Mission Man, I read two statements from you and asked a question based on those lines.
The first part I read was in your initial post where you wanted advice for " a home (non professional) studio " and that indicates to me that you were not going to be subjecting the gear that you buy to heavy duty commercial use.
The second line that I read and based my question on was in post #8 where you stated that you would add other gear " as my budget dictates " which I consider entirely sensible so my thoughts were to maximise the initial budget.
The lighting units available in Australia at that end of the "non professional" "budget" range extend from poorly made rubbish through to very good bang for your buck units.
I have nothing against the Elinchrom units that you have indicated as being suitable for your use but I do feel that in a few areas they are a little over hyped because of their "name" and advertising.
Wayne has very eloquently described (not) various units as "knockoffs" "excreta" and manufactured by "whoflungdung" who "will not be there in 10 minutes when I need them" and I'm sorry to say that I don't find much merit in such descriptions with regard to some better quality "non named" brand lighting units.
I was merely pointing out that there are good quality units available that will save you $$$, offer similar / the same / better performance than the "named" brands. I do not consider them "knockoffs" as they are simply
light heads that are manufactured in a similar style to other
light heads. I certainly don't consider the 2 heads that I use as "excreta" because they function entirely as they should and in a couple of areas are better specced than the E brand.
As far as back up and service go for the "knockoffs" that I own, the business that sells them has been in operation for at least 5 years, maybe more but that is as long as I have been dealing with him. I don't think he is about to close up shop tomorrow, can always be reached with a phone call as well as having a physical address in Melbourne to visit.
He keeps a good stock of consumables ( modifiers, backdrops, stands, flash tubes etc ) for his units.
I have never seen any colour inconsistencies or power variances from the lights, they have never stopped working, they have not fallen apart. They have had more than average use over the time that they have been here.
The other thing that appeals to me over the Elinchroms is that if I owned an Elinchrom unit and I needed any warranty work done within the one year warranty period I would simply have to deliver it to the retailer and then wait for the service agent to get around to repairing it.
If my "knockoff" brand had suffered any form of failure ( flash tube excepted ) during the two year warranty period I would simply have delivered it to the retailer and received a new unit in exchange.
Certainly, there are some very mouth wateringly excellent products available from the well known makers and as far as I know there are no "knockoff" products that compare with or even manufactured competing in that end of the market but that is not where I thought the original thread was headed given the "non professional" and "budget" parameters.
Please excuse me for offering an opinion if you are determined to only consider name brands based on perceptions ( sometimes misguided ) of others who may not have even used the gear in question. Such is the life of the internet.