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Sound Reinforcement - Forums for Live Sound Professionals - Your Displayed Name Must Be Your Real Full Name To Post In The Live Sound Forums => LAB: The Classic Live Audio Board => Topic started by: Al Rettich on March 06, 2015, 08:58:15 AM

Title: Thoughts from those who fly their PA's..
Post by: Al Rettich on March 06, 2015, 08:58:15 AM
Do you prefer to use CM motors, or Stagemakers? I've heard quite a few for either way. Stage makers are a bit quiet. CM's are easier to work on in the field. CM offers training to work on their motors, Stagemakers don't.

Your thoughts...
Title: Re: Thoughts from those who fly their PA's..
Post by: Tim McCulloch on March 06, 2015, 09:13:58 AM
Al, we own CM Lodestar hoists.  A local AV shop just purchased Stagemaker 1 tons and they're pretty slick.  Very quiet, reasonable weight, etc.  Not sure how they will perform over the long haul (a couple of our CMs are at least 15 years old) but after using the Stagemakers last week my initial reaction was "these are cool."
Title: Re: Thoughts from those who fly their PA's..
Post by: Ray Aberle on March 06, 2015, 12:36:40 PM
Do we know a price comparison between the two? I'm reaching the point where I will probably need to make an investment in motors, and have been looking at the CM LodeStars. But, I see the SM .5T/1Ø on Full Compass for $2,383.93. I feel like all I've seen for CM pricing is MSRP, not street prices.

-Ray
Title: Re: Thoughts from those who fly their PA's..
Post by: Jelmer de Jong on March 09, 2015, 06:07:53 AM
What makes you think that lifting speakers requires a different hoist than lifting truss or palm trees?
As someone who doesn't own any gear but fly's PA's regularly I really don't care which hoist is used. As long as their lifting capacity is sufficient and the damn thing doesn't stall mid-lift i'm happy.
Title: Re: Thoughts from those who fly their PA's..
Post by: Ray Aberle on March 09, 2015, 10:33:48 AM
What makes you think that lifting speakers requires a different hoist than lifting truss or palm trees?
As someone who doesn't own any gear but fly's PA's regularly I really don't care which hoist is used. As long as their lifting capacity is sufficient and the damn thing doesn't stall mid-lift i'm happy.

... forgive me, but I'm not sure where you think anyone was suggesting lifting speakers required a different hoist then lifting truss or palm trees?

-Ray
Title: Re: Thoughts from those who fly their PA's..
Post by: Kyle Van Sandt on March 09, 2015, 10:42:19 AM
The only thing I have heard about stagemakers is they can be a bit more of a pain to work on.  That could have changed and that might be due to the inexperience with the line vs the CM line.  The stagemakers are a lighter body so if you are flipping motors out of cases or hitting ramps all the time it might be worth it to you.  The service thing could be a deal breaker for you, there are a ton of CM certified techs out there. 
Title: Re: Thoughts from those who fly their PA's..
Post by: Brian Jojade on March 09, 2015, 01:34:20 PM
What makes you think that lifting speakers requires a different hoist than lifting truss or palm trees?
As someone who doesn't own any gear but fly's PA's regularly I really don't care which hoist is used. As long as their lifting capacity is sufficient and the damn thing doesn't stall mid-lift i'm happy.

Since this is a sound forum, those using hoists are most likely to be using them to fly their PA.  Which hoist to use DOES matter for a number of reasons. For general PA hoists, the choices aren't as different, but things like serviceability and reliability are fairly important.
Title: Re: Thoughts from those who fly their PA's..
Post by: jason misterka on March 10, 2015, 11:53:17 AM
Do you prefer to use CM motors, or Stagemakers? I've heard quite a few for either way. Stage makers are a bit quiet. CM's are easier to work on in the field. CM offers training to work on their motors, Stagemakers don't.

Your thoughts...

We have both some older Stagemaker models and some newer (old version) CM motors.

The Stagemakers are quiet and small and can help out with trim issues and tidiness in a hotel ballroom.

The big difference is that the first time I had to repair one it was a bit more tricky to find a place to do it.  There are quite a few CM shops in Virginia but none of our normal "production" vendors would do Stagemaker. 

I ended up calling Stagemakers' US distributor to find a shop that would repair as well as test/certify/etc.  They were a little loosey goosey about it, one of those, "Well, I know a guy who certainly CAN help you..." instead of "Here is a list of our factory authorized service centers in your area." 

Now it turned out that guy really COULD help us, he actually owned a large hoist and crane repair shop but it was three hours away.  I used them for a while and when he retired he recommended a place that was 20 minutes away from our shop! 

So, where-as I was looking for a place to repair/re-certify/test our hoists that was "in the concert business", really there are a LOT of hoists used in factories and shops that need yearly certificates as well.  The place I use now will even come to your shop for a very small fee, as most hoists they work on are installed in factories.  So they are setup to travel to you if you want them to.

Just passing on my experience on this...
 
Jason




Title: Re: Thoughts from those who fly their PA's..
Post by: Jelmer de Jong on March 10, 2015, 02:24:19 PM
... forgive me, but I'm not sure where you think anyone was suggesting lifting speakers required a different hoist then lifting truss or palm trees?

-Ray
"Thoughts from those who fly their PA's... Do you prefer to use CM motors, or Stagemakers?"
This sentence suggested to me that the topicstarter wanted reply's from PA dudes because people who fly other stuff might have a different opinions about whats the best hoist you can get.
Title: Re: Thoughts from those who fly their PA's..
Post by: Tim McCulloch on March 10, 2015, 06:46:01 PM
"Thoughts from those who fly their PA's... Do you prefer to use CM motors, or Stagemakers?"
This sentence suggested to me that the topicstarter wanted reply's from PA dudes because people who fly other stuff might have a different opinions about whats the best hoist you can get.

Hi Jelmer-

I'm sure everyone has a preference and some of them are dictated by use.  Stagemaker is relatively new to the US market.

Working as an arena electrician I see lots of hoists in use.  C-M probably has 95% of the market regardless of the objects being lifted.
Title: Re: Thoughts from those who fly their PA's..
Post by: Aaron M. Kovacik on March 11, 2015, 08:42:01 PM
Do you prefer to use CM motors, or Stagemakers? I've heard quite a few for either way. Stage makers are a bit quiet. CM's are easier to work on in the field. CM offers training to work on their motors, Stagemakers don't.

Your thoughts...

I work with both, but have more experience with CM. However, I prefer stagemaker. The stage makers are quieter, have a lighter chain and have a sweet self limiting feature should it run out the chain in either direction. A recent batch of brand new CMs ended up with half of them being defective in a couple months, but CM took them back and fixed them under warranty and theve been fine ever since.  I do know some riggers don't like the lighter chain on the stagemakers as sometimes the chain won't have enough weight to set a point. Either way, your gear will be lifted safely and reliably , which is the important part.
Title: Re: Thoughts from those who fly their PA's..
Post by: Raul Suarez on March 12, 2015, 11:52:17 AM
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