ADJ, just take this with a grain of salt. I'm used to the "old stuff".
I got some of your "high tech effects". Case and point: Sunray III, Mystic, Vertigo, Double Twist, Trilogy, Electra(not II or 250), Reflex, Barrel Flex, Rover II. So, you can see that I'm definately a customer/client/user who's put some money into investment.
Looking at some of your LED offerings that are supposed to replace these, I'm not impressed. But perhaps I'm not seeing the whole picture yet. The web-provided videos just aren't selling me on many of these items.
Let's just take the Sunray III compared to the LED Sunray. Personally, there are a few things I like about my Sunray III. One is the rather large ball. Another thing is the large amount of beams that come out, even back into the stage. My clients like that fixture too. THe new Sunray LED just doesn't look right. Fewer beams, looks cheap. ADJ could have easily added more color openings to the bottom row currently on the fixture, as well as adding an entire extra row. Personally speaking, I'd prefer to see the Sunray III re-engineered to have the same appearance BUT uses LED tehcnology. Of course, I'd go with the DMX option.
Anoter one I've mentioned is the Electra. It's time for mine to be replaced. Can you beleive I've had it 6 years with the original bulb? Yeah, surprises me too. Oddly enough, I've never blown a bulb in any fixture, I've only replaced brokeb bulbs. Anyhow, without the rotating feature, it just does't do it for me. Sure, there's a lot more stuff it can do, but my clients and myself really liked that rotating bundle of moonflowers. That and the Rover II was a nice combination, although I stopped using those and my Reflex and Barrel Flex because those look best with fog and I rarely use fog due to AC draw issues. Now, as far as the appearance of the fixture: Right on. I like it.
I guess what I am saying is that I like the appearance of the output of the traditional fixtures. That crazy textured pattern of the Mystic is what drew me to it.
I see ADJ going in the right direction. Save power, longer bulb life, similar output(in theory). Even taking it further by adding DMX is just a wise move. But even by changing the fixtures and re-engineering and modernizing, let's not take away from the classic design that people liked in the first place. Keep the old functions and features, just add new lighting methods and better electronics and add new features.
For example, if I were to re-engineer the Sunray III for LED, this is what I'd have done:
1: Same basic chassis. No change.
2: Add DMX as an option.
3: Swap out incandecent technology for LED technology, which would mean a new transformer and board and more.
That really would be it. What can you add for DMX? Brightness? OK. Speed? Sure, that would be good, but no faster than 10rpm(6 is the current and yes I've timed it) and direction. Yes, I've seen ADJ has added stuff I don't want in there, such as strobe, but features like that can be ignored by someone like me by simply choosing to not use it. Hey, if that's the trend, keep adding strobe, can't be a bad thing.
I got other ideas, such as a "master strobe crystal or clock" that all DMX controllers could generate and push to all DMX fixtures so they know how fast to strobe and multiple fixtures could strobe in sync, but thats just my brain firing off.
Think about it. I gotta change out fixtures anyways, but I'm just not seeing what I really want out of the replacement fixtures yet.
I'm also considering the DMX version, I can't fathom going simple these days. Just doesn't make sense.
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