Dwain McMillan, Lead Sound Support and Lighting Tech for Fairfax County Public Schools, had a personal connection to this project. As a graduate of Fairfax High School, he had even more reason to want the auditorium lighting upgrade done right.
For Artistic Concepts Group, Canto USA’s RETRO Series LED retrofit kits had already become a go-to option for replacing older auditorium houselights. At Fairfax High School, the existing system gave them another opportunity to put that approach to work.
Replacing 105 Auditorium Houselights
The auditorium originally used 105 500-watt E11 mini candelabra lamps. Those were replaced with 3000K RETRO-Classic® 500 E11 mini candelabras with short reflectors.
The new RETRO-Classic units work with the auditorium’s existing ETC Sensor3 Dimmer Rack, allowing the school to keep its familiar dimming system while significantly cutting the amount of power used by the houselights.
Each fixture dropped from 500 watts to just 49 watts. Across all 105 fixtures, that reduced the total load from 52,500 watts to 5,145 watts—just over a 90% reduction in power.
The project also reported a 30–40% improvement in the room’s light quality. That comparison assumes the old system was fully lamped, which was not always the case. The previous lamps could begin going out after only two to three months of use, making it harder to maintain consistent lighting throughout the auditorium.
The change was immediately noticeable. Fairfax High School’s drama teacher was especially happy that he could clearly see the seats again.
The brighter, more consistent houselighting made the room look as though it had received a much larger makeover. It may have looked like new paint and new seats, but the biggest change was simply replacing the old auditorium houselights.
For a school auditorium, that improvement goes beyond appearance. Better houselighting makes it easier for students, staff, and guests to move through the seating area while giving the school a much more usable lighting system without replacing the existing dimming infrastructure.
See the Fairfax High School Before and After
Below is a before-and-after time-lapse showing the auditorium lighting upgrade.
The video was recorded with a smartphone, so some iris and aperture adjustment may be visible as the houselights dim up and down.
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RETRO-Fusion® 2.0
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RETRO-Passiv® 2.0
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