John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

Hello everyone. I am having a hell of a time trying to figure out the lighting for my studio. I originally bought some LED track lighting but they were noisy AND they did not dim properly when connected to my variacs. After some research I found several posts indicating that variacs will not work with LED lighting.

So now I'm in a dilemma because I have these nice variacs installed in the wall and all ready to go so I'd really prefer to use them. I've looked at halogen track lighting but there aren't very many to choose from and I'd rather not add all that heat (and fire hazard) to my small room.

Any advice? Thanks!!

well shielded variacs (presuming we're talking the transformer type and not the solid state component) would work well with some incandescent spotlights instead of the more intense halogens. this might reduce the light levels but also the heat. either way you'd want IC rated light housing to reduce fire risk, and regardless you'll need to account for the power / heat in your AC system to keep the temperature where you want it.