Stairville LED PAR 56 black 151 LEDs RGB

I purchased four of these in 2006, and a further 8 since (total 12). These PARs are good value for money for getting some coloured light in to small areas, and cannot be beaten for the price. However, for larger areas, or more serious use than discos or bands in small rooms, they fall short - as you would expect.

Their design was changed slightly after 2006 to give a taller yoke (this is the bracket they hang on). The extra length means you can now angle the unit straight down without the DMX cables getting in the way. Early units also suffered from dry solder joints, meaning certain strings of LEDs would stop working. This can be solved by taking the panel out and finding the 'dead' LED - either re melting the solder, or bridging the LED out. If under Thomann's 3 year warranty period, they will send new panels.

Stand alone and sound to light modes are useful.

Down sides:
-The PARs will only address up to DMX 128. So you can't use them with higher addresses.
-They are not very bright
-The beam angle is not very wide. Using frost to diffuse the beam reduces the light output
-The colour frame is meshy, and that further reduces the light output
-Over time, the yoke bolts and cable gland can work loose and will need tightening
-Dimming curve is poor
-As there are lots of LED sources, you get colour fringing/shadows
-You cannot make a decent white
-There are 4 fuses behind the LED panel which protect the LEDs. Sometimes these can blow, taking out a whole colour, but can be replaced.

However, these are designed and built to a price, and for that price they are good units, and cheap enough to be abused and thrown in and out of car boots!

I have four of these lights. I am a DJ for modern jive partner dancing, with an audience of between 50 and 150. I use these lights to light up the floor from a height of about 1.5m, with static colour.

The brightness of an individual unit is enough to shine about 2 meters. I use four together on a lighting T-bar, the combined brightness lights up an area of around 5m by 5m.

The functions are minimal. You can set static colours using red/green/blue at 0%, 25%, 50% and 100% intensities. There is Auto Fade which fades between six colours over a configurable time. There is also Auto Change which is sound activated, this is not very good at the volume I play music: even at the lowest sensitivity the lights change too fast.

There are more colours available in DMX mode, which I haven't used.

I love these things. For the amount of money I spent on them they are great. Easy to use and set up. I have had great time programming with them. The light they give off is great for the small venues the band plays in and gives the improved visual effect when playing to help add to the atmosphere. For the larger events for gigs with an audience 4 of 5 hundred, 8 of the lights is not enough.

I love how easy they are to control with a DMX controller. As an on stage lighting sollution I wish the 8th dip switch wasn't an overide switch and could be used for addressing for DMX. However being able to use the switches to set single colour for family Haloween parties last year was ok but felt this could have been done as easily with a DMX controller. Also think the first and 5th channels are a bit of a waste. Think they only need to colour mix RGB. Think three channels would have been fine can't say I have ever used channels 1 and 5 with any degree of satisfaction.

Feel the build quality is a little short with screws undoing themselves over time. Even the entry point for the power cables have unscrewed. Though they are 5 years old now.

Overal happy with the product just a little sad that you can only use up to 25 cans on a single DMX universe. Despite the down sides my intension is to purchase more of these.

I bought four of these units seven years ago to provide a wash from the rear of the stage at my venue. I can say with complete honesty they have been one of the best buys I have ever made for the venue lighting. Unbelievably good value and reliability, the cost alone is astoundingly low for what you are getting. Whilst other more expensive units have had failures of one kind or another these units have carried on with all of the LEDs working, they just keep doing what they are meant to. They come it a decent sturdy metal chassis too so easily take the odd knock when rigging and de-rigging.
If I have one criticism of the design it is that you can "loop through" the DMX control but you cannot "loop through" the power. If the design was changed by having and in and out for power that would be very helpful. At present that means that each it is powered and cabled individually. Even if this put an extra 15% to 20% on the purchase cost the value would still be there and the difference in their ease of use would be increased 10 times over.
Overall I highly recommend these units, they are a no nonsense robust design with longevity, value and effectiveness. You cannot really ask for more at this price point.

Yet another great buy from Thomann. These where bought for a bar install that had a limited budget but needed some kind of colour wash. These where perfect for the job. Extremely bright fixtures for the price. Only thing I would point out is the SPEED knob on the back. Don't turn it too far as it will just continue to turn and the speed will no longer be adjustable. Other than that, I have no issues with this light. DMX-able which is also a bonus. Comes with a gel holder which on an LED fixture i'm not overly sure about but makes it look more professional when inserted. So yes, if you have a limited budget and you want some bright LED cans with the ability to DMX or have running sound to light or have a fixed speed , I would recommend these

I Bought 8 of these for a stage at work, I will probably buy some more later on.. Works really good if the room is dark, Ok if there's light from the windows.
The lights are installed 2,5m up in the roof, 4 in the front & 4 in the back.
And thar covers most of the stage that is approx 4x3m

I like that each light has 3 colours, saves space and money!

And if you don't have a Lightmixer, these have alot of time depending options which can be pretty useable option for disco or if you don't have a lightning guy to control the lights

The package was easy to assemble and your up & running in no time.

I put 4 stars in quality, but I guess time will tell! =)

Bought 2 of an early version of these back in 2008 and have been using them ever since with no issues.
They seem to have dropped in price since back then and that possibly reflects that they do not shine as brightly as conventional lamps but are much less fragile and much less hot if you have to stand under them!
With the casing of all metal construction, they have been very reliable and none of the LEDS have failed ..yet! Have 2 on a lighting stand at one side of the stage and their sound activated sensor just changes the patterns in time with the music. You can of course connect them to an external controller too.
So at their current price they are good value but don't expect a really bright light!

After playing several larger venues with dedicated lighting guys we always found it a bit of a come down when playing in smaller pub style venues where the only option is for the lights around the stage to be on or off.

We purchased three of these with the intention of using them as on stage 'mood lighting' for smaller stages/venues and they were perfect for this task.

There are a number of recessed dip switches on the rear of the lamp which can be used to configure certain parameters - we tended to just use one colour/intensity for all of our shows.

The lights can be set to be sound activated - we never used this feature but I can imagine this being useful for more upbeat material and discos etc

The only issue we came across with these lamps is the length of the mains lead. If they are being mounted on a stand with sockets on the stand then this is not an issue but if you are intending to use them on stage, as we were, ensure that you have the ability to run extensions next to the location of the lamps.