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XLED 590's Provide the Fireworks for Eclipse
PR Lighting's new XLED 590 moving head washlight is proving a big hit for Ipswich-based Eclipse Sound & Light.
Proprietor Andy Collins says he has been using various PR Lighting products virtually since setting up his sales and rental company back in 2003 - and He also has a quantity of PR's Solo 250 conventional moving heads in his hire fleet.
But it was the new XLED 590's, containing 90 high power 5W RGB LEDs, that really provided the wow factor, after UK distributors MilTec (UK) sent Eclipse a pair to trial at a massive fireworks display. The Osram Diamond Dragon LED, one of the world's brightest single-chip SMT LEDs, with an average lamp life of 100,000 hours, provided a compelling reason.
But Andy Collins was soon delving deeper into the luminaire's functions, and realising the huge advantages offered by the four preset fixed colour temperatures.
When the pair of XLED 590's made their debut at the massive fireworks event in Ipswich's Christchurch Park, it wasn't only the pyrotechnics that amazed the 50,000 people.
Says Collins: "We had them on either side of a 40ft x 30ft stage for a Michael Jackson tribute act. The colour wash we got was fantastic. We generally use par cans but matched the white light of the pars with these incredible colour washes - and we also used them as stage blinders, which produced an excellent effect. For the final number, Thriller, we had them on their own strobing - and they lit the entire stage up."
The product loan immediately turned into a sale - and by New Year's Eve Andy Collins was glad he had made the commitment. "We were contracted to put a sound and lighting system into a local hotel for 12 dates with various tribute bands, in conjunction with local radio station Town 102. Unfortunately there wasn't much power on site - just a single 32A three-phase supply, so we could only put in a few par cans for the white light effects."
This is where the different colour temperature presets of the XLED 590's came to his aid. "The LED's produce an extremely bright white light, but using the colour temperature presets we could match the whites exactly to those of the par cans." Controlled from an Avolites Azure desk he said the response time was highly impressive.
PR Lighting state that the XLED 590 will emulate ther output of a 1200W discharge lamp, with the advantage of excellent colour mixing and and high uniformity of the white beam. The standard beam angle is 22° but 10° and 35° options are also provided. The fixture also comes with ten preset fixed colours and offers a smooth dimmer, strobe from 1-25 fps; 540° of pan movement and 270° of tilt.
"On top of the features, the XLED 590's are also easy to rig because they are so light - weighing just 11kg. "It's a one person job to hang them on a free-standing truss using the supplied brackets, which are really secure and just clip straight on. It couldn't be easier."
Andy continues: "These washlights come in their own flights case - and I can't find a bad word to say about them. In fact since we do a lot of outdoor events, providing our own power, we no longer have to take 60kVA generator - we can now run it down to the 20kVA."
Now Eclipse are starting to think about planning their big stages for the summer festival season - and you can be sure that the XLED 590's will take pride of place on the stage trussing.
In picture: XLED 590's were in use at the Fireworks event in Christchurch Park.
18th January 2010
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