Allied Productions & Sales Makes an Impact with Ayrton Cobra2 Fixtures Minnesota-based Allied Productions & Sales says it is seeing the positive impact the Ayrton Cobra2 luminaires can have on their productions. "We first saw the Cobra several years before they were available in the US," recalls Dan Pearson, senior vice president at Allied Productions & Sales. "We were very interested in this novel technology and liked the Cobra's long throw, small form factor, light weight, lower power consumption and IP rating. We waited for them to become available here and invested in 36 of them. ACT Entertainment was instrumental in helping us through variance hurdles." Allied's first deployment of their 36 Cobra2 (+36 more), was on top of the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana as sky trackers. The fixture was specifically selected for its saturated beams and long throws. "It had snowed in New Orleans a couple days prior to load in. This created a unique situation for us as the outer trough/gutter of the Superdome was still filled with approx. 8' of snow, right where the Cobras were to be mounted," reports Allied's production manager Cory Wilson. "We put the IP65 rating on the fixtures to the test as we passed each fixture from one person to another around the entire perimeter, setting them directly in the melting snow until they were mounted on beams. It took three days to set up all of the Cobras and we didn't lose a single fixture due to moisture intrusion." "We learned a lot about the fixture that week as it pertains to being a laser source engine, vs LED, and finding the right color mix to punch through the saturated ambient light from a city landscape. The advantage of a laser source light means full saturation of color, for as far as you could see the beam." Allied's next large-scale deployment was at a Massive EDM Festival in Legend Valley, an outdoor concert venue in Thornville, Ohio, where 32x fixtures were rented to highlight one of their newest stages. "This was the perfect situation for the Cobra2 as there was no competing ambient light in the sky, which allowed the beams to be seen from miles away," says Wilson. "The LDs took advantage of the unlimited 360 function on the fixtures for over 12 hours per day, which is a testament to the fixtures endurance. Also the Ohio morning dew is nothing to take lightly as it saturates everything. The IP65 feature came into play daily." For indoors, Allied transformed a Gala event at The Armory in Minneapolis, Minnesota with a dynamic lighting design, deploying 24x fixtures. Over 90 gobos were utilized to craft an array of distinctive looks throughout the evening. Crisp beams sliced across the venue, adding depth and drama to the space while amplifying every transition. Allied Productions & Sales is a strong proponent of Ayrton lighting with their inventory including Domino, Nando 502 Wash, Rivale, and Ghibli fixtures. "We've been impressed with the entire line and its build quality, reliability, consistency of color, saturation of color and IP rating -- we decided long ago not to buy any more fixtures that were not IP rated," says Pearson. "The Cobra2's precision optics make it an extremely good festival light for outdoor and long-throw environments. You focus the beam and it's carried as far as the eye can see under the right conditions." ACT Entertainment is the exclusive distributor of Ayrton lighting in North America. 
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