Electrosonic ES6000

[HarryTHP]

I volunteer at a small theatre and whilst sorting out an incredibly packed tech cupboard, I came across 6 of these ES6000 dimmers.

Some research told me that they're circa 1974, which is approximately when this theatre opened, but that's all I've really found other than some mentions of them in old magazines and two threads from this forum. They were replaced several years back and it's all soon to be replaced again with a new LED setup, so the theatre has no real use for them anymore.

Just wondering if anyone could give me a bit more info about them- Were they any good? Are there people running vintage lighting setups that still use them? Would they be worth anything even? They've been pretty poorly stored and one of them is missing it's PCB, so I doubt they work, but if there's a market for them I'd much rather sell them on to someone for parts who can actually make use of them and maybe raise some money for the theatre, rather than have them sitting doing nothing...

Thanks 🙂

^H

Edited December 30, 2022 by HarryTHP
SPAG

[sandall]

I remember stripping out an Electrosonic system in the 1980s. The only problems I can recall were that they were analogue & there weren't enough channels. Replaced with Zero88 dimmers & a Sirius desk.

[sunray]

A few years back I replaced dimmers in a school, IIRC the old were ES6000's and basically several 19" panels in a bespoke slim wall mounted rack to make a whole dimmer. IIRC there was a fuse panel near the top, a couple of blanking panels and 2x 6 channel socket panels with 2x 5A socket per channel at the bottom. A second similar set making it to 24 channels sat side by side but the bespoke racks were joined with a linking plate, meaning there were only 2 side panels.

The plan was to rip them out and replace with 2x 24 channel Anytronic packs.

The existing racks were only 2x single phase supplies and analogue controls and the whole thing came out as 2 units very easily and I'd removed the trunking lids to workout what cables would reach to where. At that point the metal work teacher who was also prominent in the drama work entered and asked what patching arrangements were going back in. None were planned!

Between us plans were made to shorten the existing racks to only take the 2 socket panels each, we stripped the panels and the rack went off to return later in the day looking like it had never been taller. Refitted to the wall with Anytronics above and 50mm bush connected them. Wiring from the Anytronic to the sockets as patch bay was far easier than adapting trunking & extending existing cable etc.

The guy I subbed to was expecting to scrap the old kit and when he saw the finished job said it was the best thing to happen to the old dimmers as they had been loads of trouble over the years.

Sorry... memory lane rules again.

 

EDIT: Just had to try and find a pic.

Edited December 31, 2022 by sunray