Lighting Guide
How To Pick Your Overhead Lighting (House Lights)
Jan
Choosing House Lights
Choosing the right LED house lighting for your church, auditorium, or multipurpose facility doesn’t have to be complicated. This guide will walk you through the key considerations to help you find the right lighting solution for your facility and budget.
“House lights” is a theater term referring to the lights that illuminate the auditorium.
Springtree is an industry leader in DMX house lighting solutions.
What Is DMX?
DMX is the industry-standard technology used to control professional lighting. It allows you to adjust brightness, create vibrant colors, and control multiple lights from a single controller. Not only does DMX house lighting give you incredible control over your auditorium’s lighting, but it also allows you to control your house and stage lights together for one seamless experience.
Springtree House Lighting can be divided into two categories:
1. LED Spatial Pendants
2. Lo-Vo Architectural Lighting
LED Spatial Pendants are standalone fixtures, while Lo-Vo is a comprehensive system of low-voltage fixtures powered and controlled by a Power Driver. Both LED Spatial Pendants and Lo-Vo are DMX controllable. The Lo-Vo system includes our popular Spatial Flats, Spatial Flat Pendants, and LED Spatial Bars.
You can easily determine the right Springtree lighting solution for your needs by considering the following factors.
Height
Height is typically the primary consideration when selecting house lighting. The following measurements are general recommendations and should be used as guidelines rather than strict rules.
| Fixture | Recommended Height | Recommended Spacing |
| LED Spatial Pendants | 15’-30’ | 10’-16′ |
| LED Spatial Bars | 15’-30’ | 20 feet: 8’-12’ spacing, 30 feet: 6’-8’ spacing |
| 30Watt Spatial Flats | 7’-14’ | 6’-8’ |
| 50Watt Spatial Flats & Spatial Flat Pendants | 8′-20′ | 6’-8’ |
| 120Watt Spatial Flat Pendants | 15′-30′ | 8′-14′ |
For applications over 20’, LED Spatial Pendants, LED Spatial Bars, or 120W Spatial Flat Pendants are required. Many facilities with varying ceiling heights use a combination of fixtures. A popular choice for churches is to pair LED Spatial Pendants for high ceilings with 30-Watt Spatial Flats for drop ceilings under balconies.
Power
If you are replacing incandescent fixtures, and you already have power in the ceiling where the new fixtures will be installed, and the height and spacing align with our recommendations, choosing LED Spatial Pendants is the obvious choice.
Gymnasiums
Many auditoriums are multi-purpose and also serve as gymnasiums. If you have an open-ceiling facility where basketballs or volleyballs may be flying through the air, we recommend using LED Spatial Bars. This helps avoid the risk of a ball hitting a pendant-style fixture. LED Spatial Bars are part of Lo-Vo.
Control
Both LED Spatial Pendants and Lo-Vo are DMX controllable, making them completely comparable in terms of DMX control. Both can be used with any DMX console and are fully compatible with our extensive range of DMX Control Stations.
Click here to learn more about DMXDIY
Another important consideration is the ease of self-installation. Lo-Vo fixtures were designed to be safe and straightforward for a handy person to set up, and in many states, you don’t need a permit for low-voltage fixtures (check your local codes). We’ve had customers whose venues would otherwise be ideal for LED Spatial Pendants choose Lo-Vo instead, simply because they couldn’t afford an installer or electrician to run armored cable. Even though they had to use more Lo-Vo fixtures to achieve the required brightness, it was still more cost-effective than going with LED Spatial Pendants.
If this is your situation and your venue’s height exceeds our recommended limit for Lo-Vo fixtures, contact us. We’ll help calculate how many fixtures you’ll need to achieve the required brightness for your space.
Price
Both the LED Spatial Pendants and Lo-Vo House Lighting offer incredible value—you could nearly buy three LED Spatial Pendants for the price of a single DMX pendant from other manufacturers. That said, Lo-Vo remains the more affordable option overall.
Try Springtree House Lighting in Your Own Facility
More than just photos and photometric data, the best way to determine which Springtree House Lighting solution is right for you is to see them in action! Our demos include two fixtures and the necessary power drivers for Lo-Vo—at a discounted price—so you can try them in your own facility. If you love them, keep them at the lower price and order more. If they’re not the right fit, return the demo within 30 days for a full refund. All you pay for is return shipping.
Demo Lo-Vo! Demo LED Spatial Pendants!Other Considerations
You Can Mix Lo-Vo Fixtures
When using a Lo-Vo Architectural Lighting System, you’re not limited to a single fixture type—you can mix multiple fixture types on a single Power Driver.
Color vs. Warm White
When choosing house lighting, another important consideration is whether you want traditional Warm White illumination or the ability to illuminate your space in vibrant color.
Warm White fixtures are ideal for facilities that prioritize bright, natural-looking illumination. Because all their LEDs are dedicated to producing white light, they can produce significantly brighter white illumination than their Full Color counterparts.
Full Color fixtures, on the other hand, allow you to transform your space with thousands of colors. They’re particularly popular in churches, theaters, and multipurpose facilities where color can complement worship services, performances, and special events.
Both options provide smooth DMX dimming, allowing you to adjust the lighting throughout your facility.
Retrofitting Your Own Fixtures
If you’re looking to retrofit your own fixtures, Lo-Vo is the perfect solution. With our Lo-Vo LED modules, you can retrofit most incandescent fixtures where the light source isn’t visible. Check out the video above to see how we converted ordinary pendants from Home Depot into low-voltage fixtures with smooth 0–100% DMX dimming!
Let Us Help You Find the Right House Lighting
Choosing the right house lighting doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. Whether you’re upgrading an existing sanctuary, renovating an auditorium, or building a new facility, Springtree makes finding professional LED house lighting simple and affordable.
Our team offers free lighting design consultations to help you determine the best fixtures, quantities, and spacing for your facility and budget. You can even try our house lighting risk-free with our demo program, so you can experience the difference in your own space before making a decision.
Give us a call at 615-599-1505 to get started. We’re happy to help!