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ROADTEST
P R O J E C T I O N L I G H T S & S TA G I N G N E W S
ROBE
ColorSpot 2500E AT
By NookSchoenfeld
The Robe ColorSpot 2500E AT
The Robe ColorSpot 2500E AT
Robe Lighting has recently introduced
their latest and most powerful fixture
to date. The ColorSpot 2500
spot is a hard edge automated fixture that
has all the bells and whistles you would
expect from a premium product, but its
brightness makes this fixture stand out.
With the advent of all the 1200-watt wash
lights that have come out, the fixture has
become a necessary addition to their product
line. This new fixture competes in this
class, and it will be a major player on the
stadium rock circuit or as a searchlight or
special effect for many trade shows.
Robe has used a lot of the same features
from their 1200 spot fixture, including CMY
color mixing, an extra color wheel, two gobo
wheels, effects wheel, zoom, dimming and
more. But they have beefed up the fixture.
There is an extended snout on the front,
which is part of the optics system designed
to give this unit a maximum light output.
The fixture uses the Philips MSR Gold Fast
Fit 1200-watt lamp, but the ballast is a 1400-
watt switch-mode power supply. The parabolic
reflector is designed to maximize efficiency.
I lined this fixture up against a few
opponents’ models, and the hot spot appeared
to be significantly brighter than the
others, especially from a 60-foot throw.
If you have used the Robe ColorSpot
1200 fixture before, you are probably a fan
of its fast, precise movement and its ability
to return to a pinpoint focus. After test driving
the 2500 fixture last week at the Nobel
Peace Prize Awards Ceremony, I am glad to
see that it moves equally as well. The 2500
has a strong yoke and fast tilt motors that
allow for good response time when a movement
cue is executed. I was able to run them
in a flawless circle pattern at a reasonably
fast speed and have them stop on a dime.
The color system is a true CMY system.
By this I mean that when you mix the cyan
and magenta flags to full, you get a Congo
blue. They are fast and can seamlessly bump
colors. The color fades transition smoothly.
I did notice that the colors are not
flatly mixed to perfection; if, for example,
I mix an amber, the outside
of the beam is dark orange, but
the center is yellow. But that’s not
bothersome to me. There is also a
CTO color flag for color correction to
3200° for camera work.
The color wheel includes four dichroic
filters, a UV and a 6000K filter. These colors
are easily replaceable. The wheel can rotate at
variable speeds or run in random color chasing
mode. There is also an option for random
color selection via an audio input.
The two gobo wheels each have six stock
gobos with lots of multi-colored dichroic
gobos. They’re indexable and can shake or
continuously spin at variable speeds. You can
use two gobos at once to create cool water
and fire effects, or morph from one gobo to
the other quite fluidly. The focus is smooth
and fast. If you are not a fan of multi-colored
gobos, don’t despair. The fixture comes with
six additional gobos that are more suited for
aerial breakups. This definitely takes Robe to
the next level in my book.
The zoom ranges between 10 and 30
degrees smoothly, without stepped lenses
popping into place. A strong point here is
that there is little light loss when the fixture
zooms out. The iris mechanism is quite fast
and smooth, especially when you use the
iris macros to create a sine wave effect.
The effects wheel has a 3- and 5-facet
prism, a rectangular beam shaping prism
and something I can only call a “blob” effect.
It softens the outside edge of the gobos
through some really tight multiple prism
layers. They all spin like the gobos. There is
also a variable frost filter.
I rarely ever utilize the built-in macros in
any lighting fixture. But that’s about to change
for me. Robe has the coolest built-in macros
that I have ever seen. They include multiple
gobos and prisms overlaying each other
and spinning at variable speeds. They are
simply breathtaking and will make any pro-
gram-
mer look
like a genius.
The dimming is smooth and
perfectly linear to my eye. The strobe rate
can hit up to 15 frames per second and can
be set in a random mode as well. The lamp
can be remotely struck or strike on application
of AC. The power supply is not autovoltage
sensing, but it can be tapped for 90
to 240 volts.
The fixture is large — 25 inches high
by 21 inches wide — but I can still fit it in
a section of swing wing truss. It weighs 92
pounds. It has some specially designed
handles that make it handle easily. The road
cases designed for this fixture are quite
clever as well. The durability of other Robe
products has become well known in the
lighting business.
The fact that this fixture uses the same
proven gobo, color and movement mechanisms
as its predecessor means that this
fixture should stand up well to the rigors of
the road as well as to bad weather conditions.
I believe this could be the best hard
edge fixture available for live music lighting
today.
What it is: Automated profile spot luminaire
What it’s for: Aerial and graphic beam projections in
large venues
Pros: Very bright, smooth movement, seems to
be built well, reasonably priced for fixture of this
caliber
Cons: Lacks auto-voltage sensing power supply, color
mixing exhibits some non-uniformity
Retail Price: $17,738
Lighting
Staging
Sound
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PLSN FEBRUARY 2007