#vari lite

VARI*LITE VL 550D

Vari-Light has always made me happy. Mostly because of my most favorite fixture ever, the VL1000. And now they do exactly what I would do if I were in charge, release even smaller fixtures, the unparalleled flexibility. The new VL440 spot fixture takes something none of us should have to live without, CMY, and throws it into a 400w arc fixture with 15-35° zoom and seven gobos. So wonderful!

Martin is doing some cool stuff too. They've effectively replaced their Mini MAC with 2 fixtures. A Smart MAC - 150w arc, 8 colors, 6 gobos and the new MAC 350 Entour - a Smart MAC with an LED light source. Also quite exciting, they've slapped some new lens configurations on the 2k and the 250 to better match the old High End Studio Beam. That leaves all of us in Musical Theatre out of the loop, since they only offer the TW1 as something remotely capable of subtlety.

Thankfully Vari-Lite has covered their bases, much the way Meyer Sound has a global concept and extends that to every sub-brand. Every Meyer speaker sounds the same, from the MM1 to the MILO line array which allows amazing creativity in spaces that require long throw, fills and surrounds. VL does much the same where we might have 8 VL3500's as long throws, some VL2500's from the balcony, gobs of VL1000's to replace SourceFour's and a handful of VL440's as boom replacements.