White Lightning! - American DJ Harnesses Power Of Mega 20W White LED Source

We all know that LED-powered lighting effects have some pretty big advantages - like a long lamp life, cool operating temperature, and low power consumption. But there's one thing that's also apparent about the LED fixtures we've seen (and don't get us wrong, we've seen some pretty cool ones): they don't produce the same type of effect as the familiar color-and-gobo pattern projectors we all cut our DJ-ing teeth on.

That's because, instead of using a large halogen lamp to project through color and gobo wheels like a traditional effect, LED fixtures usually contain a lot of small red, green and blue lamps that produce (surprise!) red, green and blue beam patterns. Yes, you can get DMX-controllable LED effects with RGB color mixing that let you create a zillion colors. But a lot of people don't want to get into the DMX thing, and besides there are those of us who will always want traditional gobo-type effects in our light show. Of course, we wouldn't mind having the low maintenance, cool operation, and energy efficiency of LEDs, either.

Well, now it might be possible to have the best of both worlds. American DJ, a company known for innovations in DJ/club lighting, has developed a new series of mobile LED effects that use a mega white 20W LED source as a hard edge beam, or central "lamp," that's powerful enough to project through color and gobo wheels. In other words these effects, called the X-LED Series, use LEDs the same way a traditional effect would use a halogen lamp - to shoot color beams and gobo patterns across walls, floors and ceilings. The idea behind the X-LED Series is that you get your familiar color/gobo club effect, but it's powered by an LED and all the spiffs that brings.

Can an LED source really provide enough output to power a color/gobo wheel-type effect? That's one of the biggies we aimed to answer in our test-drive of the X-LED Series. The series consists of three DMX-compatible fixtures: X-Move LED, a moving head effect; X-Scan LED, an X-Y movement scanner; and X-Color LED, a color spot.

So the first order of business was our trusty visual brightness test. We ran the X-LED Series fixtures side-by-side with comparable 250W halogen effects to see how they measured up. Prior to this, the largest LED lamp we'd ever seen in a club lighting effect was 3W -- and we have to tell you we weren't ready for the raw power that 20W of LED muscle can produce. These effects were amazing! Not only did they match the 250-watters in brightness, their beams actually had a clearer, razor-sharp look, more like you'd get with a pricey discharge lamp. In fact, any club, DJ or band considering buying a discharge effect should take a look at ADJ's X-LED Series first - you might be able to save yourself a bundle!

This brawny output is even more impressive considering that the X-Move LED and X-Scan LED each draw only 44W of power, and the X-Color LED an even stingier 31W. All of the effects' LED lamps are rated at 50,000 hours, so they save on maintenance, too. And, as we found during our (rather lengthy) test, they run so cool that you'll never have to worry about duty cycles and you can pack them up immediately after a gig.

Another advantage of using an LED source is that ADJ was able to design the units to be extremely small and compact. The X-Move LED, for example, is only 12.5" high and weighs 10 lbs., tiny by moving head standards and great for mobiles.

What's really nice about the X-LED Series is that, although you get their LED benefits, you don't sacrifice anything you'd expect in a similar halogen effect. All of the fixtures have a color wheel containing 8 colors plus white, with strobing and dimming. The X-Scan LED and X-Move LED also have a separate gobo wheel with 8 gobos plus spot and a Gobo Shake effect.

All three are DMX-compatible, but you can also just plug them in and run them as Sound-Active effects or link multiples together Master-Slave. The X-Scan LED features ADJ's new Pan-Tilt Inversion Mode; when running 4 units Master-Slave, numbers 1 and 3 will sync in the opposite direction from 2 and 4, for a really cool-looking light show.

Basically, what we're trying to say is that the X-Move LED, X-Scan LED and X-Color LED are just like any other moving head, scanner or color spot, except for their LEDs. And that's saying a lot --in developing a white LED source strong enough to power a color/gobo wheel effect, American DJ has taken a revolutionary step toward the inevitable replacement of halogen by cooler, more energy efficient, lower maintenance LEDs.

• 50,000-hr. lamp life
• 8 colors + white, 8 gobos + spot, on separate wheels
• 3 operating modes: DMX, Sound Active (built-in programs), Master-Slave
• Pan-Tilt Inversion Mode
• Strobe, Pulse, Gobo Shake, Gobo Scrolling effects
• 540° pan/ 270° tilt (8-bit)
• Auto X-Y Repositioning
• 14° beam angle
• 44W power draw
• Dimensions: 8"L x 7.5"W x 12.5"H;
• Weight: 10 lbs.

• 50,000-hr. lamp life
• 8 colors + white, 8 gobos + spot, on separate wheels
• 3 operating modes: DMX, Sound Active (built-in programs), Master-Slave
• Pan-Tilt Inversion Mode
• Strobe, Pulse, Gobo Shake effects
• X/Y mirror movement
• 13° beam angle
• 44W power draw
• Dimensions: 15"L x 7.87"W x 6"H;
• Weight: 10 lbs.

• 50,000-hr. lamp life
• 8 colors + white
• 3 operating modes: DMX, Sound Active (built-in programs), Master-Slave
• Strobe and Dimmer
• 31W power draw
• Dimensions: 7.87"L x 6.7"W x 6"H;
• Weight: 5.3 lbs.