AV Company, South Africa, Expands its Robe Inventory

	(l-r) Craig Browning, junior technician Thabiso, and AV company Johannesburg branch manager, Yan Margestein. Photo: Louise Stickland

The South African technical production service and design specialist AV Company's latest investment in Robe gear includes ESPRITES and additional LEDBeam 350s.

Headquartered in Durban, with bases in Johannesburg and Cape Town, AV Company is owned and run by Craig Browning and his son Keagan, as well as Warren Loots. It supplies all aspects of event production -- lighting, audio, LED screens, staging, structures, rigging and power -- for corporates, which make up around 70% of the business, live events, music shows and concerts.

"The ESPRITES are great general-purpose lights with plenty of power, accurate shutters that are essential for conference work, and are feature-packed with effects," Browning says.

The first eight ESPRITES were delivered by Robe's Southern Africa distributor, DWR, at the beginning of 2025; four more were added earlier this year, together with another 16 LEDBeam 350s, taking the company's total to 32.

The ESPRITES were recently used at the SAMA (South African Medical Association) Health Summit staged at the Southern Sun Elangeni and Maharani hotel in Durban. They then went on to singer-songwriter Lloyiso's show, Elephant in the Room, at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban, part of a national tour. The rig there comprised 16 ESPRITES, 36 LEDBeam 350s, 24 LEDBeam 150s, 12 Pointes, and 12 LEDWash 600s, plus other lamps, and was designed by Keegan Adams. AV Company also supplied an L-Acoustics PA for that same gig.

The LEDBeam 350s "are perfect for most of our work," Browning says. "They are great beams; the zoom functionality means it can do a good wash; there's also capacity for creating effects. They are super compact and handy, plus the ROI is excellent!"

For the many corporate shows that AV Company services, the requirement is often for smaller fixtures with lower power consumption, so four or six LEDBeams can be plugged into one circuit to transform a space without causing any power issues.

AV Company now has over 80 Robe moving lights available.

Distributors DWR have been an instrumental factor in AV Company's decision to keep investing in the Robe brand, thanks to their "service, support, information, training and general communication being excellent," Browning says. "Duncan and Bruce Riley and the team are very committed to our industry, its culture, technology and ensuring everything keeps moving toward."