A historic regional theatre in the province of Reggio Emilia in northern Italy, Teatro Sociale di Gualtieri has taken delivery of seven racks of the new GENX dimmer from Australian manufacturer LSC Control Systems, via the company’s distributor for Italy, RM Multimedia.
First built in 1905 and later falling into disuse, Teatro Sociale has undergone a miraculous modern resurgence, reopening to the public in 2009 and today playing host to a busy and varied annual season of theatre, dance and music performances from both Italian and international artists.
The need for flexibility led to the search for an improved power solution.
As Technical Director Lorenzo Chiesi related: “We were looking for a cost-effective, flexible and modern solution to turn every power outlet around the theatre into a power source capable of supplying any kind of load, as well as traditional dimmed circuits,” he said.
“Moreover, we needed to keep the units in a space that’s not easily accessible, so remote control was a must. I was aware of products on the market, but most were not ideal for us in terms of their remote control capabilities, or their size, or cost.”
By chance, Chiesi encountered LSC’s products at the MIR trade exhibition in Rimini, on the stand of RM Multimedia, which had recently been appointed as LSC’s distributor in Italy.
He recalled: “As an electronics engineer and system integrator, I immediately recognised the potential of LSC devices and how well they matched our requirements.”
“RM Multimedia was very supportive and provided us with a GenVI demo unit, which was thoroughly tested against our needs and fully convinced us. As a result, we purchased seven GENX units to be integrated into our power distribution and dimming system.”
GENX, the latest generation of LSC’s popular GenVI advanced dimming and power distribution system, features LSC’s DIMSwitch technology, enabling any output to be configured, in any combination, to be an 8-bit or 16-bit dimmer, or a direct power relay channel.
This enables the seamless dimming of conventional lamps, or the powering of moving lights, LED fixtures, video or audio systems – indeed any equipment requiring controlled power distribution.
GENX offers all the features and advantages of the GenVI, but adds to these an Ethernet input alongside the DMX to allow for direct control via sACN and Art-Net.
In addition to remote control, this DIMSwitch ability was a key factor in Chiesi’s choice of LSC GENX. He said: “A modern theatre like ours needs to flexibly handle any type of fixture – both traditional and modern – as well as other general-purpose electrical devices, anywhere in the space, depending on performance requirements.”
Other factors in the choice of GENX included cost-effectiveness, redundancy – enhancing overall system reliability, and the option to integrate circuit controls into the theatre’s automation system via RDM.
“The main benefit for us is flexibility and time saving,” he said. “Moreover,” he adds, “as every power outlet – up to 72 points – is now connected to a GENX output, we can patch everything within minutes without physically accessing the dimmer racks.
“This can be efficiently done either via LSC’s HOUSTON X software with a laptop connected to Art-Net, or through a custom automation solution we developed, which allows technicians to control everything by any mobile device, via RDM.”
Overall, Chiesi is well satisfied with the new system, and with the support from all involved. “Both RM Multimedia and LSC were very supportive. RM provided us with the demo unit and all the necessary information, which helped us make the right decision, and LSC technical support is always on standby.”
