John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

I know from past large studios I have worked in that there are special dimmer controls needed for lighting in a studio and I wanted to see if anyone can point me in the right direction to find them.

I have successfuly used Lutron Systems,

Look here:

http://www.lutron.com/grafikeye/3545.html

Rod

Same here the Lutron stuff is what I use. Gets pricey but you don't hear it in gtr pickups and bass pickups.

I think like $90 for what I bought. Thank goodness I only needed 2 of them.

That grafik eye looks nice. Like what I see in Movie rooms and hotel ball rooms.

I'm looking for physical knob dimmers

Carl,

They manufacture those as well.

http://www.lutron.com/product_technical/wallbox.htm


Rod

Glad to see the site is back up

I was going to start a thread asking the same question & then I noticed this thread.

I was under the impression that dimmers that use the ac slicing electronics generated RF problems, so it's good to hear that some of the Lutron models work out.

The Lutron models at home depot are all in the $30 range so these are probably not the right ones, Giles - which Lutron model did you buy that gave you no problems?

Thanks!

Carl - The cleanest system is Variable transformers

http://variac.com/staco_Variable_Transformer_Map.htm

You would need one per room with individual switches after it for each area in each room. i.e. use one as an overall dimmer and switch individual lights for effect.

cheers
john

I had looked at the staco units but wasn't clear if they would fit into a regular 1 gang box.

Something like this http://variac.com/staco_variable_transf ... 0_1200.htm looks like it might

The Lutron ones would be great if they work well because they are pefectly sized to fit a regular box - is there anything out there that is designed for regular residential boxes?

I don't really care how much they cost - I've spend so much $ on this studio so far that a few hundred extra for decent dimmer switches is a drop in the ocean

I have been in contact a few times with Lutron this past week about dimmers for my studio. They are recommending the Nova T line and gave me the low down on the different dimmers for incandesent lights and low-voltage magnetic and electronic power supplies.

In to of my rooms I am looking at using the low-voltage cable lights and that manufacture what helpful in informing me which kits had which power supplies and they even recommended the Lutron dimmers without me even asking or metioning them.

Also both companies recommended lamp de-buzzing coils being placed inline with the dimmer (can't remember before or after) to eliminate the fixture from audible buzzing while being dimmed.

Sorry to revive this thread, but I finally found 'em. This is what you see in a lot of studios, radio stations, etc...

http://www.superiorelectric.com/PDF/Lux ... ntrols.pdf

The WBD series is what you see most often.

You may have to open adobe first and download the pdf. It's over 2mb.

Aaron