Road Test: Claypaky Axcor Profile 600

ROAD TEST

Road Test: Claypaky Axcor Profile 600

by Ben Morris and Ian Fynney.

Ben Morris is the Executive Manager – Technology, at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre.

The Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre has a lot of flexible spaces and only limited opportunities to install equipment, so we operate as a production company within a venue.
We needed to replace existing stock that had come to end-of-life, and were also looking to reduce the ongoing costs of lamp replacements, maintenance, and power consumption by moving away from standard fixtures to a high output LED fixture.

We were looking for LED source in a medium sized chassis with as high an output as we could find. We also wanted framing shutters and high quality optics. As we’re primarily working in the corporate market, framing is important for clean looks.

We initially looked at the Claypaky Axcor 900 and 300; the 900 was too big and expensive, and the 300 had no framing system.They were both impressive fixtures, but not quite right for our applications. The Axcor 600 gave us a real ‘Goldilocks moment’ in that it had the perfect balance of cost, size, versatility, and output.

We’ve purchased 24 units of the Claypaky Axcor Profile 600 to be part of our general inventory.

Claypaky’s reputation in the international market is important to us in considering a product purchase. Being a convention centre, we operate in a global market and pride ourselves on having industry standard equipment. Claypaky aligns with our goals.

We have a diverse range of clientele, and we can be working on a local school formal one day, and have an international producer specifying lighting the next day. Any product we stock needs to be acceptable to every client.

Colour and Intensity
Our lighting team are reporting that the Axcor Profile 600s colour rendering and intensity is a significant improvement on our old moving head fixtures. While we have opted for the low CRI model for the advantage of higher output, the rendering is still more than sufficient for our needs.

There’s an output “boost mode” if we need it, which provides a 25% increase in intensity at the expense of lower CRI, which is great for bright beams in concert touring applications. (Available on the standard version and on the HC version).

Framing
The Axcor Profile 600 uses Claypaky’s patented framing system, which providesus with sharp focus on gobos and shutters simultaneously, which I felt no other fixture could deliver because of the difference in focal length between the two in the optical path. In corporate events, particularly on sets, it’s extremely important to get that detail right; it’s the extra level of detail that these fixtures can deliver that we value.

Light Field
The Axcor 600 is carefully engineered allowing the LED to mimic the hotspot of a discharge fixture, creating a peaked field in the centre of the beam for focusing stage objects and audience attention.

Gobo, Animation, Frost
There’s the standard one wheel with 7 rotating gobos, and one animation wheel(interchangeable with fixed gobo wheel). The included gobos are fit for purpose, and are neither special nor disappointing. The animation wheel is typical Claypaky; optically  excellent, responsive to changes in speed and focus, and gives us exactly the effects we need.

The frost filter comes in handy when we’re using the Axcor Profile 600 as a generic fixture; this saves us time and labour on installs, especially considering we don’t have to use EWPs to focus. That’s where a lot of the ROI is.

Zoom
The 1:9 ratio of the zoom, at 5 to 45 degrees, makes the Axcor Profile 600 a versatile fixture that can be used as a profile or a wash. Its movement is fast and accurate, including in challenging applications like framing around a projection or LED screen, recalling scenes millimetre-perfect.

Noise and Handling
Its noise floor is quiet for a fixture of its size and output, mainly due to the LED engine not needing as much cooling as a standard fixture. At 33kg with a locking mechanism, manual handling poses the same challenges as any other fixture with comparable output.

Applications and Performance
We recently deployed 16 Axcor Profile 600s for the Australian All Star Cheer and Dance National Championships. They were used for gobo breakups across the performance floor. Due to their intensity we were able to get deep reds, congo blue, dark blue and purples across the matt black floor and still have the impact we needed in a 5,000 people arena. We couldn’t have achieved that with any other fixture in our stock.

Australian All Star Cheer and Dance National Championships

Australian All Star Cheer and Dance National Championships

All 24 units in our inventory were used on the Pan Pacific Masters Games opening and closing ceremonies for straight-up rock’n’roll effects; fast movements, bright beams, performer spots. Anything they could do, we did. It verified everything we admired about the fixture’s performance.

Most recently, we used the Axcor Profile 600s at a corporate Christmas banquet for 900 guests as a profile,  a backdrop, a room wash, and for breakup effects, which really highlights their versatility.

Conclusion
Overall, the Axcor Profile 600 is the only fixture that meets all of our technical criteria and has the brand heritage and consistency to back it up. I’m currently looking at a business case to determine if we should remove many of our generic fixtures and  use intelligent lights for stage wash and spot lighting.

They are more expensive to purchase, but if the quality is there for broadcast and IMAG, focussing is easier, and there’s less high-risk work involved, the savings in labour and workflow go without saying. And for worker safety, anytime you don’t have to bring an EWP into a space, that’s a good thing.

The Specs

Source: 500W White LED Engine Versions available:
– CRI: at least 70, CT 6500K, 28000lm (Axcor Profile 600 and ST)
– CRI: at least 90, CT 5600K, 21000lm (Axcor Profile 600 HC and HC-ST)
Ø 132mm front lens
5.3°- 47.2° linear Zoom
CMY + Linear CTO
One Colour Wheel with five colours
One rotating gobo wheel with seven gobos Rotating 4-facet prism
Animation wheel (interchangeable with fixed gobo wheel)
Motorised framing system with 4 focal planes
Framing system indexable over 90 degrees
Variable Frost filter
Iris with multiple macros (random, pulsing…)
Electronic linear dimmer, 16 bit and 4 curves
Electronic strobe @25 f/sec.
Weight: 33 Kg

Brand: Claypaky
Model: Axcor Profile 600
Product Info: www.claypaky.it/en
Australia: www.showtech.com.au 
New Zealand: www.showtech.com.au/homenz 

From CX Magazine – February 2019. CX Magazine is Australia and New Zealand’s only publication dedicated to entertainment technology news and issues – available in print and online. Read all editions for free or search our archive www.cxnetwork.com.au

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