# Clay Paky, vs. Robe, vs. Martin



## DjOtto (Apr 30, 2012)

Looking at making a big purchase of a single light to be used for school dances, and weddings. 
Lights I am considering:
Robe: MMX
Clay Paky 800 QWO
Martin Mac Profile 700

Anyone have an opinion /experience on which would work best for the wedding setting? 

I want to be able to do gobo morphing, zoom, dimming, water effects. 

I am leaning towards the CP 800 because of the ability to run at 400 watts.

Currently using two Vizi Spot 5r's along with 18 uplights and 2 American DJ Royal 3d, all via Showxpress. 

Thanks!


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## kesowul (Apr 30, 2012)

I love the quality that Clay Paky has with their fixtures. I cannot speak to the 800 QWO, but our Clay Paky profiles, spots, and washes are awesome. It looks like the 800 QWO has an animation disc which is certainly nice to have to make water effects. I found Clay Paky's gobo morphing to be exceptional as well. I cannot speak to the other products, I can only comment on the success we have had with Clay Paky. Good luck!


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## len (Apr 30, 2012)

You'll find mixed opinions on every brand. The last time I saw some CP was 2005, and the company that owned them had nothing but problems with them. I don't remember details, but it seemed that the company was unhappy with them.

Edit: I only saw them at the shop, and I thot the ones we had were pretty cool. First fixture I remember seeing that had a battery, so you didn't need to plug them in to do stuff like change address, etc. I don't have any recent experience with CP. That same company had a ton of Martin stuff, and their Mac 550 were always breaking down. Yet the 2K, the 700, and the 250 Entours they owned were rock solid. 

Another thot: Will you business see a decent return on investment on them? I couldn't find a list or street price, but I'm guessing they're $2K minimum per unit, probably more. Does your pricing justify that kind of expense? Gobo morphing and animation wheels are cool, but is your customer base going to notice them?


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## DjOtto (Apr 30, 2012)

Thanks for the info!
The ROBE's are in now, but I do not want to have to run a seperate circuit just for one light. I think Ill wait until September for the Clay Paky to come out... 

As far a return on investment, it would take quite a while to see that, in that they are 10K each. Mostly just want them for the fun of it, and putting on better shows with less limitations. 


len said:


> Another thot: Will you business see a decent return on investment on them? I couldn't find a list or street price, but I'm guessing they're $2K minimum per unit, probably more. Does your pricing justify that kind of expense? Gobo morphing and animation wheels are cool, but is your customer base going to notice them?


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## cbrandt (Apr 30, 2012)

The MMX is a great light, nice and bright and fast. I wasn't terribly impressed with the animation wheel. While it can do some REALLY cool effects, it is a very dense mesh, and has two counter rotating wheels. This leads to a LOT less light when using the animation wheel, and that's without any gobos or colors.

I've got a bunch of Mac 700s, and I love them. Within 5% as bright as my Robe 1200s, and with a lot of adjustment available on the animation wheel. Not sure about the ballasts on the MMX and the Clay Paky, but the Mac has an autosensing ballast, which is a life saver when you forget to switch taps for power, or you end up in a venue with only 208, etc.


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## Pie4Weebl (Apr 30, 2012)

I have the pleasure of regularly using Clay Paky Alpha spot 300 HPEs, and they have out put that often beats a mac 700 and can punch right along side a 3K at times too! Great fixtures!


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## porkchop (May 1, 2012)

I love my Clay Paky's but I have some reservations about the 800 QWO. From what I've heard the MSR Platinum lamp doesn't emit an even and full spectrum of color, it's peaky in places. A manufacture I talked to called it entirely unusable for color mixing. Also as neat as I think the Stay-Sharp-Zoom and Dyna-Cue-Creator are I think they're probably one of those things where it's unnecessary and likely to cause issues with the fixture at the most inconvenient time. I have some friends working with a rig of ~80 Alpha 700's and they absolutely love them. I'd probably look at those instead. They're rock solid, low maintenance, and REALLY bright. They don't have an animation wheel, but the 1200's do if you're dead set on that one. 

I've never used ROBE lights, but I really not a big fan of Martin lights. They all seem to be really high maintenance but their newer stuff seems to be better.

Also if you're buying it particularly for patterns and effects you might look at High End's Technospot and Intellaspot lights. Their whole optics train has a larger radius which gives it a very unique look and GREAT textures. Out of all the flashy stuff they makes these fixtures impressed me the most and might be exactly what you're looking for.


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## DjOtto (May 1, 2012)

You guys are great. Thanks!
The High End, and ROBE stuff looks way too big for weddings though. I am already bordering on the edge of overkill


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## DjOtto (May 5, 2012)

DjOtto said:


> You guys are great. Thanks!
> The High End, and ROBE stuff looks way too big for weddings though. I am already bordering on the edge of overkill


Bought the cp 700 hpe, next day air ect. 
Get it home, dmx it, gobo error. Most of the features do not work and it sounds like the gears are jammed.
Nothing obvious, no signs of shipping dammage. New light also showed 115 hours on lamp.


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## AEGProduction (May 5, 2012)

DjOtto said:


> Bought the cp 700 hpe, next day air ect.
> Get it home, dmx it, gobo error. Most of the features do not work and it sounds like the gears are jammed.
> Nothing obvious, no signs of shipping dammage. New light also showed 115 hours on lamp.



Sounds like a problem with the shop you bought it from if it has hours on the lamp and was listed as "new" and not a demo model.


jim carrey-ace ventura-good delivery boy funny video ever - YouTube - This is why I overpack my shipping.


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## hobbsies (May 5, 2012)

When I worked at a shop, 90% of the fixtures that were shipped to us via ups/usps/fedex came damaged. Those that were freighted to us were always fine. I think the delivery people just don't give a **** if a package says "delicate."


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## AEGProduction (May 5, 2012)

hobbsies said:


> I think the delivery people just don't give a **** if a package says "delicate."



"Fragile" is Italian for "kick me" to those guys.


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## BGW (May 5, 2012)

"Fra-gi-le...hmm must be Italian!" "Dear, I think it says "fragile" "


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## cbrandt (May 7, 2012)

AEGProduction said:


> "Fragile" is Italian for "kick me" to those guys.



Wow, I guess I need to buy my delivery guys/gal some cookies. I rarely have those problems...


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## macwhiz (May 7, 2012)

I'd go with the ROBE lights, they are really nice, our school rented out 4 for a play, and they are great lights, certainly better than our Source Four Revolutions.


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## Pie4Weebl (May 7, 2012)

macwhiz said:


> I'd go with the ROBE lights, they are really nice, our school rented out 4 for a play, and they are great lights, certainly better than our Source Four Revolutions.



I don't think anyone EVER should use a S4R as the metric for a "moving light"


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## macwhiz (May 7, 2012)

Pie4Weebl said:


> I don't think anyone EVER should use a S4R as the metric for a "moving light"


 good point. But they've (the ROBE lights) been better than any of the Martin movers we've rented by far. and they had more punch than any of the Clay Paky's we've ever rented.


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## Pie4Weebl (May 7, 2012)

macwhiz said:


> good point. But they've (the ROBE lights) been better than any of the Martin movers we've rented by far. and they had more punch than any of the Clay Paky's we've ever rented.



I'm curious which of each brand you've used? My alpha spots are waaaay brighter than my mac 700's it feels like, and my experience with Robe has been pretty meh, well except for their 700 watt wash fixture I used which was pretty impressive.


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## macwhiz (May 7, 2012)

Pie4Weebl said:


> I'm curious which of each brand you've used? My alpha spots are waaaay brighter than my mac 700's it feels like, and my experience with Robe has been pretty meh, well except for their 700 watt wash fixture I used which was pretty impressive.


 I've had experience with the ROBE MMX recently, the Plasma Spot and Wash, and the 300 Beam Classic. Alpha Wash 575 TH, Alpha Spot 575, and briefly, only a short demo with an Alpha Spot HPE 1500, an Alpha Profile 1500 and an Alpha Beam 1500. I personally feel the ROBE Robin MMX is brighter than the Alpha Wash and Alpha Spots, But the Alpha Spot HPE 1500 overpowers all.


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## Pie4Weebl (May 8, 2012)

macwhiz said:


> I've had experience with the ROBE MMX recently, the Plasma Spot and Wash, and the 300 Beam Classic. Alpha Wash 575 TH, Alpha Spot 575, and briefly, only a short demo with an Alpha Spot HPE 1500, an Alpha Profile 1500 and an Alpha Beam 1500. I personally feel the ROBE Robin MMX is brighter than the Alpha Wash and Alpha Spots, But the Alpha Spot HPE 1500 overpowers all.



Well yeah, a 1200 watt fixture is gonna be brighter than a 575 one. IIRC the Alpha spot 575 is the oldest in the family, compare an a fixture in the HPE fixture with something from robe or martin of similar power and I bet you will find the same thing, as you did with the HPE 1500.

I want to see a shoot out between the HPE 1500 and the new VL3015...


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## SouthFloridaSFX (May 9, 2012)

Being in Florida I have Martin, Chauvet, Robe and Elation main offices all within 20 min of each other. Having said that, Robe has been the best as far as sales and after sales help Robe has been the best I've ever delt with. the MMX is an amazing fixture with the double gobo wheel it almost looks like a video projection, it does amazing things,


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## DjOtto (May 9, 2012)

Still waiting on the folks who shipped me their demo as "new" to take it back so I can move on to a different brand. Didn't think when I spent over 8,000 on a light, and 250.00 next day air shipping to have a boat anchor with almost 150 hours on it. Not to mention it not working for my gig.


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