets see...off the top of my head, you could get;
4 mac 250 krypton (~$7000)
-or-
6 Mac 500 (~7500)
-or-
4-8 High End Studio Spot 250 (~$7000 depending on where you find them, I've seen them as low as $750 each)
-or-
4 Elation Power spot 575 (~$7500)
-or-
4 Elation Vision 575 (~$6000)
-or-
4 High End X Spot Extreme (~$6500)
Personally I'd go with the Mac 500s...they're a quality unit, rider friendly and easy to get parts for...that's just from browsing solaris/gear source for 5 minutes, assuming you want moving profiles somewhere in the $1000-1500/fixture price range...if you shop around more you can probably even get a better deal
It's been quite a while since Mac500's have been rider-friendly, though the OP said they do mostly high school band type events, so probably not an issue, and I second the suggestion.
-
It's been quite a while since Mac500's have been rider-friendly, though the OP said they do mostly high school band type events, so probably not an issue, and I second the suggestion.
For any shows they'd be doing with 4 movers, 500s will more than cover any riders...
Personally I'd rather see them than anything else in that price range
-
1 option would be 4 more intellibeams, you'd have plenty of parts and probablly put out less than $1600, which should allow a bigger budget to upgrade later
+1 on used cyberlights