Design Spot 250: Upstages The Show !

Lighting up a stage, concert or club requires you to perform many different functions. You need to put individual performers and musicians in the glow of the spotlight. You also need to blanket wider areas of the stage or room in softer light/color washes. And, of course you want to create exciting patterns, images and other special effects -- whether you're illuminating a live entertainment production or disco dance floor. Elation Professional has introduced an incredibly versatile 250-watt discharge intelligent moving head that, the company says, can do it all. They're billing their new Design Spot 250 stage/club effect as a "hybrid" fixture that's a spot and wash in one. The secret behind the Design Spot 250's dual personality is a Variable Frost feature, which takes away the hard edges of the spotlight and transforms it to a more muted wash-like beam. A 250-watt discharge mover that multi-tasks as spot and wash almost sounded too good to be true! So when we got our hands on a Design Spot 250, the first thing we did was apply the Frost filter 100% We were amazed at how completely the Frost removed the spotlight edge, enveloping the illuminated area in a gentle wash of color. It was as good and smooth a wash as you'll get from any high-quality color wash effect. And since this is Variable Frost, you can control how much edge is taken away, so the Design Spot isn't just a spot and a wash - it's everything in between! Sure there are other moving heads available with Variable Frost, but typically not smaller than 575 watts. Now thanks to Elation, those who require a 250-watter can get a professional Frost feature without having to buy bigger - and more expensive -- than their needs. Another unexpected surprise was the Design Spot 250's Iris feature - again, a rarity on 250-watt lights. Not only does it let you pinpoint performers or speakers from a distance, but this Iris actually has a pulse effect like the ones used in major productions. With gobo effects too, the Design Spot 250 performs like the bigger boys. It's got dual gobo wheels, so you can overlay patterns and produce some really cool gobo morphing (another unique capability on a 250). There are 7 rotating and 7 static metal and glass interchangeable gobos, along with 7 dichroic color filters plus white. You can create even more color combinations by overlaying the multi-color gobo with the dichroic filters, so the visual possibilities are huge. But that's not all - other features include a 3-facet rotating prism, color scrolling rainbow effect, strobe and UV filter. It's got impressive output, too: over 250 foot-candles at 15 feet. We combined the UV filter with the Frost filter, and this along with its high-output lamp produced a really outstanding UV wash effect. The Design Spot 250 has 16 DMX channels and can also be run without a controller in Sound Active mode. It's equipped with Elation's exclusive Remote DMX Addressing feature (RDMX), which users will truly appreciate because it allows you to change DMX settings remotely from your controller rather than having to climb up a ladder to fiddle with the fixture. With so many features that were previously only available on larger units, the Design Spot 250 is a true value at its MSRP of $2,499.95. Its compact size and hybrid spot/wash functionality also make it an excellent unit for the rental market. Elation has put its own spin on the old saying that "good things come in small packages" and designed a small package that offers up some really good things.