So my church is looking at getting a few intelligent lights. Our room is set up for the intelligents and I used a few in a concert just this weekend, and after the concert there was some expression of wanting to put in the money to purchase some intelligent lights. So what I am looking for is some moving head lights with a lens of about 30 degrees or higher with cmy color mixing and full rotation. If possible I am looking to get some intelligent lights matching these specs for under $2000. If anyone has any product suggestions send them my way. Thanks.
You might be able to find used Studio Spot CMYs or Studio Color 575s for that price....but new ones will cost you more. They are definitely worth the $$$ though!!!!
Solaris Network and Lightbroker both have Studio Spots and Colors for around $2000. They also have Studio Spot and Color 250's (which might work better for your space...) for around $1200.
Yea I have started looking at some of the Studio Spot products and I have to say everyone I have talked to has been impressed.
Now I am hoping to use these lights for more of creating a background and possibly lighting walls around the room. Just in a solid color due to the fact that our church has not quite moved to using a lot of moving lights during services. We are hoping to just use the lights for background and then be able to use some of our other lights to just create new shapes and backgrounds on our backdrop.
So my question now is.... now that you have heard what I am hoping to use these lights for would you suggest using spots or washes?
As for Spot or Wash I believe it has to do with whether or not you'll ever put the gobo into the beam or not. Also, if you're going to be setting background look do you really neeed movers?
Something like Source Fours with Seachangers will get some very nice throws and with CMY color too.
If you do go for moving washes, what about fixtures like the Martin MAC 250 Wash? Don't know what they go for in $$.
If you have some more seasonal events coming up you could use that opportunity to rent some fixtures to get a feel for what you might buy.
A well, most dealers will get you demos if you're serious about buying.
I like to use different manufacturers in a rig. Such as highend and clay paky, or coemar. Since they all use diferent shades of color, you get some nice contrasts. Stay away from the X-spots, they have power supply issues like no other. I had to replace 2 logic power supplies today and 3 lamp power supplies, all in different fixtures. I really like the studio spot 575 CMY's, esp if you can find them in magnetic (which means you will have to run them at 208V), but they are bullet proof, same with the studio colors. I really like the studio beams but you are pleagued with the same lamp powersupply as the x-spots, and who's idea was it to tighten the screws on them so tight that you have to drill them apart to replace a fuse they hid inside of the powersupply.... anyways enough of my rambling....
You can find some good deals on several different sites, one being gear source, another being T2K.
I have had better luck with the studio beams than the x-spots also. I wasnt sure if they ever offered the CMY's in a magnetic version or not. I thought they had a M version of the original studio spot.
They may have made a magnetic version of the spot for a very short while, although I believe they were all electronic, but I could be wrong... Joshua Wood
