Gary, I wanted some experienced opinions, as they are a valuable learning tool, imo. Correct me if I'm wrong though, but my reasoning is this : Why raise the lamp and adjust to full power, when I can keep it closer and simply use the dimmer switch? I know for a fact that the closer the better and if I run it @ full power AND raise it, it would be approximately the same as keeping it close and dimming it to 300w. I posted this question because I wanted your opinions, but I do try to exercise my own common sense before I make the necessary adjustments. I can't get a fan rt. now (for reasons I don't want to get into) so my only options are: raise the lamp (full power) or keep it close (75% power). I think they are doing okay running on "only" 300 watts. This is what we do here man, we ask questions, and sometimes we still end up "doing what we want anyway" because we all have something called free will. This joint 's for you man