CT NEC has provided full AV support for Land Rover, on a three-year permanent installation basis, at the Bluewater Shopping Centre in Kent. Situated in two high profile areas, eight Panasonic TH-42PWD4 42" plasma displays and two Panasonic DVD-RV31 players have been supplied and fitted as visual reinforcement for Land Rover's impressive vehicle displays.

Split into two adjacent areas, the first site - a Land Rover Clothing Store, located in the Southeast Welcome Hall - contains two screens, with the capacity for future upgrade to enable data capture. The second installation is located within the main shopping mall thoroughfare, and boasts six screens, with four at ground level and two on the first floor. The screens display product and corporate video footage and currently present t

Philips CSI has moved to an impressive new corporate facility at Heathrow, located on the Bath Road adjacent to Heathrow airport. The facilities at the new site will allow the company to expand its operations especially with enhanced sales, training and demonstration facilities for customers and installers.

According to Reg Nicholls, the newly-appointed UK general manager for Philips CSI: "Our move into this building allows us to continue to strengthen and develop our UK operations. We have opportunities to further promote the Philips brand name by providing all the services required to make us more customer-focused and responsive." he added. The new Philips CSI centre at Heathrow will also offer a much faster response and turnaround on both warranty and non-warranty repairs, plus a new 'swap-out' service on key products that effectively gives customers a free replacement pr

American DJ has introduced the Dual Gem and Super Jewel, upgraded versions of two of its most popular sound-activated moonflower effects. As its name suggests, the Dual Gem is a double version of the Color Gem. The Super Jewel is similar to the American DJ Jewel, but has sharper optics and a bigger beam spread to provide even more impact.

The Dual Gem includes an FX switch, which allows it to be operated in sound active, static or continuous rotation mode. A special sensitivity knob has also been added to control the degree of intensity with which the beams respond to the music. With the sensitivity adjustment, DJs can set the effect for high-energy movement or for calmer effects.

The Super Jewel features a high-power LL-64514 120V, 300W lamp. In addition to its increased brightness, new colours and wider beam spread, the Super Jewel now includes an FX switch for operation in sound a

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Indochine X PixMob Fan Immersion

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's - 40 thousand LED pixels on a ceiling!!! Indochine's whirlwind tour transports fans to another level of the live experience - immersing them from floor to ceiling with PixMob's X4 wristbands, and an LED ceiling made entirely of its NOVA Minis! With the vision of Indochine's creative team, PixMob used its LED fan-technology to turn attendees and venues into an ocean of effects, and a starry sky of LED magic. Très très cool!

Read more about the Indochine tour in the latest issue of LSi

AV specialist Saville Audio Visual has appointed Matt Alexander as area sales manager for South London, Kent and parts of Surrey and Sussex. Formerly based in Devon with Greenham Video, Alexander has extensive experience in the AV industry and his responsibilities will include sales of LCD projectors, audio visual and conferencing systems.

(Lee Baldock)

PLASA Media has learned the sad news of the death of Bob Salt, who died yesterday while on holiday in Jamaica. Although early details are vague, it is understood that Bob died of pneumonia, following on from a chest infection.

As founder and managing director of RW Salt Communications, one of the country’s leading distributors of PA, pro audio and communications equipment, Bob was very well known to many in the industry. In a statement issued today on behalf of the company, Richard Lyon, chairman of RW Salt Communications, said: "Bob loved this company and its success was his continuing dream. It is my wish to preserve his dream in the best possible way, as do the loyal people who have worked for Bob over time."

He continued: "Everything is in place for the company to continue in a professional way. There will be no delays to supplier payments and our customers c

The AXYS range of products is now being distributed and supported within the UK by Duran Audio UK. In addition to supplying the successful AXYS Intellivox range, Duran Audio will also be actively promoting the Arena System, Scope System, Stadium System, Source System and Flex range. The company’s new Target System, which has been through extensive Beta testing, will also be available for sale in 2002. Sales of AXYS in the Republic of Ireland will now be handled by Sound Productions of Dublin.

(Lee Baldock)

Northampton-based event and display specialists Mushroom Events provided a white Christmas for shoppers at the famous Harvey Nichols department store in London's Knightsbridge, by creating half-hourly artificial snowfalls in the street outside the store. The display began on November 14 and ended on Christmas Eve, running from 10.40 in the morning through to 7.20 in the evening.

Mushroom, which has created window display lighting for the store's branches in London and Leeds for the past three years, and the new Birmingham branch which opened in October, came up with the idea as a follow-up to last year's seasonal decoration when strings of fairy lights adorned the store's façade. The snowfalls are created by three snow machines, mounted on the store's roof, which produce a totally safe, detergent and water-based, white foam. Forced through a fine mesh and released into the air, it tak

Industry veteran Doug Carpenter has joined High End Systems as its new west coast regional accounts manager. Carpenter has 15 years of experience in the lighting industry, most of those concentrated at control and dimming manufacturer NSI. During his years there he worked his way up from production test technician to service manager and onwards to worldwide sales manager. Carpenter will work closely with Randy Mayer, HES' inside sales rep, who recently moved to the company’s LA office.(Lee Baldock)

A vibrant new South African production has recently arrived on the West End stage. Umoja - The Spirit of Togetherness opened at the Shaftesbury Theatre to rave reviews thanks to a cast of 33 singers and dancers, four African drummers and a five-piece band.

Conceived by Todd Twala and Thembi Nyandeni, and brought to the stage by director Ian von Memerty, the task of 'sound designing' the story of African music fell to Trevor Peters. With FOH engineer, Tanja Somers, Trevor recommended that the show turn to both BSS and Trantec as the most effective and economic way of setting the delays and correcting the sound imaging, and supplying the requisite number of radio mic channels.

"I did the original sound design using more conventional equipment which I was familiar with, but then someone suggested I look at BSS’s Soundweb," said Peters. "Although I first saw S

Sonia Friedman, currently the producer at the Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG), has created with ATG a new production company, Sonia Friedman Productions (SFP). ATG is the second largest theatre owning and managing group, with a portfolio of 19 theatres in the West End and the regions.

Friedman will retain her current role at ATG - producing and programming all the work at the New Ambassadors Theatre, as well as initiating a wide range of work for other theatres across the West End, UK and internationally. SFP will additionally take on responsibility for larger scale work including musicals and multiple media projects.

Friedman joined ATG in 1998, and relaunched the New Ambassadors Theatre in May 1999. Of the 22 shows that she has produced, co-produced or programmed, successes include Stones in His Pockets, Spoonface Steinberg, Krapp’s Last Tape with John Hurt, The Vag

CIE-Audio has been appointed exclusive UK distributor for the newly launched ‘Euromet’ range of professional stands, trussing and audio/lighting hardware. The new product range is CIE-Audio’s latest move in its plans to develop a new ‘leisure-based’ music range which will complement CIE-Group’s existing portfolio of integrated product solutions (currently comprising installed sound, data & telecommunications and CCTV & security).

Chris Edwards, CIE-Group marketing manager told us: "These new products will give our existing customers a complete hardware range, from audio and lighting stands, brackets and fittings, to staging and event technology such as trussing and portable staging. Euromet will also form a vital part of our new ‘leisure’ product range, which will see CIE-Audio moving further into the AV, events and lighting markets

West London-based pro audio distributor Ampekko has recently supplied the Institute of Contemporary Arts, situated on The Mall in London, with an integrated SLS Loudspeaker system. As the official sponsor of Climax 01, SLS teamed up with the ICA and The Musicians Union to stage a ground-breaking season of music and talks which looked at the highlights of indie, acoustic and dance music over 2001. Its resounding success inspired the ICA to permanently install a SLS integrated sound reinforcement system into their main Theatre.

Andrew Missingham, director of performing arts, explained: "We were so impressed by the SLS system that Ampekko supplied for the week-long Climax 01 season, that it made total sense to replace our old system and upgrade to SLS. It will allow us to fulfil our objectives in 2002 to revive live music performance in this venue. It has already worked to enhance ou

The ATI Group, parent company of Audio Toys Inc, API Audio and Uptown Automation, will consolidate manufacturing and corporate offices for all three brands in a larger facility as of January 14. The changes come in response to ATI's steady and considerable growth over the last decade. In addition to providing the company with a much needed doubling of space, the consolidation will improve manufacturing efficiency. ATI, API and Uptown Automation products will all be manufactured at the new Jessup, Maryland, location under the direction of general manager Gordon Smart.

Audio Toys Inc manufactures the Paragon II monitor console and the newly introduced Paragon II production console, along with the successful 8MX2 mic pre/mixer. The Paragon II has recently been seen on tour with Britney Spears, U2, Tim McGraw and many other top acts. API remains an industry leader in analogue recording equ

Fujitsu Ten Limited Japan has announced the formation of its joint venture company, Eclipse TD (UK) Ltd. The company has been founded to distribute and market the Eclipse TD range of monitor speaker systems in the United Kingdom.

The Eclipse TD 508 and TD 512 monitor systems, based on Time Domain principles, were launched in Japan in April 2001 (where they received a Japan Industrial Design Promotion Organisation award) and shown publicly in Europe for the first time at the Hi-Fi Show in London in September. Following the immediate success of the speakers in Japan, public reaction at the Hi-Fi Show, and recording industry response at a number of private studio demonstrations, the board of Fujitsu Ten Ltd, Japan took the decision to establish a UK operation. Based in west London, Eclipse TD (UK) Ltd is headed by managing director Hiroshi Kato.

Commenting on the new venture at a recep

In the latest move to benefit its members, PLASA has appointed a full-time health and safety standards officer to provide advice and guidance to members on this increasingly important issue. Ron Bonner comes to the Association from his previous role as health and safety manager for a local hospital trust, where he had responsibility for health and safety management for 3,000 employees across two sites.

Ron’s career has been very much rooted in fire safety, beginning in 1972 when he began serving as an aircraft firefighter with the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm. In 1977, Ron joined the London Fire Brigade, where he spent 17 years, serving at Mill Hill, Tottenham and Stoke Newington fire stations. During this time, he attended a number of notable incidents, including the Kings Cross underground fire in 1987 and the Marchioness disaster on the Thames in 1989. After receiving a se

Modelbox, the pioneering specialist in the use of computer aided design for the entertainment industry, was recently called in to help the Brighton Dome generate new groundplans for visiting companies.

Currently in the middle of a £22million Lottery-funded rebuild, with the Pavilion Theatre and the Corn Exchange already open and the Dome due to re-open next month, the theatres' staff had come to realise that, as is so often the case, the architectural plans generated for the refurbishment would actually be of little use to visiting companies since they would contain too much detail and superfluous information.

Modelbox are now adapting the architectural plans to produce a set of theatrical-style groundplans for each of the three venues, presenting theatrical users with the information they need in the form they expect to find it in. The plans will be available to visiting companies

ARX has recently completed shipping one of its largest individual orders received in 2001 for the new multi-million dollar Crowne Plaza Hotel project in Beirut, Lebanon. ARX's Lebanese distributor Doummar Freres Sarl has the contract to design, supply and install the fully-integrated audio-video system for the new hotel's banqueting and conference facilities which also includes stage lighting, conferencing and simultaneous translation systems, lighting and dimmers, and mobile band equipment. The projects Audio systems include over 40 PowerMax Series loudspeakers and various quantities of UltraSubs, Micro Max 1s, Ambience 5s and AmbiSubs powered by 15 ZR 850 and 350 Power Amplifiers and SX 1500s, ZA 600s PowerDrives and AmbiDrive Power Amplifiers.

Signal Processing comprises 12 EQ 60 equalisers, 11 AFW 1 anti feedback workstations and quantities of Maxisplit line splitters, Mixxmaster

Trantec’s award-winning UHF radio mics have been supplied to a new studio facility in Kennington - set up to produce the latest Richard & Judy series. Six channels of Trantec S5000 beltpacks, with a pair of auxiliary S4000s, were recommended by Nigel Gates, along with Trantec S5000IEM personal in-ear monitors to Cactus TV, the production company for Richard & Judy, which is now being produced at the studio in South London for Channel 4 transmission. Four receiver racks were supplied with the order.

Sound supervisor Oliver France installed the equipment at the Cactus TV studio in conjunction with facility providers, Roll To Record, following a fast-track contract to develop the brownfield site (a former polystyrene depot). Oliver confirmed that Nigel Gates had long been an advocate of Trantec radio mics. "And on occasions when I have used them I have found them to give a good

Nodd McDonagh, operations director of London-based superclub the Ministry of Sound is parting company with the organisation after eight years. The surprise news followed shortly after the departure in November of Hector Dewar, chief operating office of the group, both moves as a result of what Ministry insiders call "a strategic reshuffle".

Nodd, formerly with leisure giants Rank and First Leisure, oversaw the club operations originally as general manager, then rising to operations director as the global music and media group capitalised on its early successes and began to expand into many diverse areas worldwide. It was in the globe-trotting, trouble-shooting role that Nodd excelled, finding himself organising successful Ministry events from Knebworth to Ibiza: more recently of course, he was heavily involved in the massive New Year’s Eve gig at the Millennium Dome - t

UK exhibitors at the 11th TiLE (Trends in Leisure and Entertainment) exhibition and conference will receive financial support from the Department of Trade and Industry'’ Trade Partners UK, through its SESA scheme. SESA (Support for Exhibitions and Seminars Abroad) provides funds to help British companies exhibit their products and services at trade shows that have a proven record of attracting the right buyers.

TiLE‘s broad base covers visitor attractions, theme parks and themed environments, retail and shopping malls and exhibitions and product launches, attracting exhibitors from the A/V, multimedia, architectural, lighting, sound and special effects fields. The show takes place at the Estrel Congress Center, Berlin, from Tuesday 11th to Thursday 13th June 2002.

(Ruth Rossington)

JBL’s new VerTec system was used on New Year’s Eve at the highly successful SchoolDisco.com event at London Docklands Arena. The sold-out event was attended by 11,000 revellers in school uniforms. JBL audio was specified by SchoolDisco.com founder and guru Bobby Sanchez, who has used the brand for years. He loves the ‘classic’ JBL sound which is perfect for SchoolDisco.com’s musical style and ambience.

Sanchez insists on using JBL at all SchoolDisco.com events. He says it brings out the best of their musical policy which is based on the pop and rock anthems of the 70s, 80s and 90s. The fast forwarding SchoolDisco.com phenomena currently includes a weekly Friday detention slot at the Hanover Grand in central London and regular extra curricular events at Hammersmith Palais (Po Na Na) - utilising their own 4-stack JBL sound system - plus weekly club nights at

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