Coemar iSpot 150

[superstardeejay 0]

These are a 150W discharge professional install grade moving head scanner, compact in size with a single arm. Made in Italy by long established company Coemar, they are distributed in the UK by Coemar UK and LED. Their design is vaguely reminiscent of Robe, menu structures and some gobos are similar.

 

I've recently incorporated & programmed a rig of these into a dmx chain at a local nightclub, they're rare in our neck of the woods as most independent venues in the area seem to prefer cheap and cheerful fare which, in nightclub duty, tend to only last a couple of years before being replaced.

 

The iSpot 150 has 13 DMX channels, using 2 for pan and two for tilt (16 bit), and including tracking and vector control, super-fast strobing with random program, colour scrolling, gobo scrolling, shaking, rotation and positioning (for correctly orientated logo projection). The lamp can be controlled via DMX as can a full fixture reset. There are several user-defined DMX programs which can be built up and stored on board, these can be sequenced via sound-to-light if you wish or called with a single DMX channel. They will also work master-slave.

 

The light is programmed via a three-button pad with red LED display which can be turned off after use. The head has encoder feedback which means if it's knocked during stage use, it will return to it's proper position and not lose the plot. There's a variable speed fan which can be set to automatic (temperature) or DMX override.

 

They have a photo-quality lens (similar to a camera lens, large and expensive!) which ensures gobo images which can focus so sharply that they show up every spec of dust on the gobos! All gobos are user-replaceable and come as standard with around 4 glass ones and the rest pressed steel. The focussing is purely motorized via one DMX channel, allowing you to alter focus as they scan to keep the gobo sharp on any wall or floor of the club.

 

The manual is clear and printed in Italian and English, it's written well and in order, and contains basic maintenance instructions such as lamp changing.

 

There's full diagnostics on board, any motor or positional problems are displayed as a flashing error. They are protected against overheating and lamp failure, and have full built in tests to check all aspects of operation without a DMX signal, allowing you to inject 'false' DMX values into any motor or function. Of course, the Pan, Tilt etc can be reversed on board, the display can be turned upside down to make it easier to program on a ceiling or floor.

 

The heads move very quickly indeed if necessary, or slow & smooth for the smoochy dances. They are totally quiet at slow speeds, and hum a little at top speed..though mostly by case resonance. They run very hot after being on an hour or so, though the fans are very powerful. They are quite robust, most of the head's drive circuitry is kept in the hollow arm, meaning head to base wiring is basic to increase reliability. Interior build quality is what you'd expect at this price point, everything on heavy duty ball bearings (including the motors), extra heavy steel and aluminium pressings, brass bushing, lots of internal bracing and quality plastic mouldings.

 

There's a fixed high temperature mains lead, mains switch with neon and two three-pin XLR connectors, and user replaceable mains fuse.

 

They're easy to take apart for repair though due to the tunnel-style cooling vanes and air ducts, getting any dust out is fiddly without compressed air! An air duster aerosol is probably going to be best here. They take a Philips 150CDM-SA/T lamp (sim to arcstream) which are dearer than the bog-standard HTI150 we all know, but the light output is vastly superior. All electrics are on plug-sockets and even changing the wiring loom (a necessary thing from time to time on moving heads as they wear out with constant flexing) is going to be easy.

 

Since they are 13-channel, 16 bit, it may make it awkward to use a standard 12-channel DMX controller as sold by Thomann etc, however most professional desks will cope no problem. Channel 13 is lamp on/off and most people will want to set this to 'on' permanently (since the lamp is cold restrike), this may simplify desk patching and configuration. The head rotates around 2 revolutions Pan and 1 revolution tilt, giving dramatic sweeps across the floor if you wish.

 

Time will tell on their reliability, but they've just fitted about 14 of these in the London Hippodrome refit so they can't be all that bad!

 

They retail at around £1250 + VAT.

 

http://www.midweststereo.com/Merchant2/graphics/00000001/COEISPOT150_L.jpg