In this guide: The short answer · Warm white, variable white or full colour · CRI, TLCI and TM-30 · LED profiles compared · LED fresnels compared · PARs and cyc lights · Replacing tungsten lanterns · Dimming, noise and power · Checklist · Popular picks · FAQ

The short answer

For a theatre or school stage moving off tungsten, the choice comes down to three questions: do you need colour from the fixture or only white, what throw and field angle you need, and how quiet the rig has to be.

• White only, best skin tones, simplest control: a warm-white fixture. Chauvet Professional Ovation F-145WW (fresnel, CRI 97, which Chauvet says has output comparable to a 650W incandescent fresnel), Elumen8 Virtuoso 600 Profile WW or Virtuoso 1000 Profile WW MKII (both CRI 98), or LDR Cetra 10/28 (3200K white).
• Colour and variable white from one unit: a five- or six-colour engine. Chauvet Professional Ovation E-2 FC and Ovation Rêve E-3 profiles, Ovation F-415FC fresnel, and Elumen8’s HEX (RGBALC) models such as the Virtuoso 1500 Fresnel HEX.
• Replacing Source Fours but keeping your lens tubes: Elumen8 says its Virtuoso 1000 profile bodies are compatible with most industry-standard lenses including Source 4. Chauvet sells its Rêve E-3 as a light engine that needs a lens tube, and lists its own Ovation HD lens tubes for it.
• Silence matters most: the F-415FC is fanless and the CYC 3 FC is convection cooled, according to Chauvet. Most others use a fan with quiet or studio modes.

If you are new to the fixture types themselves, start with stage lighting fixture types. For ADJ’s Encore profiles and fresnels, such as the ADJ Encore Profile 1000 WW and Encore FR150Z, see our separate ADJ Encore range guide; they are not repeated here.

Warm white, variable white or full colour

Every LED theatre fixture is built around one of three kinds of engine, and the choice shapes everything else.

• Warm white (single colour temperature). One white LED source at a fixed colour temperature, around 3200K, the same ballpark as a tungsten lamp at full. Elumen8’s WW models and LDR’s 3200K Alba and Cetra are 3200K; Chauvet quotes the F-145WW at 3096K at full. You colour with gel, exactly as before.
• Variable white. Two or more whites mixed to move the colour temperature. None of the profiles and fresnels in this guide is a pure variable-white unit; LDR offers Tunable White versions of the Alba range, but the Alba we list is the 3200K model.
• Full colour (RGBAL, RGBALC, RGBW and similar). Several LED colours mixed to make both saturated colour and a range of whites. Chauvet’s FC models use red, green, blue, amber and lime (the E-2 FC adds cyan; the Rêve E-3 uses red, green, blue, royal blue, amber and mint). Elumen8 HEX models add cyan to RGBAL. LDR’s Cetra colour models are RGBW.

The trade-off is output. Elumen8 publishes figures for warm-white and colour versions of the same bodies, which makes a fair comparison: the Virtuoso 600 Profile WW gives 17,650 lux at 2m at 25°, against 8,936 lux for the Virtuoso 600 Profile HEX at 25° full on. The Virtuoso 2000 Fresnel WW gives 13,965 lux at 2m at 15°, against 6,151 lux for the RGBAL version. In both cases the warm-white unit is roughly twice as bright in white light. If a fixture will spend its life in open white or gelled white, warm white buys you brightness and simpler control. If you need colour changes without climbing the ladder, take the colour engine and accept less punch.

How colour mixing works and what the colour letters mean is covered in colour on stage: RGBW, CMY, colour temperature and CRI.

CRI, TLCI and TM-30: reading the colour-quality numbers

Colour rendering is why theatre people care about LED engines. Skin, costume and set need to look as they did under tungsten. Three things to know when reading spec sheets:

• CRI (Ra) is the number everyone quotes, but check the conditions. Chauvet quotes CRI for its colour fixtures at 3200K (E-2 FC 93, Rêve E-3 95.4, F-415FC 91); a full-colour fixture’s rendering varies with the white you mix. LDR quotes >90 for its LED profiles and fresnels.
• R9 and TLCI add detail. R9 is the saturated-red sample that skin tones depend on; TLCI is a camera-oriented index. Elumen8 publishes R9 and TLCI for its HEX units, and TLCI for the WW MKII: the Virtuoso 1500 Fresnel HEX is quoted at CRI 95, R9 99 and TLCI 90; the Virtuoso 1000 Profile WW MKII at CRI 98 and TLCI 98.
• TM-30 is not published for any of the fixtures in this guide in the manufacturer documents we checked. Elumen8 quotes CQS figures for some models instead. Do not assume a figure that is not on the datasheet.

Treat these as a filter rather than a ranking, and compare like with like: a CRI measured at 3200K on a colour-mixing fixture is not the same test as a fixed warm-white source. If you are filming or streaming shows, look at TLCI and the flicker (PWM) settings as well as CRI.

LED profiles compared

A profile (ellipsoidal) is the hard-edged, shuttered, gobo-capable spot that does most front-of-house and specials work. All the units below have framing shutters. Figures are from the manufacturers’ datasheets and manuals; power is the stated draw at 230V where given.

Chauvet Professional Ovation

The E-2 FC is the compact one: integrated zoom, M-size gobo holder and soft-focus filter in the box, 18-bit dimming and nine DMX personalities from 1 to 17 channels plus HSV. Chauvet pitches it at smaller venues that need quiet, high-CRI light. The Rêve E-3 is the high-output option, with Chauvet’s emulated red shift, plus/minus green adjustment and a virtual colour wheel matched to popular gel swatches. It is sold without a lens. Chauvet lists its Ovation HD lens tubes, such as the 19°, 26° and 36° fixed tubes, and its HD zoom lenses, such as the 25–50° zoom, as compatible accessories for the Rêve E-3. Chauvet describes the fixed HD tubes as “high-precision optics for any standard ERS fixture”; it does not say that the Rêve E-3 takes other makers’ lens tubes, so do not plan on reusing Source Four tubes on it without checking with us first.

Elumen8 Virtuoso profiles

Two body sizes. The Virtuoso 600 has a built-in 25° to 50° zoom and an M-size gobo slot, in WW, HEX and RGBAL version engines. The Virtuoso 1000 is sold as a body only, so you choose lens tubes from 5° to 50°, such as the 19°, 26°, 36° or 25–50° zoom. It comes as the WW MKII, the Virtuoso 1000 Profile HEX and the Virtuoso 1000 Profile RGBAL. The 1000 models offer four dimming curves (linear, square law, inverse square law and S-curve), and Elumen8 includes an “instant focus” mode on several models so you can focus without a desk.

LDR (Luci della Ribalta)

The Italian maker of conventional theatre lanterns builds its LED profiles in the same style: slide-zoom controls on the side, four shutter blades supplied and replaceable LED arrays. The Alba 18/36 is the wider, brighter unit with a typical throw of 2 to 20m by LDR’s figures; the Cetra 10/28 is a narrow-angle profile for 2 to 10m. The Cetra 10/28 RGBW adds colour with an RGBW engine.

For tight, long-throw positions the narrow lens options matter more than the engine: Chauvet and Elumen8 both offer 5°, 10° and 14° tubes for their lens-tube bodies. The geometry of throw and field angle is worked through in beam angles and coverage, and gobo choice in gobo and logo projection.

LED fresnels compared

A fresnel gives a soft-edged, variable-spread beam for washes, area cover and back light, shaped with barn doors rather than shutters. Note the angle columns: Chauvet quotes field angle, Elumen8 quotes beam angle, and LDR quotes the half-peak (beam) angle, so the numbers are not directly comparable. Beam angle is always the narrower of the two.

The Chauvet pair share a 6.25in accessory size and a barn door sold separately. The F-145WW is the closest thing here to a straight swap for a 650W tungsten fresnel (see below). The Virtuoso 2000 Fresnel WW and Virtuoso 2000 Fresnel RGBAL add a motorised zoom, useful where a fixture is hard to reach. The Virtuoso 2500 Fresnel HEX is the larger HEX unit, and the LDR Cetra F100 RGBW uses a 120mm borosilicate fresnel lens with barn doors as an accessory.

PARs and cyc lights in the same family

Two Chauvet units fill the gaps around profiles and fresnels with the same RGBAL colour:

• Ovation P-56FC: a compact PAR-style wash with 62 LEDs, CRI 87.9 at 3200K, interchangeable lens plates (Chauvet publishes narrow, medium and wide figures, from 24.7° to 103.7° field), adjustable fan speed and 7.5in accessories. About 159W at 230V.
• Ovation CYC 3 FC: a 1.2m convection-cooled cyc wash or footlight with 180 LEDs, CRI 90, an integrated kick stand and glare shield. About 334W at 230V.

For the wider choice of PARs, battens and floods see stage wash lighting: LED battens, PARs and uplighters.

Replacing tungsten lanterns: what the manufacturers say

“Equivalent to a 750W Source Four” is the claim everyone wants to hear and few datasheets make. Below is only what the manufacturers state. Where they make no comparison, we do not make one either. For the wider job of taking a hall off tungsten, and what to swap first, see replacing tungsten with LED in a school or village hall.

Full-size Source Four profiles

ETC’s ETC Source Four takes an HPL lamp of up to 750W, uses interchangeable lens tubes in nine field angles from 5° to 90°, and takes A- or B-size gobos. Two LED routes keep the same way of working:

• Keep your lens tubes. Elumen8 says the Virtuoso 1000 bodies are compatible with most industry-standard lenses including Source 4, so existing tubes can move across. The WW MKII also lists 575W and 750W “power emulation” modes and a choice of HALOGEN or LED dimming speed.
• Keep your gobos. The Rêve E-3 takes A and B gobos, the same sizes as the Source Four, and Chauvet adds an emulated red shift for a tungsten feel on fades.

Source Four jr and other compact profiles

ETC’s Source Four jr is a 575W-maximum lantern with fixed 26°, 36° or 50° lenses or a 25° to 50° zoom, and it uses M-size gobos. The E-2 FC (25.6° to 51° field, M gobo) and the Virtuoso 600 (25° to 50°, M gobo) cover a similar zoom range and take the same M gobo size, which makes them the natural LED candidates where a rig of compact profiles is being replaced. Neither manufacturer makes a brightness comparison with the jr, so judge output from the published lux figures rather than the name.

650W fresnels

Chauvet states that the F-145WW’s 70W warm-white LED has output comparable to a 650W incandescent fresnel, and the whole fixture draws 73W at 230V. That is the clearest manufacturer comparison in this group. Tungsten still has a place, especially where a hall already has dimmers and a lighting desk built around them, and we also stock tungsten lanterns such as the LDR Tempo F650 PRO fresnel and the LDR Suono 10/28 PLUS profile.

Dimming, noise and power

• Dimming curves. Chauvet’s Ovation fixtures offer four dim modes, with 18-bit dimming on the E-2 FC and Rêve E-3 and 16-bit on the fresnels. Elumen8 offers 8- or 16-bit dimming, with four curves on the 1000, 1500, 2000 and 2500 models. LDR lists four fade curves on the white Cetra 10/28, including an “LED-HAL” curve, and two (linear and square) on the Alba and RGBW Cetras.
• Camera flicker. Chauvet and Elumen8 let you change the LED refresh (PWM) rate, up to 25kHz. LDR quotes a fixed 16kHz, flicker-free, on the Alba and RGBW Cetras, and a selectable LED frequency for TV cameras on the white Cetra 10/28. Worth setting if shows are filmed or streamed.
• Noise. In a quiet drama, fan noise from a front-of-house bar is noticeable. Fanless (F-415FC) or convection-cooled (CYC 3 FC) is silent by design. Where there is a fan, look for a quiet or studio mode. Chauvet publishes measured figures for the Rêve E-3 (12.0 dB(A) at 1m fan off, 28.7 dB(A) fan on) and the P-56FC; the other datasheets and manuals we checked give no dB figures.
• Power and linking. Every unit here has a mains input and a link output (powerCON, PowerTwist TR1 or Powerkon). Chauvet states 35 F-145WWs can be linked on one 230V feed, against 8 Rêve E-3s. Check each fixture’s stated link limit, not the socket.
• DMX footprint. The warm-white units here all have a 1-channel mode. The Chauvet and Elumen8 full-colour profiles and fresnels go up to between 15 and 20 channels in their largest modes; LDR’s RGBW Cetras use 6 or 7. Plan your universe with the mode you will actually use; see DMX explained.

Buying checklist

• Decide white only or colour per position. Front light and specials often suit warm white; back light, side light and cyc suit colour.
• Measure throw and the size of the area to light, then pick the field angle (and whether you want a zoom or lens tubes).
• Check gobo size against the gobos you already own: M for compact profiles, A or B for full-size.
• If you own Source Four lens tubes, look at a lens-tube body that accepts them.
• Check noise: fanless or a quiet mode for drama and studio work.
• Plan constant power and DMX at every position, not dimmed sockets.
• Confirm DMX modes, RDM and flicker settings if shows are filmed.
• For school halls, see our school AV guide and lighting a stage: front, back and side light.

Popular picks from the shop

Frequently asked questions

What is the best LED replacement for a Source Four jr?

Look for a compact LED profile with M-size gobos and a 25° to 50° zoom, the same as the jr Zoom. The Chauvet Ovation E-2 FC (25.6° to 51° field) and Elumen8 Virtuoso 600 (25° to 50°) both fit that description. Choose warm white for the brightest white light, or a colour engine if you want to stop gelling.

Are LED fresnels as bright as tungsten fresnels?

Some manufacturers say so for specific models. Chauvet states that the Ovation F-145WW has output comparable to a 650W incandescent fresnel while drawing 73W. Where a datasheet makes no such comparison, compare published lux or lumen figures at the same angle and distance instead.

What CRI do I need for theatre lighting?

Every profile and fresnel in this guide is quoted at CRI 90 or above by its maker. The Chauvet and Elumen8 warm-white units are quoted at 96 to 98, the highest here. If shows are filmed, look at TLCI too.

Can I put LED profiles on my existing dimmers?

Generally no. LED fixtures want constant power and DMX, and Elumen8’s manuals say not to connect them to a dimmer pack. Some circuits will need to become non-dim; our dimmers and relay packs guide explains how, and the electrical work is for a competent electrician.

Will my Source Four lens tubes fit an LED profile?

On some. Elumen8 says its Virtuoso 1000 profile bodies are compatible with most industry-standard lenses including Source 4. Check the manufacturer’s compatibility statement for any other body before buying.

Which LED fresnels are silent?

Chauvet’s Ovation F-415FC is fanless, and the CYC 3 FC cyc light is convection cooled. Most other units use fans with quiet or studio modes, which are low but not silent.