DMF Pushes Modularity, Compatibility in New Line of CI-Channel Fixtures

CARSON, Calif. -- Addressing luxury homeowner and designer cravings for an uncluttered, “quiet” ceiling, lighting company DMF launched on Tuesday the iX Series Small Aperture lights, which it says deliver the performance of traditional in-ceiling fixtures from a 2-inch enclosure. Output of 750-1250 lumens delivers similar light coverage as 3- and 4-inch fixtures, the company said.

The iX Series gives custom integrators and designers a smaller footprint “while maintaining strong light output and versatility,” Mike Libman, national sales director-residential systems, told journalists last month on an embargoed press trip to DMF headquarters.

To simplify installation for integrators, one modular housing design accommodates standard downlights, wall wash and adjustable lights in round or square form factors. The company developed a patented Precision Lock Collar that’s said to eliminate “over-cutting” and ensure a “perfectly cut” flange and installations at a uniform depth, it said.

The modular system installs with a “plug, snap, and fit,” said iX Series Lead Engineer George Saad, saying the design “eliminates mistakes and allows for effortless changes throughout the job.” The fixtures are designed for new construction and retrofit projects.

Saad’s team designed a hinged junction box wiring door that conceals an “aircraft cable” that technicians pull to gain access to wiring and splices from beneath the ceiling. “You don’t have to open the drywall, repatch and plaster,” Saad said. That’s also useful for code compliance when an inspector wants to view splice connections, he said.

Creating a fixture with such a small aperture created challenges. “We want things to last a long time,” Saad said, and that required making the fixture’s driver reliable within the limits of temperature and optics.

Extensive performance tests at the Carson facility included running modules for 13 months to monitor the degradation of lumens over time. Engineers drove modules “to extremes, finding the weak link and how to eliminate it vs. running a test and verify that it passes,” said Vice President-Engineering Rushi Kumar. “We beat the hell out of it,” he said, referencing a test oven that runs for six months at 194 degrees to determine whether warping or cloudiness in the optics occurred. “Those parts are critical for the long-term performance of the product,” he said.

DMF positions itself at the mid-tier of the custom-channel market, offering integrators an option for a recessed architectural fixture that steps up the homeowner from contractor-grade fixtures. “We’re able to justify additional spend on a project that has contractor-grade fixtures based on our performance and how we operate,” Libman said. At the other end, DMF fixtures can be positioned as a lower cost alternative to more expensive competitors, “while maintaining or exceeding the spec points of higher cost features with the added benefits of modularity and installation,” he said.

DMF fixtures offer LED white light tunability but not the full-color tunability of higher end, higher-priced lighting systems, Libman said. The company sought broad compatibility with lighting control systems. In many situations, a customer’s preferred control manufacturer “doesn’t play nice with whatever their fixture manufacturer is,” creating a mismatch, Libman said. “With a lot of different pieces moving, we’re focused on being appropriate for the most amount of applications.”

That could include sharing a project with other lighting companies. “We think there’s enough room for a lot of manufacturers to be on the same line card,” Libman said, saying customers want particular lighting for specific use cases: “This is where I watch sports,” he gave as an example: “I want my team’s colors.”

Lutron’s high-end Ketra line is an example of lighting DMF can complement, Libman said. “When people work with Ketra, we love that, because they lead with Ketra -- and that may comprise 10-20% of the whole project -- and then DMF rounds out the other 80-90%.” After homeowners have been introduced to quality lighting, “and they understand the pitfalls and challenges of executing it,” he said, “we become very attractive.”

DMF’s road map calls for additional products in the iX Series that are “similar but with a much smaller aperture,” and with more trims to address style trends, said Kumar. “The big piece for the integrator channel is the introduction of digital,” he said. “We have to start moving our products away from the traditional dimmer panel or wall-box dimmers to digital control solutions.” It plans to start rolling those out next year, he said.

Digital will give integrators a way to offer a higher level of service, Kumar said. When a homeowner wants to change how different lights in a room are controlled, the integrator can easily re-zone them, he said. “When they want to adjust the color temperature, with digital control you can adjust the color temperature.” Color tunability will be a major “value add” for integrators, he said.

Changing the color temperature of lights during the day and night to coincide with environmental light changes will become “really important” in homes in the future, Kumar said. “There’s a huge gap between what that product is and what your [home improvement store] fixture is,” he said. “There’s a big spot where we can play very effectively with a high-quality product that gives the homeowner all the features of color tunability.”

Lighting is still at the early stages in the custom integrator channel. Kumar said the channel offers DMF the benefit of a receptive customer base with “an appetite for new things,” one that’s technically savvy and capable of handling new feature sets. That’s welcome because “trying to sell a new light bulb to a homeowner is very difficult.”

DMF’s modular approach means housings are “ready to go” for integrators, Kumar said. Typically, fixtures of the iX Series’ grade would require configuration by the integrator who would have to install the driver and LED engine: “That’s four-weeks’ lead time at a minimum,” he said. Complex fixtures can have a 26-week lead time. DMF’s LED engine integrates everything dealers need in a module; they can make changes later if they want a wider or narrower beam “without a lot of effort.”

The first iX series fixtures, in a round form factor, are due to ship at the end of September, followed by the square version early next year, said Senior Vice President Andrew Wakefield.