BAKERSFIELD Ca. – Bakersfield High School’s Harvey Auditorium has gone all LED with an installation of 198 High End Systems lighting products. The California school district started the process a few years ago, wishing to enjoy the bounty of benefits that LED technology brings. When Auditorium Supervisor/Tech Director Dale Olvera was asked about the cost to convert the theater over to LED lighting versus conventional, he contacted High End Systems right off the bat. “At that time, HES was the only reputable company making LED lighting for theaters,” he says.
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Olvera was impressed with the data HES provided him regarding lamp life, heat ratings, power generated and more. “They were the one company that had that kind of information,” he says. “But having grown up with lots of High End equipment around me, I feel comfortable with them.”
The facility is now in its fourth summer with HES Sola Series LED products through ICL. Students and the local arts community use the three sizes of venues in Harvey Auditorium year-round. The main theatre seats 1,646 people and the smaller theatre seats 210.
With the facility since 2008, Olvera has expanded his role with stage and set designer duties year-round at the venue, aided by assistant technical director Matthew R. Jones.
HES equipment has made the workload easier for both of them, he says. Over the past four years they’ve purchased SolaFrame Theatre, SolaWash 2000s, SolaWash 19s, along with earlier products such as the SolaSpot Pro CMYs, SolaSpot1500s, HEX, SHAPESHIFTERS and UNO fixtures.
Olvera positioned the SolaWash 2000, SolaSpot Pro 1500s and SolaFrame Theatres on the house side of the proscenium to make use of their full-curtain framing features.
“Before we switched over to the HES products, we would have to go up on ladders and change focus or change barrels and then refocus. By switching to the Sola framing series, everything is done on the console. No more climbing up the ladder, no more sweating bullets,” he explains. “Now it’s all about getting fat sitting at the console!”
For the balcony rail area, Olvera positioned 12 Sola Frame Theatres. The quiet, fanless fixtures would not disturb the patrons sitting there.
Since the incremental installs over the years, other lighting manufacturers have come to visit and demo their LED fixtures, but he says those are “incredibly loud” compared to High End’s Sola Series.
“When we were demoing some of the units at year three – which is when we invested in the SolaFrame Theatres – all of the HES fixtures were at full intensity and you couldn’t hear them at all. On at 100 percent, shooting straight up, you can’t hear them. So even the fan units are remarkably quiet.”
He also appreciates High End Systems’ patented Lens Defogger System, which prevents the outer lens from fogging – a common occurrence with all other brands of LED products.
“Everybody likes that they don’t have to make more trips up the ladder. I do go up there only to service units and clean them,” he says.
Despite all the fixtures the venue already has, Olvera is tuned in to the new HES products being launched and is ready to look.
“We are more than happy with what we have,” he remarks. But he’s got his eye on a few of the new HES fixtures for the future.
