030 INTERVIEW Peter introduced the new SGM product line at Prolight + Sound in Frankfurt earlier this year
They had a lot of experience in LEDs, like underwater lights for the yachting industry and I think that gave us a deeper knowledge than our competitors in the entertainment industry.” Peter simply had no idea what products were out in the market and they constantly decided not to look. It had been over 12 years since the R&D team had developed many of the ‘classic’ Martin Pro products, and in the meantime LEDs had become firmly integrated. “We assumed the [entertainment lighting] industry had become much bigger than it actually was. When we did finally look at the market we found very little had moved on, which is why the R&D guys became so enthusiastic.” And none more so than Christian Krause. At Martin Professional, Krause had been responsible for developing the huge-selling Atomic strobe. At one of SGM’s first planning meetings he said: “I have an idea how we can do this with LED.” He was soon working on a new methodology for driving the LEDs efficiently by controlling the bursts, monitoring the LEDs while the power was being applied and switching off at the right time. He worked out he could drive the fixture 20 times the maximum given by the LED manufacturer. Peter said: “We have done deep scientific analysis of LED behaviour and analysed thousands of LEDs over a six-month test period. We now have a situation with
“We have done deep scientific analysis of LED behaviour and analysed thousands of LEDs over a six-month test period. We now have a situation with LED strobes where the least fragile component is the LED itself.”
www.mondodr.com
LED strobes where the least fragile component is the LED itself. We have been unable to destroy them despite putting them into a climate chamber at 70°C, with high humidity and driven hard. A few million flashes were analysed and they were fine, and so we have now taken out a patent on this new way of driving LEDs.” Prototypes of the new white X-5 and colour RGB XC-5 strobes were unveiled to a stunned global rental community at the Frankfurt Prolight + Sound show in the spring, and by PLASA these will be in full production. The next exciting product in this seven-strong portfolio, which has already undergone light engine upgrades is the IP65-rated Q-7. It merges the same LEDs of the colour strobe with the electronics of the P-5, which in itself is three and a half times brighter than the popular Palco 5 which it supersedes. The unique feature of the low-profile Q-7, housing 1,080 LEDs, is that no optics are necessary to create an extremely powerful wash. Other goals set by this product are ultra low power consumption, a perfect colour mix and no chromatic dispersion, thus its target market will be theatre and televison where flicker free light and a perfect colour-mix are essential. With power consumption of just 400W and lamp life rating of 50,000 hours, Peter said: “This takes us into a new league of extreme brightness. Our suppliers have not been used to working in this industry and we have also optimised the brightness by using heavy-duty electronics, most of the work has gone into developing switch mode power supplies.” Also in production are the new SGM LED Balls, which, with a 120mm pixel pitch, has already provided a striking lo-res curtain and starburst effect for the newly-relaunched Playboy Club (page 80) in London’s Mayfair. Later in the year will come the remainder of the products, including architectural colour changers (CC-2 / CC-4) and MP-5, which takes the full-colour moving LED washlight out of its conventional round can form and places it in a sleek, low-profile, lightweight rectangular chassis.
THE EARLY YEARS Peter Johansen first arrived on the scene in the spring of 1983 as the Risskov- based company Disco Production, producing power amps, mixers and an electronic crossover. Peter diversified into smoke machines. But he knew the market could only absorb so many of these and where there is an order for one smoke machine, there will generally be 200 lights hitched to the back. And so he moved into lights.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172 |
Page 173 |
Page 174 |
Page 175 |
Page 176 |
Page 177 |
Page 178 |
Page 179 |
Page 180