tfolsom Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 Rightly so - Selecon products are very good. We have some 90-degreee and 5/15 zoom Pacifics in our venue stock, and I like them very much. There's much about them that's better than the SLs that we also have. It's not so much the loss of the Strand product portfolio that is being mourned, I don't think - it's the gradual but relentless attrition of Strand as a brand/company. But hey, I guess that's progress Moderation: The mods have been trying to repair some quotes in this post, but somehow, people's words were tagged with different people's member names so it got very confusing, and to be honest - I'm not sure the quote was needed anyway, as the comment seems a bit general. Please excuse the lack of skill in trying to sort this one out.Paul mods A concurrent post has been automatically merged from this point on. Lots of SL parts stock in Dallas, Netherlands and Hong Kong. Having said that no doubt the part you break will be the one we did not safety stock. LEKO or Leko is fine. It is a Strand trademark, and the Levy/Kook story is true. The Fresnels and the 6" and 8" pieces, which really did not sell strongly ever in the EU or Asia, but did well in NA and Latin America. The comments are correct about our long term direction. 2008 frankly was the best year Strand Lighting has had since 1997 in both sales and profitable operations. Our focus, I think correctly is in dimmers and controls. With the Selecon joining the Group, we have focused our efforts on updating the controls side. This of course takes time, resources etc. There were many sins commited by the owners between 1997 and 2005 when the sale to Genlyte started the long march back and now Philips. Some of the sins are recoverable. Some are not. tfolsom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rooftop Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 What is a real shame is that even before Strand closed down, they were uninterested in supporting their own products. I'm referring to Act 6+ racks which were less than 6 years old at the time and some architectural single channel dimmers, which were around 8 years old. No info, no spares. With product support as bad as that, you might as well buy into the Chinese mentality and throw it away when it breaks down. Strand no longer have a pedigree or a history - I suspect this is why we are seeing what we are seeing with the Strand product range. The fault for this does not lie with Philips - it lies with the Strand management of perhaps 10 years ago who obviously did not see the error of their ways. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richard_cooper Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 Lots of SL parts stock in Dallas, Netherlands and Hong Kong. Having said that no doubt the part you break will be the one we did not safety stock. So basically you've lots of SOME parts for SLs and not all. Am I the only one slightly offended that the inference here is that we'd only need spare parts for parts that we "break", and not the reality of poorly designed parts, such as the cord grip in the burner assembly that can often not be dismantled to simply re-wire it. See many previous threads on SLs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gareth Posted July 3, 2009 Share Posted July 3, 2009 Lots of SL parts stock in Dallas, Netherlands and Hong Kong. Having said that no doubt the part you break will be the one we did not safety stock. So basically you've lots of SOME parts for SLs and not all.And none of them in the UK, where there are many, many SLs in service. For now ... Am I the only one slightly offended that the inference here is that we'd only need spare parts for parts that we "break", and not the reality of poorly designed parts, such as the cord grip in the burner assembly that can often not be dismantled to simply re-wire it. See many previous threads on SLs.Very good, point, Richard. By far the bulk of the spares that we require for SLs are needed because the original parts were of inferior design/materials/manufacture. There's a lengthy thread lurking somewhere in the lighting forum from a couple of years back discussing the problem of badly-made glass reflectors in SLs that develop cracks and eventually break apart under normal usage conditions. They also discolour - some of the SLs in our stock have developed a decidedly green tinge to their output as a result of discoloured glassware. I didn't even mention the cord grip problem in my earlier post, because if I had done it would've got my blood pressure up! (For those who are not familiar with the issue - the lamp burner assembly on an SL is aluminium, with the very back part which clamps the cable in place held on with three steel screws. The holes for these screws weren't drilled and tapped at the point of manufacture - the screws tapped their own threads as they went in, so all the bits of swarf remain in place in the thread. As the lantern repeatedly heats and cools, the different expansion/contraction rates of the two different metals causes them to bind pretty solidly against each other, meaning that in the vast majority of cases the screws can't be undone by hand and have to be drilled out. This is a problem, because the cord grip is not very good at actually keeping a hold on the outer sheath of the mains cable, and re-seating it requires disassembly of the lamp burner.) The Fresnels and the 6" and 8" pieces, which really did not sell strongly ever in the EU or Asia, but did well in NA and Latin America.The fact remains that the Strand website currently lists NO fresnel units as being in the current product line. There were many sins commited by the owners between 1997 and 2005 when the sale to Genlyte started the long march back and now PhilipsI beg to differ. Before the Genlyte acquisition, there was some very interesting development work going on concerning what was going to be the new software for the Palette consoles - I know this, because I was one of the testers for this software (I signed a non-disclosure agreement at the time, but seeing as this was with a company that now doesn't exist I think I'm probably safe to mention it! ). Bill Richards and the team were doing some very interesting work on developing the software, but when Genlyte entered the equation they obviously didn't see the point in continuing this development when they already had Horizon in their product portfolio. That was the only 'sin'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aussie_DrG Posted July 4, 2009 Share Posted July 4, 2009 Bill Richards and the team were doing some very interesting work on developing the software, but when Genlyte entered the equation they obviously didn't see the point in continuing this development when they already had Horizon in their product portfolio. That was the only 'sin'. There is life in the old girl yet. orWhat goes around comes around. ...take your pick. There are much more recent NDA's dated 2009... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richard_cooper Posted July 4, 2009 Share Posted July 4, 2009 And none of them in the UK, where there are many, many SLs in service. For now ... Gareth, have you had any success recently sourcing SL parts. Last time I tried, probably about 18 months ago I gave up in frustration and cannibalised a few lanterns for the good of the others. I'm coming up to a big maintenance period, and I'm wondering If it's worth my time hunting? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gareth Posted July 5, 2009 Share Posted July 5, 2009 We haven't made any serious attempts to buy SL spares for some time (we've 'stockpiled' a handful of the more important ones). Last time we did, though, it wasn't easy. Stage Electrics were very helpful, though ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jagardner1984 Posted July 5, 2009 Share Posted July 5, 2009 I was recently told by the supplier up here in Scotland that parts for SL Profiles were nigh on impossible to come by, for lanterns bought early in 2006. To basically have 2-3 units (out of 10) unusable and unserviceable 3 years after purchase is enough of a reason never to buy any of the company's products ever again. There is some suggestion here that Strand are turning a corner. There are very few theatres in this country without a single piece of Strand equipment in them. Do they seriously think people are going to use their products again when vast amounts of relatively new equipment are being made obselete by the actions of the company, or their owners. Ridiculous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Ripley Posted July 5, 2009 Share Posted July 5, 2009 I have it on good authority that all Strand stock (such as it is) will just be run down and that the only lamps available thereafter will be the Selecon range. If you click on the link on the Strand site, the page is headed Selecon but the text says Selecon Strand so presumably the lanterns will be called Selecon Strand?? If you have or know of any SL spares, now's the time to grab them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richard_cooper Posted July 5, 2009 Share Posted July 5, 2009 If you have or know of any SL spares, now's the time to grab them! I'm now wondering how long do I throw good money after bad. If there's no new SL parts being manufactured, why spend money now on lanterns that will die soon anyway. I know that not everyone will be able to write off their SL stock, nor can I easily, but spending money on ever scarcer parts may well be a waste of time. Obviously I'm concerned about Quartet spares as well, also a ludicrously easy lantern to break, if they're out of manufacture. Oh well, bye bye Strand, but do I now trust "Strand Selecon" to not go down the same drain? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Ripley Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 You're stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea Scenario 1 Hoover up as many Strand spares as you can - these will only increase in price the longer you wait due to their scarcity (basic free market economics) Scenario 2 Soldier on whilst lanterns fall apart around you until you get to a point where replacements have to be bought (chances of management going for this are...?) Either way you're going to be parting with a large amount of cash! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robloxley Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 How does an individual end-user hoovering up and stockpiling all the spares help anyone, better surely for the distributors to stockpile spares and sell them to end users as-and-when needed?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tfolsom Posted July 16, 2009 Share Posted July 16, 2009 Lots of SL parts stock in Dallas, Netherlands and Hong Kong. Having said that no doubt the part you break will be the one we did not safety stock. So basically you've lots of SOME parts for SLs and not all. Am I the only one slightly offended that the inference here is that we'd only need spare parts for parts that we "break", and not the reality of poorly designed parts, such as the cord grip in the burner assembly that can often not be dismantled to simply re-wire it. See many previous threads on SLs. Please. That was tongue in cheek. Obviously in terms of parts we are holding we have focused on socket assemblies, reflectors, shutters, moving parts et al as compared with end bell castings or yokes. Hopefully, we have enough. tfolsom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gareth Posted July 16, 2009 Share Posted July 16, 2009 So, given that the SL was a pretty popular lantern in the UK when it was in production, and as such there are a lot of them in circulation at the moment - many of them of a certain vintage such that quite soon they're going to start needing (if they don't already - I know a few of ours already do!) some TLC and spares to keep them going, how soon will the availability of spares become an issue? Things like lamp holders and lamp burner assemblies, which are more commonly found to be in need of replacement than other parts of the unit - exactly how many are available in the UK? How long's it going to be before venues like mine, with about a hundred SLs in stock, finds themselves unable to obtain replacement parts and has to start looking at replacing their lanterns with something from another manufacturer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richard_cooper Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Please. That was tongue in cheek. Obviously in terms of parts we are holding we have focused on socket assemblies, reflectors, shutters, moving parts et al as compared with end bell castings or yokes. Hopefully, we have enough. So would I be correct in assuming that Strand have drawn a line under manufacturing any more parts (which incidentally doesn't really sit happily with the claim that "The SL is being built in the Dallas facility"). I'd also like to echo Gareth's comments, and ask Strand to come clean on the SL parts situation in the UK. Telling a predominately UK based board that there are "Lots of SL parts stock in Dallas, Netherlands and Hong Kong" is all very well, but does imply that any spares will have to be ordered in from overseas. A clear statement from Strand would be welcome, before I spend time I don't have, searching for these things again. Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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