Members MainEventSound Posted January 29, 2009 Members Share Posted January 29, 2009 I'm moving into dimmer racks. I've been told by several companies in town that they love the etc sensor portable racks. Are they nice, worth the money?? ETC has the new smartpacks out also, should I do the smartpacks or the sensor rack, does it matter?? Thanks so much in advance for any help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members soundlight Posted January 29, 2009 Members Share Posted January 29, 2009 ETC Sensor Racks are the undisputed leader in event dimming solutions. Just about any tour that can use them will, and most large lighting rental houses stock a massive inventory of them. The rental/production house where I worked this past summer had something like eight 48 racks, five 24 racks, and six 12 racks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BillESC Posted January 29, 2009 Members Share Posted January 29, 2009 ETC certainly offers a quality product, however, Leviton's DS series of dimmer racks can also be an excellent choice and save you a few dollars. The DS series are two rack spaces and can be had in 8 or 12 circuit configurations rated at either 1.2kW or 2.4kW per circuit. The 22 button key pad and LCD screen on each rack allow for soft-patching and recalling memory sceens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members soundlight Posted January 29, 2009 Members Share Posted January 29, 2009 Except that in the pro event world, I know a lot of guys who will just laugh if you send them out with a Leviton rack. There are many better dimmers out there. Strand, Avolites, even Leprecon. I think Zero88 also might make some touring event racks, I seem to remember seeing them come through on one show. Leviton DS series are fine for schools and low-dimmer auditoriums, but when it comes down to rental, outside production, and tour units, you sure as hell better have blade style dimmers in order to troubleshoot on a dimmer-by-dimmer basis when it comes back from the gig, and only have to swap out the offending module. Except when you have Sensors you hardly ever have to do this because they are some of the most robust dimmers in the world. Each sensor module that goes in to a space in a Sensor rack has 2 20A dimmers or one 50A dimmer in it, or "half" of a 100A dimmer (the 100A dimmer module takes up 2 spaces in a rack). But I've never seen anything other than 20 amp ones in the big racks, but the smaller (12-racks) sometimes get loaded with six 50A modules for TV lighting. ETC sensor racks spend minimal time on the R&M bench and maximum time out earning you money. If one dimmer dies, you don't have to take out a rack of 8 or 12 just to repair it. Plus, you only have one control module per rack. So if the control electronics die, you just replace that. We usually would send racks out with a spare CEM (control module) and 1 to 3 spare D20s (Dual 20A dimmer module). Oh, let's also look at 2 other things - with a Sensor rack, you only set one address for the rack (unless you want to do a full softpatch, which you really should be doing on the console instead). For the DS series, or any other 12-pack 2-space/3-space rackmount dimmer system, you need to set the start address of each individual rack - so you're setting 4 start addresses instead of 1. For more places to introduce error at a gig. And for gig troubleshooting of Sensors, it takes me a second tops to open the rack and grab an offending module if I know which one it is. If it's in a rackmount system, I have to go find the screwdriver or Smart Driver that someone misplaced from my tool box, go take the front (and maybe back) panels off of the rack, and then undo either 4 or 8 screws, then get the rack module out after disconnecting everything attached to it, then realize that I can't do anything to fix it at the gig, and I'm now down 12 dimmers because it's the control module that was fried and I don't have a replacement. EDIT: I will grant you that the DS series is a semi-modular design (you're still opening a whole rack unit to take out the associated modules, however they are still a rackmount dimmer with indpendent control electronics for each rack, even if slaveable. You also have to consider that if there is an issue in the rack itself, it will be pulled out. Also, you can get a spare Sensor module from any of a number of pro-level rental companies if you're out for a gig further away and need a quick replacement for some reason. I know no rental shop who I could go up to and ask for a spare DS control section. Disclaimers:I'm not an ETC dealer.I'm not affiliated with an ETC dealer.Just an extremely happy customer and speak for a good majority of the high-end rental market. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members charcoaldabs Posted January 29, 2009 Members Share Posted January 29, 2009 You want Strand CD80 12x2.4K dimmer packs, IF you are going for packs. As Soundlight mentions, much better to have removable dimmer modules. However CD80 dimmers are very solid. The CD80 packs are big, but very robust. Perfect for your type of situation. Even more so because rental houses and venues are starting to deaccession them, so you can get some good deals. If you need to add more dimmers, just stack another pack, and put on some cam Ts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members soundlight Posted January 29, 2009 Members Share Posted January 29, 2009 I will also add that one of the things that you purchase when you purchase a dimmer rack is the rack itself. Sensor racks are some of the strongest, most abuse-absorbing racks in the world. They are insanely strong and often smaller per dimmers than a similarly spec'd system with 19" rackmount dimmers. Sensor racks also come with the need for only one DMX in and one DMX out (no extra linking cables) and power input/output in the back with Camloks (power out if requested on rack spec). They come with all the ventilation space you need (so no need to worry about empty spaces above/below racks for cooling). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rimmer Posted January 30, 2009 Members Share Posted January 30, 2009 ETC Sensor Racks are the undisputed leader in event dimming solutions. Just about any tour that can use them will, and most large lighting rental houses stock a massive inventory of them. The rental/production house where I worked this past summer had something like eight 48 racks, five 24 racks, and six 12 racks. In the UK, Avolite racks are more commonly seen on the big stage than ETC in my experience. I have and do use Sensor racks quite often however and they rarely let me down. I would however recommend that people buy the newest versions of them as some of their first units had serious software issues where the dimming would be a simply on or off. I was let down at a gig in the Savoy in London some years ago and had to leave all the lights on for the whole night.. Rimmer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members soundlight Posted January 30, 2009 Members Share Posted January 30, 2009 In the UK, Avolite racks are more commonly seen on the big stage than ETC in my experience. As are Avolites consoles. I wish that Avolites consoles were more common in the US (they're fairly standard as far as consoles, but not as much as in the UK). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rimmer Posted January 31, 2009 Members Share Posted January 31, 2009 As are Avolites consoles. I wish that Avolites consoles were more common in the US (they're fairly standard as far as consoles, but not as much as in the UK). Avolite's Pearl desk is less and less common. I am finding that the GrandMA consoles are taking over. I know a couple of big show programmers that both bought GrandMA consoles after selling their Hog 3's. More stable and easier to use apparently. I'm not much of a programmer these days so I tend to stand there looking over the shoulder. The GrandMA is very reliable and much more evident than a Pearl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MainEventSound Posted February 2, 2009 Author Members Share Posted February 2, 2009 Every tour that comes through Indy has 2 or 3 Grand MA's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mitchell8621 Posted February 2, 2009 Members Share Posted February 2, 2009 The church I work at here in the US has a new Avolights Pearl...very nice console...even though they still rent out a hog for the big shows where we fly in extra MAC's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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