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Post by Cole S. on May 15, 2018 18:06:49 GMT -5
Bought this Modern Fan Co. Cirrus Hugger at a local lighting showroom's spring sale a few weeks back. I've bought at this sale in years past, the prices are literal rock bottom and this was too good to pass up. Technically my first experience with the current-day "Modern Fan Company" iteration. They're beautifully built fans, largely cast aluminum, K55-type motor. Moves a lot of air very quietly, very impressive. If I had to improve something, it'd be the blades. They're kinda flimsy, but I've seen worse too. I'd never really realized that both versions use essentially the same motor setup, and just vary a couple components to make it either a hugger or downrod model. Never paid much attention, I never really do until I have something in my hands and get to play with it in person. Since there's a downrod coupler already integrated, I couldn't resist doing a little reconfiguring to try it with a downrod using some spare parts. Normally I don't mess around much with NIB fans, but I did have to move the capacitor down into the actual motor housing in order to do this. Think it was worth it just to try this. From my standpoint as a collector, never knowing where my fans might be installed, the flexibility this offers is kinda neat. It is possible to rig the downrod with the hugger housing in place as well, would probably need a longer rod though. I didn't think I'd like it as much with that part in place so I kept it off.
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Post by fancollector12 on May 16, 2018 1:44:19 GMT -5
Sweet find!!! I have a white Stratos and LOVE it.... Ron Rezek was a pioneer for sure in modern fan design.
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Post by Jonathan A. on May 16, 2018 22:36:03 GMT -5
Your first K55-type hugger! Any other K55-type hugger being sold today?
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Post by Jordan U on May 19, 2018 14:59:35 GMT -5
I don't care for it as a hugger, but it does look somewhat neat on the downrod.. Reminds me of the Emerson blender fans..
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Post by MattS on May 25, 2018 17:35:24 GMT -5
It reminds me of the Emerson heat fans as well just a more modern version. However, I actually prefer it installed as a hugger for some reason.
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Post by Cole S. on Jun 16, 2018 12:12:51 GMT -5
So, aside from Cleanup Week finds (sorry for no thread this year, I just can't keep up on this platform), the brand new Casablanca Aya is my most recent acquisition. It's the first application of Hunter's WiFi tech into a Casablanca product, and overall it's a great one. I'm not normally into two blade designs aside from things like belt drives, so I understand if it's not your thing, but the recent trend in two blades has been changing my mind a lot lately. Two blades always seemed like an old, outdated concept, but it's coming back in modern designs now. There are a lot of neat ones coming out, Aya is definitely among my favorites. I think it's super cool how the blades essentially are the housing, and love the curvature of them. Most of the screws are totally concealed, it's a super clean and seamless design. The greatest part for me is that it does over 6300 CFM on high, so it's a design that functions as beautifully as it appears, and honestly the wind noise isn't as bad as you'd expect for two blades. Super nice DC motor, it's a style that I don't think I've ever seen before (it's shown in the install video, coming soon). Hoping it's Hunter's new standard in DC motors, it kills the performance game. LED light is good, I'm still kind of meh on integrated LEDs but Casablanca's are some of my favorite within the industry. Nice color and output. This fan was also my first experience with the new platform control systems, this one includes the wall control version. Evidently the previous generation products do not pair with the new ones, though I haven't tried. I've heard there were assorted issues with the previous format, but I'm a little disappointed there since I have a lot of those crossover products. Would be nice if they would all still work together. Overall though, quite impressed with another Casablanca product. I can't find a lot to complain about, aside from the fact that it's not old, traditional Casablanca aka the typical complaint. Speed selection could be a little better, it's improving though I think. Better speeds than my DC Stealth offers. Also I think they need to work on the app tech a little bit to optimize it for six speed DC motors, there are still some issues to work out there, which I'm sure will be fixed as other models will be rolling out.
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Post by fancollector12 on Jun 17, 2018 3:17:31 GMT -5
Love it!!! I love how Casa (and Hunter) have designers instead of just taking off-the-shelf models and branding them as their own... really puts a personal touch to the company!
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Post by Cole S. on Jul 14, 2018 21:24:27 GMT -5
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Post by Max C. on Jul 14, 2018 23:20:35 GMT -5
That sure is a beauty, Cole! What year is that motor from?
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Post by fancollector12 on Jul 15, 2018 3:17:20 GMT -5
Gotta love the Vic, in any finish, but especially this combo <3
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Post by Jordan U on Jul 16, 2018 8:02:06 GMT -5
That is an awesome piece! The brass looks new..
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Post by Cole S. on Jul 25, 2018 19:32:00 GMT -5
That sure is a beauty, Cole! What year is that motor from? 1989
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Post by Cole S. on Jul 25, 2018 20:17:26 GMT -5
So I'm behind again lol. As you know if you follow me literally anywhere else, last month I traveled to Dallas for June Lightovation. What a whirlwind experience. I learned a lot and got a whole different outlook, and am still processing everything that happened even now. It is so much sensory overload, especially the first time, that I feel like I did a lot but also missed a lot. I will have to return someday. Met up with a ton of people that I've only previously known through the internet, and also got to meet some new people. A lot of those new people were at Quorum International. I've never had any Quorum fans, I picked a real basic one up on Cleanup Week one year, but had to part it out because it was incomplete and rough. That's the extent of my experience. I always thought of Quorum as one of those brands showrooms would recommend looking at if you couldn't afford any of the good stuff, and I think that was mostly accurate for a period, but especially in the advancing age of DC motors and playful design, they've been coming out to play. Since they brought out the Windmill a couple years back I've been more intrigued, and was really excited to hear more about the company and their culture. Quorum is a family business (they also own Cyan Design, little sidenote for you), and they're really multifaceted expert importers. You could scoff at that back in the days of "American Made" fans, but these days practically everyone doing fans is an importer, and Quorum's expertise in doing that is really driving their business forward. These people know how to do business, listen to what customers want, and deliver on what is being asked for. Case in point: the 44" Windmill, which is the first Quorum fan I worked with. We have more coming, and after seeing the Windmill I'm excited to crack into the others. People were begging for light kits and smaller sizes of this fan, Quorum delivered them this year. I was pretty taken aback by this fan. Yeah, I was figuring it'd be fair, it's got the usual Rhine DC components at the core so I knew it'd be fine, but the build quality on this is unprecedented and kind of has me shook. Absolutely gorgeous. The amount of custom tooling, the cleanliness of the casting, the quality of the finishes and the glass. Everything measures up to the best on the current market that I've seen, and maybe exceeds in some areas. Air movement doesn't blow my mind, but I think each respective size does well considering it's such a specialty design. We've seen what Kichler can get away with, making a fan that looks freakin cool but moves next to no air, so I think the Windmill is fair considering it probably could've been made to move no air as well. So with this as a first impression, I'm very excited to have them on board and get a look at some products that don't really have much exposure. I heard the Windmill fan was the top-selling fan for the entire industry over the past year, and yet there really aren't many videos about it on YouTube or really talk elsewhere online, aside from showrooms. WHAT? This fan needs to be talked about, it's beautiful.
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Post by fancollector12 on Jul 26, 2018 1:52:58 GMT -5
I saw your videos on the Windmill!!! I love it!!!
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Post by Max C. on Aug 3, 2018 14:18:53 GMT -5
Cole, darn it! You always make everybody so jealous On a more serious note, the introduction of the Windmill has always struck me as (sort of) new beginning for Quorum. I am definitely with you in thinking they're no longer just "some builder fan company." Also pleasant to see is that some more traditionally-styled offerings such as the Pinnacle are still being sold, so its not as if they are exclusively catering to one market. Oh yes, and that seeded glass light kit compliments the fan beautifully, certainly adding to the spectacular-factor!
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