White Light refreshes historic Cadogan Hall
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It recently decided to upgrade its lighting set-up, in order to become more energy efficient as well as offer performances more options and flexibility. As such, they approached White Light (WL), a d&b solutions company, who oversaw this significant investment.
The upgrade of the existing rig was driven by the venue’s head of production, James Tapping. He explains: “Previously we had a ‘concert rig’ of ETC Source Four Pars and Source Four Profiles to provide an open white wash for classical concerts. Also in need of replacing were six legacy Stage Profile SVs which had been in place since the opening of the Hall nearly 20 years ago! (The other 12 Stage Profile SVs we had had previously been replaced with 11 Robe DL7S and 9 JB A12s a few years ago).
“For us, whilst the Source Four Pars and Profiles were bright, they also used a lot of energy and produced a lot of heat. Similarly, the Stage Profiles were simply approaching end-of-life and needed replacing. Alongside the energy efficient gains from LED fixtures, these new units would significantly reduce the number of times the rig had to be flown in to change blown lamps hence would hopefully reduce any health and safety factors.”
The fixtures that James and his team invested in also had to accommodate the unique space that is Cadogan Hall. He explains: “The incandescent rig was silent in operation, and so we would have to find LED units that would also be able to achieve this; given it’s a necessity for live performances. Similarly, the height of our rig is 12m so requires a tight beam to prevent unwanted spill; with our auditorium and stage having white walls which accentuate this issue. Similarly, given that the venue is a historic one, we needed fixtures that would reduce waste heat output to ensure better venue cooling in the warmer months.”
The WL sales team conducted a range of on-site demos with fixtures that fulfilled their specific needs. James explains: “We have tried many LED units but ultimately it was the ETC Lustr X8s that offered us the required output, quiet operation and efficiency that we required. These replaced the older Source Four Units, with Fresnel adaptors replacing the pars and XDLT profile lens tubes replacing the Profiles. These fixtures will provide the ‘concert wash’ we require at a high intensity yet with a quiet and cooler operation. We anticipate around a 60% energy saving with the bonus of added colour washes from the Lustr X8 engines; something we’re incredibly happy with.
He continues: “We have replaced the six Stage Profile SV’s with Robe Esprites to finally eliminate halogen, discharge or incandescent lamps from our standard inventory. The Esprites were brighter, lighter, simpler, more energy efficient and had better colour mixing; especially compared to the legacy units that were high energy, heavy and had complex mechanical systems that were very fragile and required constant maintenance.”
Alongside this, the venue also engaged WL’s tech service team to do a small dimmer upgrade to allow for additional powering, as well as supply additional networking cable and accessories.
The new rig has now been installed in the venue and has already been used on a wide variety of concerts and performances.
