American DJ LED PAR 64 vs. Normal Par can

Well, that's a loaded question.

First, even though it's more money, I strongly recommend the 64 LED Pros, because I have them and then you can set your colors and intensity sepparately. In other words, it can be as if you're dimming a gel'ed light. The extra DMX channels give you overall dimming, while the 64 LED's only offer RGB dimming/mixing, not RGB mixing PLUS total dimming.

A normal Par 64 can have a bulb anywhere from 300-500 watts. That's quite a draw. An 64 LED Pro draws 32 watts at full draw. But, recall we're talking LED to conventional, and they don't cleanly compare.

Intensity: the LED is more along the lines of a 300-watt bulb conventional, best comparison.

Throw: This is my biggest issue, but I would have the same issue regardless. It's the same issue I would have either way. I just don't get the right environments where I can properly set the lights, plus on top of that get adequate height. This makes the Par64 conventional a better fixture, but really, guess what? My older Par38's are better for this because of their wide dispersion.

But, back to the Par64/64 LED Pro:

I had an environment where I needed to do a "long throw", say, I guess 80 feet to the stage. While it covered it decently, I still needed and required my 2 follow spots as well, but that was the entire lighting design anyways. Even at that throw(see my web site pictures under 2008 for November 16, 2008), the lights did a fairly decent job covering the stage with minimal aiming and the beams stayed pretty nice, so other than the dimming due to distance, I was actually quite pleased. Never having Par64's myself to compare with, my experiences with others would be that this is a nice application, and power-friendly.

So, my guess would be roughly the equivalent to a Par64 with a 300-watt bulb, and using colors, geled using thin but accurate gel sheets. DO use the "gel frame". I know it sounds stupid, but really, it seems to get rid of the edge scattering, which can be annoying. I feel it helps clean up the beam.

Considering you can leave the gel sheets at home, gain cool lights and run MORE at less power, I'd say it's a good deal. Now you can run less lights(because you don't need geled lights), save on the power draw, keep the performers cool and not really change your total weight much. The LED fixtures are heavier than the ADJ Par64's, but that's because of the electronics package in there.

My goal is to double from 8 64 LED Pros to 16 within 8 months. I have a show where they used 8 Par64's at maybe 15 feet high and a 25-foot throw 2 years ago(see August 111, 2007 photos and video). Worked great. I know my 64 LED Pros could do the same thing with 8, but I'd prefer 16 so I can get a brighter stage.

Just double check to make sure the lights you get are properly terminated and at the correct voltage for where you live.