ProSoundWeb | Martin Unveils their 100,000th MAC

Martin Unveils their 100,000th MAC
By Robert Chambers
Editor, Lighting Section

Martin MAC2000

Martin Professional’s latest MAC moving head, the 1200 watt MAC 2000 profile spot, had a successful debut at the annual PLASA exhibition, winning the Award for Product Excellence 2000. As the featured product at the Martin Professional stand (which also won an award for Best Booth), the MAC 2000 Profile attracted a great deal of interest throughout the four day event.

So Martin had plenty of reason to celebrate at the LDI exhibition in Orlando. But one accomplishment appeared extra special. At a press meeting held at the Martin stand on day two of the event, Martin President and CEO Kristian Kolding presented the 100,000th MAC automated light produced.

The 100,000th unit, a MAC 2000 Profile Spot, rolled off the production line just prior to the LDI exhibition. It was ceremoniously painted gold and is now displayed in the Martin manufacturing plant’s reception area in Frederikshavn, Denmark.

Martin MAC 2000 Profile
The first in the MAC 2000 series, the MAC 2000 Profile is a high performance lighting tool for touring, theater and special event applications. Based on input from some of the world’s top lighting professionals, the MAC 2000 Series delivers an exceptional combination of extreme power and new projection possibilities.

HMI 1200 short arc discharge lamp
PAN/TILT range of 540°/267°
Two dual rotational, indexible, gobo wheels (5 replaceable slots each)
Adt'l effect wheel with variable frost, 3-facet prism and beam shaper
Color Temperature Correction System
Automatic Feedback System
CMY color mixing system
Combined 7 position color/gobo wheel
10-lens optical system
Motorized Zoom

At the LDI Awards Ceremony Martin won ‘Product of the Year Lighting/Entertainment and Most Promising Prototype’ honors for the TracMAC mini, an easy to operate followspot luminaire that drew a lot of attention from visitors. Mach speakers was awarded the ‘Product of the Year, Sound, Most Promising Prototype’ for the Mach ViroStation, an elegant combination of illumination and atmospheric audio that also had people talking.

Pro Light News reported that Durham Marenghi used the new Martin MAC 2000 at the opening event for Lotusphere 2000, a conference for software company, Lotus Development Corp., at the International Congress Center (ICC) in Berlin.

Stage Electrics supplied 28 MAC 2000 profile spots for the event. The opening event featured a massive stage set created by Michael Woodage with lighting design by Durham Marenghi.

"The brief called for the set to change color in symphony with the opening video sequence," comments Durham, "and the auditorium was to have 24 Lotusphere logos moving slowly around the room to provide an interesting walk-in environment. Color wash for the large set was provided by 46 MAC 600s projecting from above with 38 MAC 300s placed around, and within, the scenery. The profile spot units (MAC 2000), which had to supply four separate moving and rotating custom gobos in sharp focus and differing sizes, also had to be able to front light the set with a high degree of light spill control to protect the screen images as well as matching the video color palette.”

According to Durham the new MAC 2000 was chosen as being perfect for the task. "The zoom optics provided crystal clear gobo image projection with the smooth pan and tilt giving a subliminal drifting movement when needed and a fast and accurate movement between focus positions for the various set reveals. The color palette was able to match all the colors utilized in the video graphics and faded between them without the associated intermediate and unwanted colors which was most impressive. The beam shaping effect was used to light the tall 3D numeric figures at the rear of the set and allowed us to keep the beam completely off the screens. The adjustable color temperature feature kept the camera images flattering when the units were used as stage key lights for presenters."

Durham also added that the system ran every day for the entire week of business meetings and the MAC 2000s proved themselves to be very reliable. "This was, quite frankly, a very pleasant surprise, " said Durham, "especially for the debut of a brand new product."

If you are looking for a case for your new MAC 2000, I would recommend Amptown's latest SiP-Series flight case. It has been designed to offer maximum protection to the Martin MAC 2000 during transit. Like all their SiP-Series range, the case contains a custom molded rubber insert. These inserts are produced at their factory for each type of lamp and have a tough rubber external surface with a shock absorbing softer rubber kernel. During transport this combination provides the ultimate suspension method and has proven to extend lamp life, while also protecting the actual luminaries themselves.

Two case are available, a single version and a double version, allowing two lamps to be carried in each case. Both cases have been designed as a 'quarter pack' allowing four to be packed across a standard trailer. Someone was thinking.