See Source Four LED at LDI 2012, ETC Booth #1522
Middleton, WI (15 October 2012) – “People often assume that LED technology ensures better efficacy,” says ETC’s Matthew Armendariz-Kerr, “but that hasn’t been the case with all LED fixtures. ETC’s self-imposed mandate with the Source Four LED spotlight was to produce exceptional light output and quality -- for the amount of power consumed.” Depending on the model, ETC’s Source Four LED fixtures achieve from 30 to over 40 lumens per watt. In acknowledgement of that ‘green’ technical achievement, PLASA 2012 tradeshow judges recently recognized the Source Four LED with their Award for Sustainability.
Lee Rose, of Design Partners, Burbank, CA, recently specified Source Four LEDs for a popular American cable-TV talk show’s move to Universal Studios in Hollywood. As the lighting designer, he was charged by the production and the network with updating the lighting for the show to include green technology. After a long process of testing on various fixtures, Rose’s design for the new studio includes more than 80 ETC Source Four LED Tungsten™ fixtures and two dozen Source Four LED Lustr+™ fixtures.
“The show is a mix of hard and soft lighting,” says Rose, “and I knew from experience with the original Source Four products that I would get the look that I needed from the Source Four optics. The various lens options have always made them a flexible product to fill various needs. Testing proved that I could get the best combination of intensity and color temperature from the Source Four LED Tungsten, so I incorporated those into the talent key lights, the back lights, and the audience down light. The Source Four LED Lustr+ gave me a nice variable color system that I could team with the Source Four lens selections to accommodate various scenery lighting requirements. So far the fixtures have performed flawlessly, and I have spec’d additional fixtures for a second show being put on the same stage at Universal.”
Other recent Source Four LED TV/broadcast applications have included the mobile studio of France TV Sport; the rig at the Republican National Convention in August in Tampa, FL; plus WINK-TV, southwest Florida; and WWL-TV, New Orleans; among others.
In introducing the Source Four LED, ETC took on the market demand for an LED-based Source Four. The fixture marries the respected functionality of ETC’s Source Four® conventional spotlight with the seven-color capabilities of the ETC Selador® Desire LED fixture line. The result is not only a high-efficacy stage, studio and architectural-use LED fixture but a high quality of light. Engineered also to complement incandescent and other-source fixtures, the Source Four LED offers a new value of light while maximizing the flexibility and range of a lighting rig.
The concept of the hybrid lighting rig (using LED and incandescent fixtures side by side for optimal lighting results) is taking hold internationally. Hong Kong’s recently revamped historic Yau Ma Tei Theatre has 18 Source Four Lustr+ fixtures now layered among the other light sources in their light plot (including numerous ETC Source Four conventionals). According to ETC Asia General Manager Wynne Cheung, that venue is one of the first in the region to employ a hybrid rig. “This is also quite an aesthetic and technological breakthrough and a testament to the versatility of the Source Four LED,” adds Cheung. “The Yau Ma Tei Theatre produces Cantonese opera rather than western opera, so the requirements for their lighting design are different.”
The Source Four LED is being employed in numerous other stage-lighting applications, including the upgraded rig at the Lee Theater at Eastern Arizona College, Thatcher, AZ; the touring rig of the National Theatre of Scotland; and the large permanent rig at Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
Source Four LED end-users are diverse. Houses of worship such as Boiling Springs First Baptist Church, in South Carolina, and Regent University’s chapel, in Virginia Beach, VA; as well as nightclubs like Broadway’s 54 Below, are benefiting from the fixtures’ technology in their specialized lighting rigs.
At the ABTT tradeshow in London, UK, the Source Four LED won the Product of the Year Award. The fixture line will be on display next at ETC’s ‘Layer of Light’ theater-style booth, #1522, at the LDI 2012 tradeshow in Las Vegas, October 19th-21st.
For more information on the Source Four LED and other ETC products and to locate a dealer near you, visit www.etcconnect.com