Last year, Melbourne’s Front of House Productions added 24 x Ayrton Diablo and eight Ayrton Eurus to their fleet of moving heads and it’s no surprise that they want more Ayrton!
“I was talking to someone the other day and they said that in one week they had three riders come through all wanting Eurus!” remarked Michael Eather, Production Manager/Head of Lighting. “So I think we made the right decision. I think we’re going to keep adding quantities of the Eurus and Diablo as well as some IP-rated fixtures.”
However, FOHP liked to do their research thoroughly and they trialed several options discovering that the Ayrton fixtures were the ideal purchase.
“Ayrton is definitely the most popular fixture at the moment,” commented Michael “I don’t see it slowing down as I hear some pretty cool things in the works. It’s exciting to see where they take the brand and the product range.”
Michael says that the Diablo was chosen primarily for its size and weight as he wanted a fixture that was small enough and lightweight enough that one person could easily handle it in terms of rigging and de-rigging of the fixture.
“Obviously, with the Eurus, it’s a two-person lift,” he added. “There’re certain situations where you want to be able to send a couple of fixtures in a van with two techs to go set up a small corporate presentation and you just need to be able to get in and out quick. That was kind of the mindset of wanting something small.”
Punch was also an important factor when opting for the Diablo. Obviously, with a smaller fixture, it’s not going to be as punchy as the big boys but Michael was surprised at how well the Diablos kept up with the Eurus.
“Being smaller, the Diablo is faster and that was important as we do a lot of EDM shows where speed is important,” said Michael. “The Diablo ticks all the boxes in terms of a generic workhorse for our fleet.”
Michael is impressed with the gobo selection saying that they are cool and he’s used them on a wide range of events including theatre, live music and dance parties. He added that the selections for aerial effects and theatrical gobo breakups are vast.
Horsepower was a key criterion when comparing the Eurus to other fixtures and was one of the features that stood out for FOHP. Reliability was naturally a major consideration too.
Feature-wise, Michael discovered that the Eurus met all his requirements from the variety of gobos to the colour mixing, the variable CTO wheel and also Silent Mode.
“They’re a versatile fixture with a zoom range of 4.5° to 50° so you can go from a narrow beam to a wide wash,” added Michael. “Framing was a key criteria for our choice as we had multiple requests from LDs for a small framing fixture – specifically Melbourne Fringe Festival Hub: Trades Hall, a gig which FOHP has close ties with and sponsors.”
Since purchasing their Ayrton fixtures, FOHP has discovered them to be solid, reliable and durable.
The photos are from the Melbourne International Jazz Festival where the Ayrton Eurus are located on the front truss whilst all 24 x Diablos were on the three onstage trusses. Also in the rig were ShowPRO Pluto 4000 wash, Nitec Blinder II, ShowPRO Pluto 250, Unique hazers and two MA Lighting International MA2 light.
Photos: Will Hamilton Coates
