Established in 1982, Ruehling Associates, Inc. is a premier rental and sales provider of lighting equipment to a diverse clientele. Based in Maple Grove, MN, the company has been a loyal dealer and staunch supporter of High End Systems products since the Intellabeam 400HX’s debut in 1988.
Much to the delight of their clients, Ruehling Associates recently augmented their High End Systems inventory with a smorgasbord of new gear, including SolaSpot LED, Trackspot Bolt, TechnoArc, Technospot and Intellaspot fixtures and a variety of Hog 4 control products.
As ‘architects of light in motion’, the firm has delivered world-class lighting solutions to the mid-size market for over thirty years. President Ron Ruehling’s business model of 50% sales and 50% rentals has promoted continued success and growth through good and tough times alike.
Ron points out, “By selling what we rent, and renting what we sell, we are able to share our knowledge in application and maintenance of the same products. This is what keeps both types of customers coming back. Our rental ‘competition’ would be staging companies that continue to purchase new products from us as well as purchase our used gear.
“Those same companies often cross-rent from us and we offer them trade-in options on their used gear, so it’s a win-win-win.”
“When the Intellaspot, Technospot and TechnoArc were introduced, and then the new Hog 4 console line, it was hard to contain the excitement around here,” says Ruehling. “We now have a fresh, complete product line to bring to our established market.
“The Trackspot Bolt is impressive, a great seller, and they get rented every week. The SolaSpot LED – in my opinion – is HES’s ‘best kept secret’ right now; I plan to stock up on more. The even field and CRI are truly impressive.
Sales, Design & Training Manager Travis Slyter comments, “Ruehling Associates is pleased to continue our long-standing support of the Wholehog console family. Our rental department invested in Hog IIs in the early days of Flying Pig Systems and since the merger with High End Systems, we have integrated the entire Hog 3 family into our rental fleet.
“Over the last five years, our nationally-recognized Wholehog training workshops have introduced dozens of users from a variety of applications to this scalable, flexible family of controllers.
“The affordability, flexibility and availability of Hog hardware in local rental inventories combined with the quality of support from High End Systems have established the Wholehog family as one of the most specified control systems in our region.
“The release of Hog 4 opens a lot of new creative options while still maintaining compatibility with legacy Hog 3 products. We are very excited to add Full Boar 4 and Nano Hog 4 consoles to our rental inventory along with Playback Wing 4 and Hog 4 PC Widget controllers. We will also be integrating Hog 4 products to our console training seminars in the near future.”
According to Travis, the Trackspot Bolt stands tall as a popular fixture with both sales and rental customers.
“Many designers have been excited to have a new moving mirror option,” he points out. “The Bolt offers lightning fast movement reminiscent of classic HES fixtures like the Intellabeam and Trackspot. The compact Bolts fits in many tight locations too small for moving yokes.
“It’s also a great solution to eliminate sway when you have to share rig points with moving lights and projectors. The reduced power draw and lower heat of the LED source are big hit in smaller installations and corporate events. Fixtures in those venues are often projecting gobos for long hours in locations with limited power. The Bolts stay very busy in our rental department!”
Similarly, Technospot and TechnoArc provide designers real bang-for-the-buck. “The Technospot and TechnoArc offer a rich feature set at a very competitive price point,” says Slyter. “The wider aperture allows these fixtures to really punch through stage washes and video displays. The Technospot rivals the output of units requiring twice as much power and offers a great selection of gobo, prism and animation effects with a zoom range you don’t often see in this class of fixture.
Travis continues, “The TechnoArc has been a great solution for our rental department. We needed a beam fixture to create ACL / searchlight effects for concert and dance customers, and we also needed a versatile theatrical wash light to fill the mid-size niche in our rental inventory.
“The TechnoArc allowed us to serve both markets with a single fixture. It’s incredibly bright and very fast. There’s nothing else like it on the market right now.”
The Intellaspot continues the tradition of the x.Spot, allowing a high-output, full-featured spot fixture to be operated at 110 Volts, which Travis explains is crucial to their corporate and house of worship clients.
“The Intellaspot has won shootouts with 1,500 watt fixtures thanks to its output, power consumption and variety of features. The versatility of gobos and effects combined with a frost option and large zoom range makes the Intellaspot excellent for a wide variety of applications. It’s another HES product in a class by itself.”
Slyter agrees with Ruehling’s observations on the recently introduced SolaSpot LED. “SolaSpot has some of the best optics I have ever seen in a spot LED fixture,” he enthuses. “We have done several blind shootouts with traditional arc spots and so far no one has been able to pick out the LED unit. It has very crisp patterns and a super flat field. The warmer 5600K color temperature has a great CRI.
“The zoom and prism are bonus features you don’t find in a fixture this size at this price point. SolaSpot LED is a home run and the best kept secret in the industry right now. We are working hard to change that and look forward to adding more units to our rental department.”
Ruehling concludes, “In order to effectively respond to the unique demands of the professional market, only the best support ‘from presale to after sale’ will do. Quality is what separates the winners from the punters. High End’s products are creatively inspired, well-engineered, easy to service and reliable. Their after sales support is second to none. We look forward to continuing our partnership with HES in the future.”