ETC has begun celebrating its milestone 30th year with an array of new products and beefed-up favourites. For Source Four fans, the much-anticipated 14°, 70° and 90° field-angle spotlights will be on the market. The new 14° Source Four provides an intermediate-throw field angle to fill the gap between the 10° and 19° luminaires. Short-throw applications such as blackbox theatres and dance lighting will benefit from the 70° and 90° Source Fours, while the Enhanced Definition Lens Tube (EDLT) option, introduced at LDI 2005 and available soon in 19°, 26°, 36° and 50° field angles, makes any Source Four outperform even itself, say ETC: The EDLT enhances gobo projections in both HPL and HID-equipped luminaires, pleasing theatrical and architectural designers alike.
Returning to its roots, ETC says it will release new entertainment-control offerings this year, including software and accessories. It is also expanding the range of its popular Congo console with Macintosh support for the Congo Offline Editor and a Congo Radio Remote Focus Unit (cRRFU). The Congo Offline Editor, which allows designers to view, create and edit Congo show files on a computer, will be available for both PC and Mac OS X computers in the first quarter with the release of Congo v4.1 software. This release will also provide support for the cRRFU, which is based on the popular RRFU unit for ETC's Expression console line. For the European market, ETC offers the IES Matrix Mk II installed dimming system with new Swing Frame Rack format, plus a potent touring rack version. For the German market, ETC has debuted its Transtechnik NT-X Booster, which adds further power to the respected NT system.
(Lee Baldock)