Maxspect Mazarra (Mazarra X not shown)

With the new Maxspect Mazarra X being snuck into Reefstock recently, and Mr. Saltwater Tank doing a brief video clip on it, we assume there are many of you who are really itching to find out more information about this upcoming fixture. Well, we have details.

The Mazarra X is basically an upgraded Mazarra S, with some of the same limitations and functionality in tow, but will be geared to sit closer to the Mazarra P in terms of overall performance, even if it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles. That’s not a bad thing though, as this is still going to be a very capable fixture, at a very eye catching price.

With the Mazarra X being based off the original Mazarra S, which ended up evolving into the Mazarra P, it still shares the same glossy piano black finish. The mounting system is also the same with all the ball joints and extruded aluminum sections to make almost any mounting system that you could want.

As the video mentioned before, wireless connectivity between modules is gone in favor of a less expensive wired connection. The units are daisy-chained together using a small cable with 3.5mm audio style jacks doing the connection duties. The master module has a controller built into the unit that is similar to the Mazarra S, and does the usual duties of keeping time, setting the brightness of each LED channel automatically and manually, controlling the moonlight settings, and setting the fan temperature trigger points. All of the slave units, of which you can connect up to 16 to a single master module, are basically dumb, and follow the direction of the master module. As a result, advanced features that would be found on the P like daylight simulation and cloud cover are out. What is interesting is that the slave modules are capable of being run on their own, but at a fixed 100% output with the fan running constantly.

The Mazarra X uses the same LED channel layout as the Mazarra S (right)

On the LED front, the Mazarra X is limited to two controllable LED channels; white and blue. While there isn’t anything out of the ordinary with this compared to other dimmable fixtures on the market, what really sets this one apart form the others is the LEDs that are used within. Some have speculated that because of it’s lower price point that it would be resorting to just using Bridgelux based LEDs to keep costs at a minimum.

Color us surprised when we saw that these fixtures will be fitted with Cree LEDs right out of the gate. As of right now, it slated to have Cree XB-Ds in 8,000K cool white (6 pieces) and 3,500K warm white (2 pieces) to give a full and balanced base spectrum, with tried and trued XP-E 450nm royal blue (4 pieces) and 470nm blue (4 pieces) LEDs adding in the blue punch. XB-D LEDs were a great choice in keeping the overall quality up while keeping costs down, thanks to the silicon carbide technology that Cree has been working on, and that we have covered here in the past.

Outside of that, the differences between the X and the S are pretty minimal. What has changed is a slight increase in the number of time points that can be set for each LED channel. While it’s not the eight that you will find with the Mazarra P, six time points gives you a little more fine control over the photo period than the four that was found with the S.

When the fixture goes to market here soon, potential customers will find this as a kit with one master module, one slave module, one power supply (capable of running up to two modules), a full set of 40 degree and 100 degree secondary lenses (70 degree lenses are installed by default), and the usual mounting frame parts to let you build up your mounting system the way you want it. The target MSRP for the kit is supposed to be in the $500 range. We have yet to hear what the price is for individual slave modules, but you can bet that it’s going to be very reasonable.

Seeing as the Mazarra X has yet to hit production, there is still the chance that some details may change at the last minute, but we will keep you informed on anything we find.