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USA - QSC Audio has introduced the new SRA (Studio Reference Amplifier) Series. Based on the company's flagship DCA Digital Cinema Series, the SRA Series brings QSC's 'Power Behind the Pictures' audio standard to environments such as recording studios, film and video post-production facilities, boardrooms, and high-end residential installations, say the company.

The three SRA models, ranging from 200W per channel to 725W per channel at 8 ohms, are designed to offer the professional cinema reference standards of the DCA series, with performance optimized for demanding production and residential applications. The SRA Series is packed with features designed to meet the specialized needs of critical listening environments, say QSC, such as a very quiet variable speed fan which is virt

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Japan - Digital Projection International and its joint venture partner NEC Viewtechnology, have announced they have carried out the first commercial demonstration of the cS25 projection system in Tokyo, Japan. The cS25 is the first commercial projector utilizing the new higher resolution Texas Instruments DC2K DMD, offering over two million pixels. The demonstration was arranged in conjunction with Japanese distributor, Toshiba Denko and was held at the Togeki theatre, owned by Shochiku, in Ginza, Tokyo, Japan.

"We are extremely proud to have been involved in the two significant world firsts within the Digital Cinema market. In December 2000 we sold and installed the first ever digital cinema projector and have followed this up with the world's first commercial demonstration of the DC2K unit. It demonstrates that Digital Projection is committed to innovation and is 100% beh

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Denmark - Built from the ground up for greater performance and featuring an all-new look, the new MAC 250 Entour is the latest version of Martin Professional's 250W automated profile spot. Like its newly released sibling, the MAC 250 Krypton, the Entour incorporates the technology and design features of the MAC 2000.

The MAC 250 Entour has been designed for environments where powerful effects are required from a compact profile moving head, including stage, studio and event applications and permanent installations. The Entour includes a number of advancements, including an improved optical system and new achromatic lens system for brighter output and unsurpassed quality imaging, while all-new gobo designs and an additional gobo wheel provide an abundance of new effects. Other improvements include enhanced movement, a specially designed dimming system and a modular design that us

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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

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UK - Entec Lighting is supplying equipment to the 10 week series of Saturday Lakeside Concerts at picturesque Kenwood House in Hampstead, north London. The high profile event is now in its 53rd year, and this is the second year Entec has been onboard for IMG Arts & Entertainment. The company was invited to tender for the Kenwood gig after working with IMG on the Spanish Riding School of Vienna, arena tour of 2001. The cabaret-style series of concerts varies considerably in content, from the likes of Bjorn Again to the Frank Sinatra touring show and several orchestras, as well as high profile international jazz artists like Diana Krall, whose show completely sold out.

Entec's head of lighting Adam Stevenson explains that they are supplying a basic rig consisting of 16 400W exterior sodium floods illuminating the white-clad inside of the stage, for those acts wanting absolutely no

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UK - LiteStructures will be unveiling much more than most other exhibitors at PLASA 2003 - as it will lift the lid on its brand new image and new website. LiteStructures' makeover comes during a period of expansion, which sees the company growing both in size and reputation. Managing director Adrian Brooks explains: "It was definitely time for a change. LiteStructures is going from strength to strength and we wanted to overhaul our image to reflect that."

While the LiteStructures logo is certainly different, visitors to the stand can rest assured that the company's products are still as stylish and reliable as ever, as Brooks explains: "The quality and service you'll get from LiteStructures is the same as before. The change of image simply brings the LiteStructures 'look' in line with the 21st century." Visitors to stand M40 will also be able to see LiteStruc

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Ireland - Irish PA company, Nolan Sound & Light, have purchased a Nexo GEO S Tangent Array System for use on the next leg of the Daniel O'Donnell tour in the UK. Proprietor Alan Nolan confirmed the order with Irish Nexo/Crown distributor Rea Sound after the Irish singing legend had been impressed with the system - particularly the large CD18 subs - when he performed through it in the States.

Nolan Sound & Light, his long-time PA provider, had earlier experienced the Nexo GEO S system closer to home when visiting Millennium Forum Theatre in Derry with another act, and played through Rea Sound's newly-supplied house system. Alan Nolan explained what had motivated him to make the investment. "Whenever I brought Daniel to the British mainland we always ended up sub-hiring the Nexo kit in - which simply wasn't cost-effective."

And so he ordered 32 GEO S805s and a pair of

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UK - DPL Production Lighting in collaboration with laser and video specialists CMT, produced a spectacular mixed-media end to Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra's summer outdoor season, illuminating the skies in and around Meyrick Park in Bournemouth.

This was the biggest ever concert staged by the BSO, and saw them perform Carl Orff's Carmina Burana conducted by Neville Creed and accompanied by The Bournemouth Symphony Chorus. Over 6,000 people enjoyed the event, complete with full lighting, laser and video projections and over 150 pyro cues skilfully interwoven into the piece. DPL and CMT, together with Classic Fireworks and Skan PA, were asked onboard by the BSO's Anthony Brown.

DPL's Darren Parker led the lighting team. The company architecturally lit the production Horizon and coloured the trees behind the stage using 12 Martin MAC 2000s, two 7kW Xenon Space Can

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USA - An amendment to the National Constitution Center's initial lighting plan replaced an expensive video projection system with a group of automated VL1000 ellipsoidal reflector spotlights from Vari*Lite. The rig is for Freedom Rising, a multi-media production that introduces visitors to the new Philadelphia museum. As the show begins, the audience is washed in a huge starfield created by custom-designed gobos in the VL1000 units.

When the lone actor takes centre stage in the in-the-round configuration, he is lit with a sharp beam of light from another VL1000 fixture. At that moment, a video begins on a 360° video screen that surrounds the audience. "It's a total immersion experience for the audience," explained production coordinator Kai Brothers. "By adding light, patterns and images directly onto the audience with the VL1000 fixtures, they become part

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Australia - The first of the new MAC 250 Krypton moving lights to arrive in Australia were delivered in late July to Melbourne-based hire and production company, Resolution X. Supplied directly from the first production run at Martin's factory in Denmark, these first 52 MAC 250 Kryptons formed part of a package of more than 160 moving lights provided by Resolution X to television station HSV7 for the game show, Deal or No Deal.

The Krypton 250, which owes more of its design heritage to the MAC 2000 line than the previous generation of MAC 250s, is proving much faster, brighter and more flexible than its predecessors, say Resolution X. The company's managing director, Tim Hall, told PLASA Media that he is so impressed with the performance of the new fixtures that he is considering buying more of them when they become available.

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - Autograph Sound Recording is using LLW LDS700 ribbon loudspeakers on a production of Stephen Sondheim's Pacific Overtures at the Donmar Warehouse. The musical, which continues Autograph's long relationship with the theatre, chronicles the arrival of an American expedition on the Japanese island of Nippon in 1853, changing its way of life forever.

"Pacific Overtures is a fantastic musical which requires subtle amplification," says Autograph sound designer Nick Lidster. "Choosing a loudspeaker system for this type of reinforcement, while providing the auditorium with even, 360-degree coverage is extremely difficult. These problems are made worse at the Donmar as it has no obvious loudspeaker rigging positions, and this particular production is unusual because it is performed in-the-round, with the stage in the centre of the theatre."

The Sw

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Canada - In an effort to stave off the economic downturn suffered as a result of SARS, Toronto hosted the largest ticketed event in production history. Billed as 'Molson Canadian Rocks for Toronto', the show featured The Rolling Stones, topping a 15-act bill at a former air force base in the north end of 'the best behaved big city in the world'.

With only four weeks to put together a show for 450,000 people there was no opportunity for a learning curve, so Stones production director Jake Berry enlisted Fourth Phase's Toronto office to provide stage and audience lighting for the Stones, AC/DC, Rush, Guess Who, The Isley Brothers and ten other acts. Fourth Phase Toronto crew chief Scott Gross and his team of eight thus delivered a system comprising 200 Martin MAC 2000s and High End Studio Beams, plus 700 generics, and a staggering 90 Molefay 8-lites, spread across the 240' wide st

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Germany - In the second weekend of August, the Museums Insel (museum island) in Berlin saw (or more accurately 'heard') the first appearance of Alcons Audio's 'The Ribbon' line array system. Its debut came at the museum's annual festival, which takes place on the museum island in Berlin, and features a range of concerts.

Götz Berge, owner of Lichtwerk Berlin who were responsible for the lighting and sound elements of the event, commented: "With a concert stage in the centre of Berlin, and especially in a cultural place like the Museums Insel, we've had to deal with a lot of specific requirements for the audio specification. A number of problems had to be addressed, including limited SPL leakage to surrounding buildings and the fact that SPL inside the adjacent Berliner Dom (Berlin Dome) had to be as low as 50dB. At the same time, sound pressure on the concert ground itself

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UK - Rob Fowler has joined the Projected Image Digital team as technical applications engineer. He will be providing technical field support for the various digital servers and associated hardware supplied by Projected Image Digital, and applications advice relating to digital content, training and programming support.

Fowler has been in the professional lighting industry for 12 years. His career started at Theatre Projects in Greenford, from which he moved on to Vari*Lite's technical support department. He also worked at the Millennium Dome as a programmer/operator for the Wholehog II consoles running the Central Show, plus multi-tasking in other areas of the attraction. In 2001 he joined Flying Pig Systems' technical support department, and has now moved to P.I.D.

In addition to his wealth of experience in technical support, Fowler has also worked on a variety of live events

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USA - Edirol has announced availability of the world's first multi-port high-speed USB (USB2.0) audio recording interface - the UA -1000. This is the new flagship of the Edirol Audio Capture product line, and offers high quality audio capture and playback with features that make it an ideal centrepiece of a PC-based recording studio, say Edirol.

The UA-1000 is connected to the computer via a single USB 2.0 cable connection. Data transfer is a fast 480Mbps, which offers 10 fully duplex audio channels of 24-bit/96kHz which can be channeled and routed in various modes, including stereo and surround channel formats up to 7:1. An added feature is that the volume knob can be set to control the stereo master or alternatively all surround channel levels at the single touch of a button.

The UA-1000 has a very strong selection of connectors and interfaces for use in the studio, includin

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UK - MTFX's Firedance system has proved very popular this year, with shows up and down the country accompanying many Firework Fantasia¹s and Classical Concerts. It can be used both in daylight and night time productions with extreme versatility. The standard system consists of 12 large jets of fire 8m high. Each jet is synchronized to a smpte track or other show system for millisecond accuracy, or the whole effect can be played live.

For safety reasons, each jet is intelligent enough to shut itself off should the pilot light be lost, thereby disabling that pod until a suitable ignition has been established. The materials used for the effect are completely non hazardous in their primary state, causing no problems with transportation or on site storage. MTFX completed in total over a thousand 'burns' of various sizes, without incident and with the material igniting every time (th

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UK - Worldwide automated lighting manufacturer High End Systems Inc (HES) has introduced the Catalyst DL1 - a digital video engine that bridges the worlds of automated lighting and video projection. The Catalyst DL1 incorporates rugged moving light technology with a digital video engine and includes both lighting and video communications protocols. HES is positioning the DL1 as the lighting industry's first commercially available digital moving light and will immediately begin promoting it to entertainment and information markets including theatre, television, film, concert touring, night clubs, churches and corporate events planners.

HES will publicly debut the Catalyst DL1 at the PLASA Show in London (7-10 September). Preview showings in August include the Nissan Auto Dealer product launch in Mexico City and the Aerosmith world concert tour.

Catalyst DL1 is the second genera

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UK - Leading UK manufacturer, Trantec Systems, specialists in the design and supply of sophisticated Radio products, has sponsored talented Irish/London stand-up Comedian John Ryan, supplying him with their award-winning S3500 wireless microphone system. Ryan is making his debut at the 57th International Edinburgh Festival Fringe with two productions, Kids are Best and John Ryan Isn't Normal, which both run through the Festival from 3-25 August. Staged in the heart of the Fringe at the Pleasance Courtyard and The Edinburgh Comedy Room, he has been taking the critics by storm.

Already recognized across Europe as one of the most naturally funny men in Britain, he performs regularly in London's Comedy Store and major comedy venues nation-wide. Taking inspiration from his five-year-old daughter, he has cunningly undermined the adult focus at the Fringe by delivering a

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UK - 'Popstars' finalist Liberty X recently made a headline appearance at the Newmarket Races. The event featured the first ever UK outing for AKG's revolutionary WMS 4000 professional wireless system. First past the post in employing the new true diversity UHF system was Nottingham-based Merlin PA. Five headset systems and five handheld systems were flown in specifically for Liberty X's performance and the events proved to be a resounding success.

Neal Allen, owner of Merlin PA, commented: "We were very impressed by the ease of setting up this high end multi-channel system and with the monitoring facilities that the WMS 4000 system offers for both RF and AF integrity. This was also the first time that the company used the AKG C420 headset mics and I was stunned by the quality and clarity of these units."

The AKG WMS 4000 systems are now available from stock and feat

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Liechtenstein - Due to an acute risk of forest fire, a Lobo laser show was organized in record-breaking time to replace a cancelled large-scale fireworks display that had been booked to celebrate the national holiday in Liechtenstein.

The long period of drought and the increasing number of devastating fires in the heart of Europe took their toll, and the Liechtenstein government was forced to cancel the traditional fireworks just three days before the event. It was a hard decision for the tradition-conscious Principality in the heart of the Alps, as the national holiday and especially the magnificent large-scale fireworks are a symbol of national identity and an attraction for tourists from all over the world.

The solution to the problem was not far away: by noon that day the telephone was ringing at the facilities of the laser show market leader, Lobo. A few hours later, Lobo

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UK - Stagetec has just completed stage two of a highly flexible new dimmer installation at Fountain Television Studios in Wembley, the conclusion of a project started two years ago: the reason for the protracted lead-time was that the studio's schedule has been so hectic and August 2003 was the first opportunity the company had to complete the work.

The full installation consists of 32 Compulite CompuDIM 2000 modular dimmer cabinets plus an additional mobile, flightcased system used on the studio floor and elsewhere in the building. An impressive total of 726 x 20A (5kW) dimmers and 20 x 40A (10kW) dimmers has been supplied and installed, split between Fountain's two large studios. The combination of reliability, performance, ease of control and monitoring made the Compulite range the ideal solution for Fountain.

The 5kW dimmers are all fitted with Hard Power Bypass switches s

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UK - Stage Electrics is holding a sale of theatrical and disco lighting and ancillary equipment on Saturday 20 September 2003. The auction is being held at the company's headquarters in Third Way, Avonmouth, Bristol at 10.00am. Lots will include smoke machines, theatre lanterns, dimmers and desks, flightcases, cables, disco consoles and various effects.

Patrick Behan, who has organized the previous successful Stage Electrics auctions, told us: "This year it has been difficult to keep the lots to 1,000 as we have acquired a considerable amount of new and second-hand kit. There should be loads of bargains and the usual chance to meet up with a few mates from the industry."

Electronic versions of the catalogue are available from Monday 8 September and hard copies from 12 September. Auction catalogues can be requested by emailing auction@stage-electrics.co.uk or by phoni

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