LONDON – Word leaked out during the recent PLASA trade show in London that the SGM R&D team had been developing radically different LED Spot, Wash and Beam fixtures. SGM’s Head of R&D Peter Johansen came clean about it, saying that the G-Wash and G-Beam will, of course, be joined by the G-Spot. The range is set for an April 2013 release at the Prolight + Sound Show in Frankfurt.
More details from SGM (http://www.sgmlight.com):
LONDON – September 12, 2012 was the day that SGM’s Peter Johansen did his damnedest to upstage the launch of Apple’s new iPhone 5 and ECB banking reforms in one fell swoop.
Declaring after taking over lighting company SGM last February that his days of producing moving lights were finished forever, word leaked out during the PLASA trade show in London this week that his R&D team had in fact been feverishly developing radically different LED Spot, Wash and Beam fixtures from their skunk works in Arhus, Denmark.
“We had wanted to keep this under wraps,” said Johansen, “but then someone got hold of our product pipeline and leaked it. When one of our key distributors heard about it, they placed an order for more than 2,000 fixtures, even though we will not be launching the range until the Prolight+Sound Show in Frankfurt next April.”
Up to that point SGM denied rumors that they were about to re-enter the moving head arena. And although full details will continue to remain secret, the product’s big USP is that it will be IP65-rated and promises to boast the most compact form factor in the market; it will also incorporate only essential features in a low-weight chassis, outputting 850W. “This spec was put together after many discussions with rental companies,” said Johansen.
When his old R&D team at Martin Professional, headed by Finn Kallestrup, produced the Mac 600 25 years ago, Johansen felt he had delivered the defining moving yolk washlight. “This was the perfect fixture for the market, and I felt I never needed to do it again,” he said. But now — with Kallestrup and Jan Pedersen at work again — he believes he is on the verge of repeating his pioneering exploits in the brave new world of LED.
“The market is flooded with moving heads — but no-one is really catering for the vast outdoor market with an IP65 product such as this.”
The new heads have not only been designed with typical Danish swagger, but Johansen is determined that the nomenclature will also send customers into paroxysms of ecstasy. For the G-Wash and G-Beam will, of course, be joined by the G-Spot.
Anyone still searching for the G-Spot come next April will surely find it in Hall 9 at Messe Frankfurt.
