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UK - Located in the heart of the capital on Trafalgar Square, Albannach is one of the hottest openings of the year. A brand new contemporary Scottish bar and restaurant Albannach is offering the best in food and drink along with the latest technology in sound and lighting to provide an unusual location for corporate meetings, events and product launches.

AV systems integration specialists, The Sound Division Group was called in to design, specify and install the audio visual system throughout, which includes LCD screens for laptop presentations, a 12ft projection screen with a powerful Mitsubishi projection system on the lower ground floor, and a 50" plasma screen in the VIP room. All are equipped with the usual DVD, CD and VCR facilities along with terrestrial and SKY TV fee

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Corporate audio on the rise as it is, we couldn't have a NAMM show without Behringer signalling its ambitions in the marketplace, and you sometimes get the impression that the company is willing - and able - to rival the conglomerates already mentioned with its single brand. In the press room, Group CEO Michael Deeb gave a timely summary of Behringer's corporate developments, following the announcement of a head-spinning 78 new products, and confidently cited the benefits of establishing a wholly-owned R&D and manufacturing base in China - which the company did in 2001.

"The internalisation of manufacturing operations has brought about faster time to market and cost-effectiveness in production, and product design and development," he said, and anyone with lingering doubts as to whether better products are going to cost even less in the future was obliged to go outside for a q

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Meanwhile RCF used the platform of the NAMM show to cement the re-launch of the RCF brand in North America, following original MD Arturo Vicari's return to the driving seat a year ago. A convivial reception presented new RCF Inc president Hans Radda, who has already ushered Vicari's other brand, dB Technologies, into the territory with some success and who will be expected to do the same with the new generation of ART speakers, the new 4Pro range and the rest.

"Over the past year, we have had great support from our distributors, who have helped us to reintroduce RCF to the market," Vicari announced. "We now find ourselves with strong distribution in most of the key areas of the world. As a result of this we can now begin work in developing RCF in North America."

Radda himself added: "We know that it is difficult for a European company to launch in the States,

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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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The Crest Performance division of Crest Audio launched the CPM 24-4 and CPM 32-4 mixing consoles for studio or live audio applications; the CPM 2462, a 16-channel desktop/rack-mountable mixer; and the mono I-Pro I and stereo I-Pro II microphone and line input intelligibility processors. The units are designed to optimize audio signals in recording, broadcast and live applications by processing input signals via a parametric EQ section and a compand/limit dynamics section.

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One thing NAMM also demonstrates annually is that there is still plenty of life in all manner of analogue consoles, even as the digital ones proliferate. Ever ones to celebrate technology properly, Midas continued a long tradition by unveiling a mid-size, versatile analogue console and treating its dealers and guests to blues-influenced hospitality at every opportunity. With the smooth glissando of a bottle-neck, and at least 12 bars to go, the Siena console was rolled out as the Verona's highest complement - available in six frame sizes from 24 up to 64 channels and featuring 16 dedicated aux sends.

Brand development manager Richard Ferriday was on hand to place the desk into precise context. "Siena and Verona are both dual-purpose consoles," he told me, "but the Verona is a FOH console that can also do monitors, while the Siena is a monitor console that can also do FOH

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The Netherlands - The second Integrated Systems Europe, or ISEurope, or ISE'05 ("we want to give you flexibility" quipped show director Michael Blackman) - took an enormous leap forward from its inaugural mixed reception in Geneva last year, when it was a case of 'right idea, wrong city'. Clearly, with 220 exhibitors taking part this year compared with 120 last year, and an even greater proportioned increase in visitors (7,400 in 2005), this show has established itself remarkably quickly.

With a good portion of the exhibition's content (some 40-50% according to Blackman) geared towards residential applications, there was still much for the professional commercial and architectural markets. So what would you have seen there? Well, lots of systems . . . display systems, projection systems, sound, video, lighting, conferencing and broadcast monitoring systems, among other

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With Telex-EVI Audio, Loud Technologies Inc and Harman Pro all quoting strong financial performances, backed up by an anecdotal mood of confidence among dealers, it was tempting to feel optimistic. But Anaheim's annual NAMM show should be treated like all that glitters. The sun's out, but it's still only January and back home they're scraping ice off the windscreens. Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman of rock dinosaurs Yes make personal appearances, but they're not in the charts - explaining why only six people turned up, perhaps. And the perfect, fun-caked streets of Downtown Disney are as real as the gondolas of Las Vegas.

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Mackie announced a redesign of the SR Series active PA speakers. The new SR models are two- and three-way loudspeakers in Baltic birch cabinets with integrated active electronics, while retaining characteristics of the original SRM 450. These models share the broad integration of electronics of the higher definition SA Series also launched at NAMM.

Also new were the S200 Series and C Series passive loudspeakers, and updated versions of the CFX range of live sound effects mixers. Scheduled for release later this year, the new CFX.mkII Series mixers have gained Onyx Series knobs, new graphics for better visibility in dim lighting conditions and impact-resistant rubber side panels - at a lower RRP than the original CFX Series. The mixers are available in 12, 16 and 20-channel configurations, and all feature four subgroups, nine-band stereo graphic EQ and Mackie's trademark EMAC 32-bit dig

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USA - A. C. Lighting Inc has appointed Fred Mikeska as its US sales and marketing manager, with immediate effect. In his new role, Mikeska will be responsible for the company's sales and marketing activities in the US, including all product lines sold exclusively in the USA by A.C. Lighting Inc, such as the Chroma-Q Color Block multi-purpose LED system and the Jands Vista lighting console - as well as general distribution products.

Mikeska will be actively involved in establishing A.C. Lighting's direct presence and dealer network in the USA. He will be supported by an experienced sales team at A C. Lighting Inc.'s North American headquarters in Toronto and their distribution facility in Buffalo. Mikeska has formerly held senior management positions with Creative Stage Lighting and Leprecon, and is currently a director of the Entertainment Services and Technology Association (E

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The new Opus Series of microphones is aimed at drums, percussion, instruments and boundary applications. The percussive series includes the Opus 53, Opus 83, Opus 88, and Opus 99 - both for percussion itself and percussive-sounding instruments generally. The Opus 51 is the acoustic boundary microphone.

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UK - A new late-night twin-scene - Club East and Persia Lounge Bar and Restaurant - has been opened by The Chapman Group in Worthing. Fitted by locally-based Marshall Technical Solutions, it draws heavily for its decorative effects on a wide range of LED lighting sourced from the catalogue of Lighting Effects Distribution.

James Bryant, who runs MTS, explained that this is the third time he has fitted out the venue, previously known as XS. "The Chapman Group were looking for ideas to create a wow factor - particularly on the dancefloor of Club East - and so we decided to augment the traditional disco lighting with LED effects. At the same time we wanted to enhance the general mood of the bar and restaurant with some general colour-changing washes. This is by far the biggest LED project we have carried out - and for each application Lighting Effects Distribution were able to

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P-LS8695 is a powered version of SLS's LS8695 Compact Line Source Array (pictured right). The addition of power amplifiers into the design is said to allow for greater installation flexibility for both fixed and mobile applications.

The P-LS8695 incorporates a 24-bit, 96kHz DSP processing engine developed from the same acoustic performance algorithms used in the original LS8695. Two digital amplifiers have been incorporated to power the LF and HF drivers independently, sharing one high-voltage, high current power supply.

The LF amplifier provides 1,000W to drive the lows and mids, while the HF amp provides 500W - said to be optimized for today's 24-bit, 96kHz digital format. The input to the amplifier section is fully balanced with adjustable sensitivity, and a balanced transmitter is included for looping multiple P-LS8695 systems.

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UK - Harrods - one of the world's premier department stores - blazed the eco friendly technology trail as one the first retail establishments to invest in a fixed installation of James Thomas's PixelLine LED fixtures. The PixelLine battens created another dimension to the windows and were chosen for their flexibility, their energy saving properties, low heat emissions and easy maintenance requirements.

A total of 26 units grace eight of the famous main display windows running along the prime Knightsbridge façade of the building. The battens run the full width of the rear of the windows, washing the back walls and offering a massive range of colours.

The creative potential of Pixel LED fixtures initially came to the attention of Harrods after they were used to illuminate a special installation window display promoting the James Bond 007 movie at the end of 2002. The lighting s

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The Vertec line array range gains the self-powered DP Series, also inaugurating HiQnet but debuting JBL's DrivePack too - integrated DSP power modules co-developed with Crown and dbx (see main copy).

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Rapco International is a leading manufacturer of audio and video interfacing and cable equipment, and showed the Blox Series (pictured right) of audio connection and testing boxes in Hall B. The series includes 12 different audio tools for a multitude of audio requirements, from continuity testing to pro/consumer level conversion.

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In among Harman Pro's grander announcements (see main copy), Crown ushered in two entry-level BGM, paging and zoning devices: the 180MA and the 280MA.

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Mackie-associated brand Tapco has come up with the 'Blend' family of simple-to-use, affordable, compact mixers. First is the Blend 6, a six-channel analogue recording and live sound mixer designed by the Mackie engineering team.

Tapco also introduced the first in a new family of audio accessory products, the DI-1A and DI-1P active and passive direct injection boxes. These boxes provide signal and impedance matching for the direct connection of instruments to amplifiers and mixers. In addition, both feature a Thru/Out jack to allow a clean signal to be sent to any amplifier in addition to a mixer for greater control during live performances.

The DI-1A active model offers the option of power via a 48V phantom from a mixer or internally via two 9V batteries. The DI-1P passive model comes complete with a filter for enhancing bass and guitar sounds.

Finally, Tapco announced updates to

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Not to be left out, Aviom Inc announced a new ASIC for A-Net with claims for increased data capacity and signal control, in a package designed not only for live sound applications but also recording, broadcasting, production and post production. A-Net Pro64 has been developed by the company specifically for complex audio transmission, and has built upon the original protocol's relatively limited functionality for stage monitoring - namely, a uni-directional 16 channels to the stage.

A-Net Pro is bi-directional and increases capacity to 64 channels on a single wire pair in a Cat 5 cable, while maintaining 24-bit resolution. This is expandable to 256 channels in custom networks, but the company is also keen to emphasise that using the system has not become a more complicated process as a result, and that its core values of uncompressed, low-latency audio through a 'plug-and-play' system

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UK - Reynolds of Raphoe, directed by Liam and Declan Reynolds, was responsible for the sound installation of D.A.S. Audio products at the Quaywest Restaurant and Winebar located in Derry, Northern Ireland's second largest city. This unique space situated on the Foyle River offers an attractive ambiance spread over two floors. Good food and great music both play a part in the experience of a visit.

To differentiate the sound in the dinning area and the bar, Reynolds of Raphoe created two zones. For the restaurant area, located on the second floor, the system is based around the D.A.S. Factor 5W in white, providing the high quality background music required for a locale of this type. The bar area, requiring a more predominant sound, was fitted with white D.A.S. DS-8 two-way systems. These high-output, compact enclosures are ideal for a wide variety of installations requiring a hi

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Europe - Celebrating the 35th anniversary of the legendary album, The Who's Tommy has hit the road for a 20 week European tour with a lighting rig supplied by PRG Europe. The original Broadway production has been so well received that it was nominated for six Drama Desk Awards, including one for Outstanding Lighting Design.

After changing its lighting and sound suppliers at the last minute, the producers, Theatrical Management Group (TMG), put the job out to tender across Europe with PRG Europe's Croydon office winning the contract. Alan Thomson, Loz Wilcox and the team at PRG Europe, along with production electrician Simon Needle had only two weeks between getting the contract and having to ship to Frankfurt.

Simon Needle explained that to accommodate the huge lighting rig within the turnaround times - just one and a half days including traveling between each gig - the

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Part of the HiQnet cavalcade but a significant launch in its own right, the DriveRack 4800 is the next generation DriveRack. Familiar processing functions have been extended with new algorithms, including Advanced Feedback Suppression, 96kHz processing and an optional CobraNet card. Ethernet control is also available.
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