When Het Muziektheater commenced a major refurbishment programme in summer 2003, IES B.V. - pioneers of the advanced dimming offered by sine wave technology - designed and built special distributed dimming PowerBars for them, together with custom IES Matrix dimmer cabinets, all connected with an integrated state-of-the-art Ethernet communication system.Commenting on the choice of IES sine wave dimmers, Bert Pronk, theatre project leader and Hugo van Uum, head of lighting, said: "We were particularly impressed, not only by the silent operation of IES's iSine technology and the options for both fixed and distributed dimming solutions, but also the energy saving aspect, which has been recognised by the Dutch government through an energy efficiency grant."
Hugo van Uum faced the challenge of providing a stage lighting system equally suited to the varied demands of opera, ballet and music concerts. A key concept for the major refit was to integrate dimmers and lighting bars into a single unit. The solution proved not only more flexible, but also more cost effective, leading to a reduction in socket outlet boxes and in turn the number of multi-core cables to loads and simplified data distribution, while enabling the lighting to be set where needed without the constraint of fixed positions. The total lighting system called for 800 channels of installed IES Matrix sine wave dimmer cabinets and 300 channels of sine wave distributed dimming, a reduction in the total number of dimming ways previously required thanks to the flexibility of the new scheme.
(Lee Baldock)
