Since taking on all things lighting and audio for Hornsby RSL a few years ago, Nick Brown of GNB Productions has steadily improved the lighting in the venue’s auditorium.

The most recent upgrade saw Show Technology supply twelve ShowPro LED Flood EX21, thirty-four Nitec LED Hex PAR 12’s and six Ayrton MagicDot SX. Prior to that, the Club had purchased eighteen ShowPro Hercules uplighters which Nick described as an amazingly versatile fixture they all love.

Considering the Club was used to having only fourteen moving heads and over 60 standard PAR cans, the extra Hercules were very welcome to fill in a few gaps however there was still a need for more back light.

“We also wanted to get some more intelligent lighting into the rig – basically we just needed more fixtures,” said Nick. “The Club has been very enthusiastic in upgrading the auditorium aiming to be one of the best venue options in the area.”

The auditorium is limited in power patch so not having to dedicate a circuit per fixture anymore has made a huge difference. The weight loading on the bars and trusses is also limited and so a fixture that can offer more – yet weigh less – was a big bonus.

“A number of our trusses hang on steel lines so if you’ve got big, heavy movers on them, they can sway,” added Nick. “The Club were very pleased to be switching to LED as there has been a big push towards power saving and energy efficiency. We removed over 40 PAR cans and replaced them with LED fixtures that use less than 150 watts a piece for significantly greater output.”

Smaller, lighter and brighter – the Ayrton MagicDot-SX was the obvious solution. Their ultra-rapid beam movement and continuous, unlimited, rotation on pan and tilt plus compact made them a sure winner. The MagicDot-SX has a revolutionary 8:1 optical zoom that has a fixed transmitting lens, no visible moving parts and an incredible zoom range of 5° to 40°.

The short stroke of the zoom system permits MagicDot-SX to switch from intense beam mode to sweeping wash mode virtually instantaneously.

“The Ayrton MagicDot-SX offer incredible brightness and a longer life span than the Robe Spikie fixture we had been considering,” commented Nick. “They are also incredibly small and fit nicely in between the ShowPro EX21 fixtures. They also have an excellent zoom, the ability to get a tight punchy beam or pull it right out to potentially use as a wash is fantastic. And they move really, really fast! The movement speed and continuous pan/tilt are great.”

Nick was keen to ensure all of the fixtures offered RGBW LEDs as he really does not like colour wheels, in fact a whole bunch of other products were scrapped off the list straight away due to this requirement.

The ShowPro LED Flood EX21 fixtures matched his criteria and are used as cyc panels, either forward or rearward facing depending on how much the team at GNB want to blind the audience!

“We’d used the EX21 fixtures in the past with some of our visiting acts and we’ve always had a good experience with them,” he said. “The way they all daisy chain together is really easy to set up and they are so bright, it’s just ridiculous. I can’t believe that there is even an EX36 option. They’ve worked really well for us, they sit tight up against the bar so we can have bars beneath for us to hang banners from, which has worked really well for our rigging situation. They have a wide field of motion which means we don’t have to put a lot of effort into swapping them from cyc lights to rear blinder bars.”

The Nitec Hex PAR 12 is a rugged LED wash light that features four selectable dimming curves, high-frequency LED modulation for flicker-free video playback and an infrared sensor for optional IR6 remote control.

“The Nitec Hex PARs were simply the best fitting on the market in that price range,” added Nick. “They have a heap of light output, 6-in-1 RGBAW+UV LEDs, we can daisy chain them all together, and they have some inbuilt effects. Basically they are easy to use, fit our budget and requirements and allowed us to move from having heaps and heaps of PAR64’s to having less fixtures but with more versatility.”

Nick remarked that the service from Show Technology has been excellent and that Gareth Mealing, Technical Sales & Support Sydney, was great answering all of his questions, and was able to get everything to him quickly which was important.

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