Advice for a newbie please :)

[Le Chat Noir]

When I type 'NJD Spectre' into the search funtion here, this is the only thread that comes up! ;) does anyone else have experience with those particular units? Do you think they'd be better than a set of 4 par 56?

[aaronw]

Have a look here they have complete kits designed for small band use.

 

Aaron

 

Moderation: Watch the SPaG guys!

[djtom29]

Hi again,

 

I was looking in the Terralec catalog and thought there might be some nice kits in there for you!

 

Also my teacher has a set of two iColour colour changers and they are immense!! You can get a set with two stands and a controller that does amazing sound to light sets!

 

Its about the same price as a set of pars stands and dimmers... I know which one I would get first (colour changers).

The only problem is that they have a lot of heat output and draw lots of power, but they are great in larger venues as stage blinders on the drum rostra. Below is a picture from our last "make your mark" band night were we had two of them and twp mini colour changers underneath the rostra (about £90 each).

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd248/djtom29/DSC00588.jpg

 

Terralec also do some LED kits but they are quite expensive (with your budget you could probably only get one stand and four cans)

 

HTH

 

Tom

 

Moderation: Watch the SPaG guys! Please take some care in your posts.

[mbthegreat]

Anything drawing big power is probably not for the OP, as he has said.

[Le Chat Noir]

Anything drawing big power is probably not for the OP, as he has said.

 

Yeah, hence looking at LED units - I'm worried about requiring too much power at small pub/club venues. A pair of the Spectres should run off one wall socket, right?

[djtom29]

Anything drawing big power is probably not for the OP, as he has said.

While they do give a lot of light output, we have run them from the PA power supply before (which all ran from a single 13 amp wall socket) and had no problems! The pa was 3600 watts front of house and 900 watts of monitors (so a lot more than these use) we also had effects peddles and the lights themselves so you shouldn't have any problem running them from one socket.

 

hth

 

Tom

[boatman]

Anything drawing big power is probably not for the OP, as he has said.

While they do give a lot of light output, we have run them from the PA power supply before (which all ran from a single 13 amp wall socket) and had no problems! The pa was 3600 watts front of house and 900 watts of monitors (so a lot more than these use) we also had effects peddles and the lights themselves so you shouldn't have any problem running them from one socket.

 

hth

 

Tom

 

Running 4.5kW of PA (18.75A) from a single 13A socket is extremely hazardous on its own and then you say you had other equipment too. With what did you replace the 13A fuse, a piece of 6mm cable perhaps?

[johnhuson]

Running 4.5kW of PA (18.75A) from a single 13A socket is extremely hazardous on its own and then you say you had other equipment too. With what did you replace the 13A fuse, a piece of 6mm cable perhaps?

 

Your working on the PA amps running flat out with a solid sine wave signal, this is the only time an amps mains draw will equal or be close to it's amplification power. Our 18kW FOH amp racks have 32amp CEE form inlets fitted. In theroy they could pull 78 amps but this just never occurs amplifiying music, we've even run them off 13amp sockets on occasion.

 

Fairly sure this has been disscussed before in the sound section.

[djtom29]

Running 4.5kW of PA (18.75A) from a single 13A socket is extremely hazardous on its own and then you say you had other equipment too. With what did you replace the 13A fuse, a piece of 6mm cable perhaps?

 

Your working on the PA amps running flat out with a solid sine wave signal, this is the only time an amps mains draw will equal or be close to it's amplification power.

 

 

all active kit :) as I say we ran the foh and center stage moniters off one 13amp plug socket. my teacher says he has done worse!

[Ynot]

my teacher says he has done worse!

NOT always a good recommendation or rule of thumb................... :)

[boatman]

.

.

all active kit :) as I say we ran the foh and center stage moniters off one 13amp plug socket. my teacher says he has done worse!

 

I work at my school! south wirral high school

and in some small or medim thearters occasionly

also do casual work and discos / partys

 

And did they teach you about amplifier efficiency in science classes at your school?

[drumboy]

Hi all - another noob here and this topic seems to cover our own circumstances and requirements but maybe you kind folks can help me out with the specifics of where I've now got to.

 

I'm looking at the Thomann LED par 56's for about £35 each

 

http://www.thomann.de/gb/stairville_led_pa...alu_poliert.htm

 

and this controller

 

http://www.htfr.com/more-info/MR176042

 

I'm also assuming I need cables to connect them and a terminator as per earlier suggestions (plus a couple of T-Bars).

 

My questions (assuming the above are OK items) are how are these plugged into the mains and what's the best way to do this - are they compatible with UK voltages and am I missing anything??? :)

[musht]

At £35 a head unlikely to get more bang for the buck.

 

Will happily plug into UK mains with one proviso, from Thomann they will be supplied with Schuko continental plugs on them, think Thomann slightly sensitive about warranty and chopping moulded plugs off.

 

Get a 13A > Schuko travel adaptor and do a couple of hours burn in testing on each unit before chopping plug off.

 

Personal choice is to put IEC (kettle) plugs on as they are more compact than 13A plugs and 4 and 6way splitters are common.

 

Or get a shucko 4 or 6 gang and put a 13A plug on it.

 

Be interested in others opinions on budget controllers as well, at 5 channels each, even a 12 can rig is eating 60 channels.

[drumboy]

Thanks musht, very helpful and much appreciated.

 

If I undestand your answer correctly I'm assuming I would need a couple of these, one for each t bar

 

http://www.thomann.de/gb/stairville_netz_v...kabel_4fach.htm

 

and then put a 3 pin plug or adaptor on the single end and plug each of the lights into the orange schuko ends?

 

 

 

Also the controller has 96 channels so good to go there?

 

cheers

[boatman]

Thanks musht, very helpful and much appreciated.

 

If I undestand your answer correctly I'm assuming I would need a couple of these, one for each t bar

 

http://www.thomann.de/gb/stairville_netz_v...kabel_4fach.htm

 

and then put a 3 pin plug or adaptor on the single end and plug each of the lights into the orange schuko ends?

 

 

 

Also the controller has 96 channels so good to go there?

 

cheers

 

Thomann also have a range of DMX controllers for example. You can get some good deals from them if you put together a bundle. You'll also need a DMX link cable between each lantern (8 lanterns => 7 links) and a longer cable to go from the first lantern to the controller. If you split the lanterns on two T-bars one of the link cables will have to be long enough to reach between the two stands.

 

Incidentally Thomann have recently added UK plug -> Schuko socket adaptors cheaper than you'll get them in the UK.