Gearbox: Spotlight CYC LED 300 RGBW DMX

Gearbox

Spotlight CYC LED 300 RGBW DMX

Upstaged by LED

By Jason Allen.

High-end Milanese lighting company Spotlight work closely with many of Europe’s finest opera houses and theatres, often testing new products in-situ as part of their development process. As such, they’re closely attuned to the needs of the theatre lighting tech, and with the CYC LED 300 RGBW, they’ve turned their attention upstage.

Powered by a 300W RGBW LED source, the CYC LED is intended to replace much larger conventional fixtures. At 250mm x 570mm x 430mm and weighing 15Kg, it’s definitely a more compact unit than the usual four-ways most theatres run. A single unit can illuminate a 6×7 metre area, set just 1.5 metres back. It accomplishes this with its asymmetrical throw, which is where it has the edge over linear LED battens. With its nicely implemented edge roll-off, it’d be a simple matter to line up a few units across the floor and give your cyc an even wash. You can also hang it with an optional yoke.

Cabling has been dealt with nicely with both Powercon and DMX in and out. Control options include DMX, RDM and stand-alone, which, thanks to an onboard memory, can store scenes and cues. Every setting can be accessed via the LCD screen and five buttons, with the menu structure straightforward to navigate.

The CYC LED runs almost supernaturally silent. While this is mostly due to natural ventilation by design, assisted ventilation can kick in if needed, which can be controlled. ‘Silent Mode’ will override the automatic cooling if necessary. Even with your head next to the rear fan ports, you’re struggling to tell if it’s even turned on.

The colour quality is deep and convincing, with none of the artificiality that some RGBWs can produce. Depending on what look you’re going for, you can set the unit to operate in RGBW, CCT, CMYW, HIS, Wheel, RGBW+CCT or RGBW 16 bit modes. Whites can range from 3000 to 6500K. PWM is adjustable if you need to play nice with cameras. There’s also a Strobe function.

A ground-row of CYC LED 300 RGBW DMXs can light up a whole lot of cyc with very few units from not very far back, saving you money, time, and space. Replacing your conventional cyc lights with this LED equivalent is also going to drop your power consumption by 75%, not to mention your air-conditioning bill.

Brand: Spotlight
Model: CYC LED 300 RGBW DMX
Pricing: $4,495 List ex GST
Product Info: www.spotlight.it
Distributor: www.lsclighting.com

This article first appeared in the print edition of CX Magazine November 2017, p.56.

CX Magazine is Australia and New Zealand’s only publication dedicated to entertainment technology news and issues since 1991. Read all editions for free or search our archive for stories, people, tech-tips, products and production reviews at www.cxnetwork.com.au