Any practical difference between Mac 250w and 300?

[DonkiDonki]

I haven't used either of the baby mac washes before but have a show comming up where I will have a mix of 250wash and 300's.

 

Will I need to be careful to keep them in diferent areas or can they be mixed without problems?

 

I will aim to keep them doing diferent jobs as a precaution but I was curious as to the answer.

[Dodgecaliber]

A Mac250 Wash is a new fixture to the industry, so you will be getting updated electronics and a better bit of kit (along with a million other advantages)

 

A Mac300 Wash are no longer in production (I think!) and are pretty much outdated. Very good lamps, yes it has a brighter lamp, but it's older, the insides may not be quite as good and its heavy!

 

It depends on your application, but if it's a new 250 wash then I'd choose that over a 300. My only other suggestion is getting a 600 which will rattle them both.

 

You can mix them no problem, your only really talking the intensity of the lamp. If you are very picky, you may notice a difference in noise and speed.

 

Thats pretty much all

[DonkiDonki]

A Mac250 Wash is a new fixture to the industry, so you will be getting updated electronics and a better bit of kit (along with a million other advantages)

 

A Mac300 Wash are no longer in production (I think!) and are pretty much outdated. Very good lamps, yes it has a brighter lamp, but it's older, the insides may not be quite as good and its heavy!

 

It depends on your application, but if it's a new 250 wash then I'd choose that over a 300. My only other suggestion is getting a 600 which will rattle them both.

 

You can mix them no problem, your only really talking the intensity of the lamp. If you are very picky, you may notice a difference in noise and speed.

 

Thats pretty much all

 

Thanks for those comments. To clarify, the job is a one-off show and I these are the units I will have to use, no other choices as these units are being rented to us for a very good deal. It seems they have equal numbers of both types, but I will not have the chance to play with them much before using them on site.

[tokm]

There's not much between them, they basically do the same stuff/tricks most of its in the looks! Only big difference to watch out for is the 250washes are/will be much brighter compared to the 300s. And on the times I've used them, the colour mixing system seemed a fair bit quicker than old 300s. Perhaps that was just me though, so if your doing colour mix shapes/chases, the old 300's might lag slightly.

 

HTH, T

[Matt Cowles]

In terms of the effects the MAC 250 Wash and MAC 300 are the same. You can take a show with a MAC 300 in mode 4 and replace it with a MAC 250 wash in 16bit mode and not have to reprogram. The MAC 250 Wash is fast quieter, smoother and most importantly 60% Brighter than the MAC 300

[DonkiDonki]

Thanks for the information fellas.

 

It now seems the situation has changed as we are now being offered mac250w's and mac700w's. This suits me as the 700's can fill the longer throw positions.

 

Nice to know about the 250w/300 differences though, the 250w being a mostly cosmetic revamp but with improvements to output?

Handy to know they can be interchanged without reprogramming too.

[johnhuson]

In addition to the 250 Washes being significantly brighter the colour mixing system is far superior in my opinion. The 250 Washes use a colour flag system (as do all modern CMY Martin fixtures) rather than the older CMY wheels which gives to quicker, smoother changes in my experience. The colour of the flags is better selected as well, the MAC 300/600 don't really achieve a satisfactory deep red without using the colour wheel, the 250 Washes however produce a very satisfactory red.

[HobitLight]

Handy to know they can be interchanged without reprogramming too.

Only if you have a board that can handle this though.

 

Also, I believe that the MAC 250 Wash can do a better saturated red from CMY than a MAC 300.

 

EDIT: Beaten to it!

[DonkiDonki]

So they did do more than just mould a new shell then eh?

 

Thanks for the info.

[niclights]

Handy to know they can be interchanged without reprogramming too.

Only if you have a board that can handle this though.

300 mode4 and 250 non-extended have identical attributes. They are completely compatible without any need for fancy console functions.

[Matt Cowles]

In addition to the 250 Washes being significantly brighter the colour mixing system is far superior in my opinion. The 250 Washes use a colour flag system (as do all modern CMY Martin fixtures) rather than the older CMY wheels which gives to quicker, smoother changes in my experience. The colour of the flags is better selected as well, the MAC 300/600 don't really achieve a satisfactory deep red without using the colour wheel, the 250 Washes however produce a very satisfactory red.

 

That is not strictly true, the MAC 250 wash uses the same wheel system as the old MAC 300 for the CMY mixing. We are able to produce a better colour gamut becuase of the imporved optical sytem, and I suspect that the coating on the wheels is different, but I can't comfirm that for certain. The MAC 700's MAC 2k's and MAC III and the MAC 600NT use the flag system for colour mixing.