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The last five years have been a stunning success for XTA by anyone's reckoning and today many respected manufacturers recommend XTA processors as a preferred complementary system for their own products. At Frankfurt, XTA unveiled its most advanced and powerful audio management system, the DP428, which provides everything needed for digitally interfacing and managing the largest system. The DP428 offers 4x8 matrix capability, 48dB crossover slopes, and EQ solutions for addressing virtually any audio problem. There are four inputs, each offering gain control, a 28-band graphic EQ, eight filters, and a delay. Eight outputs each have gain control, polarity-switching, delay, high/low pass filtering, and up to nine filters. Any input can be routed to any combination of outputs, plus all ins and

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UK - A.C.Lighting North - Blinding - quite literally. Why? The entrance into the show blasted visitors witha star-shaped array of light - courtesy of the Chroma-Q Color Block LED fixture (never knowingly oversold!), no doubt cleverly programmed on a Jands Vista by Mr Neil Vann. Glyn O'Donoghue explained they had been positioned there on purpose to demonstrate exactly that, just how very bright the ChromaQs are. It worked.Once again, A.C's mini-tradeshow up north was hailed a huge success. With numerous new distribution deals, A.C. Lighting moves ever nearer to becoming a one-stop-shop for all hard and software needs in the live entertainment industry.

The popular seminars covered various current themes and issues concerning the industry such as production, lighting, digital vs. analogue sound, the new legislation on electrical colour coding, timeline programming, plus the art of

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Germany - Frankfurt is always a marathon, but making it more tolerable this year was an upbeat atmosphere and an abundance of new products. Obvious developments were in digital sound technology, networking and Ethernet. Various companies are developing strategic partnerships, although the symbiotic and open way they have found to connect with one another cannot have been without its challenges. Developing suitable technology for communication between own brand hardware and others must surely require some elements of trust. However, today this seems to be one of the limited roads to choose in the fight to gain momentum in an otherwise highly competitive market, where marketing by product association seems to be on the increase.

As for the show itself, having claimed last year that visitor numbers provided the biggest gate ever, I was somewhat surprised to discover that show organizers r

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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 - Essential Lighting was asked by Andy Ayres of Mantaplan to provide lighting for the 60th anniversary of VE day, in Trafalgar Square. Under the direction of Mark Kenyon, Essential's Tony Hall took on the challenge of installing two 40ft trailers worth of equipment into the Square.

The site was particularly difficult, given a very limited back stage area, and many hours were spent playing "flightcase Tetris". Over a three-day fit up period, 145 moving lights (mainly Martin MAC 2000 units of various types) were rigged in and around the Square, to Kenyon 's specifications. The spec included 16 City Colours to light the National Gallery, City Beams for the fountains, 60 MAC 2000 wash lights and 60 MAC 2000 profiles, with eight MAC 2000 Performances thrown into the mix. Additional effects were from 60 Chroma cans, and 24 Chroma banks.

Control was under the mighty fin

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USA - Peavey celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. The company, still family-owned, today employs well over 1,100 people in the US, and occupies two million square feet of manufacturing, R&D, office space, warehousing and other facilities in and around Meridian, Mississippi.

Hartley Peavey began building amplifiers, in 1965; the first real boost came when in 1968 when he saw a gap in the market for a portable PA system, and introduced the PA-3. Success continued with the Peavey Classic and Peavey Vintage amplifiers between 1972-1973, followed by the Peavey Bandit, which became the world's top-selling amplifier. 1976 saw the CS-800 power amp, and the first mass-produced electric guitars. Then followed Peavey's own range of loudspeakers, beginning with the Black Widow.

In the 1980s, Peavey began the foundations of a digital programme that continues to this day, and in 1984

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Making its official world debut, the ice*lighting super-batten from Telectra provides stunning lighting effects with efficient control. Designed and engineered by transferring technologies developed for the aerospace and electronics industries, each batten contains over 300,000 micro lenses providing colour blending effects with very little attenuation of the light. The blending is enhanced by the use of 384 individually controlled tricolour LEDs per batten, giving high definition pixelization with no apparent point sources.

With only 8 DMX channels per batten, control sequences across 1152 emitters, offering the potential for complex sequences, individual batten control, speed control, freeze frame and frame nudge facility in real-time RGB control and real-time dimming. Shows and sequences are saved in solid-state memory and triggered by DMX control, and are uploaded to battens via Et

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USA - Following the letter in the last issue from Brett Kingstone, president and CEO of Super Vision Inc, L&SI put some further questions to Color Kinetics regarding its recent US patents and patent applications.

L&SI: Patent application (20050044617) for 'Methods and apparatus for illumination of liquids', was filed on 3 March 2005, and another, very similar Patent (6,869,204) was granted on 22 March 2005. The abstract of the granted Patent 6,869,204 'Light fixtures for illumination of liquids' appears to be very close to that of the latest application. What is the purpose of applying for the second, very similar patent?

George Mueller, Color Kinetics: "The patent applications referred to here (dated 2005) are actually continuations of previously filed, issued patents and pending applications, dating back as far as 1997. The specific details are c

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RCF was in very good form having spent the last 15 months bringing new products onto the market. The company proudly unveiled the new ART Series and the larger format 4PRO active speaker system, including the new 4PRO 7001 4-way active system. This year alone, RCF has introduced new models in all its major ranges as a well as a complete new range of Monitor Q Installation speakers. RCF also featured many of its new commercial PA products including the Forum digital conference system, Flexa modular PA system and the new BA 1040 digital PA paging system.

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Sennheiser launched three freePORT systems offering 'Vocal', 'Instrument' and 'Presentation' versions. All three systems allow four switchable frequencies to be operated simultaneously, ensuring high transmission reliability and flexibility. The systems can be operated without licensing and without a fee in many European countries. All have a diversity receiver installed in a sturdy metal housing, ensuring optimum reception for more than ten hours.

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The rationalization of Kling & Freitag sees the company founders returning to their original roles, heading up R&D. Last year they introduced the CA1001, a two-way, full-range cabinet with 85° by 55° dispersion, capable of delivering 124dB peak (@1m). Launched at Frankfurt were the passive and self-powered versions of this cabinet (although the powered version will only just have gone into production by the time you read this.)

Also from K&F, the SW115E is the successor to the SW115D; improvements come from exponential tunnel geometry allowing for higher SPL without distortion, plus an overall improvement in the low bass. K&F are also developing a digital controller: a physical mock-up of the CD24 was on display, intended to be a universal controller for the entire K&F range. Cautiously its spokesman Lars Heinrich predicted that "prototypes might be seen at PLASA this year, but

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Turbosound added to its QLight series with the debut of the two-way, full-range TQ-315DP, which incorporates a 2 x 800W Class D power amplifier module. With a trapezoidal design enabling easy deployment in FOH or floor monitor applications, it utilizes a 15" LF driver, with a 1.4" HF driver on a rotatable Converging Elliptical Waveguide, which provides an 80º x 50º coverage pattern. The QLight DP models are capable of operating at more than 90% overall efficiency even at relatively low power levels.

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HK Audio seemed delighted with its 2005 concert touring series, which includes the well-known Cohedra and Cohedra Compact series, but also now the four new models in the ConTour Series. All two-way cabinets in the ConTour Series can be used either alone as full-range cabinets, or as mid/high units in combination with the CT 118 subwoofer or Cohedra CDR 210/CDR 210 C subs. The CT 112 and CT 115 models are equipped with internal passive crossovers that can be switched out for bi-amped operation. The CT 112 and CT 115 feature the new BEM Technology 60° x 40° CD horn, which provides precise directivity and allows multiple cabinets to be clustered optimally without phase issues. The horn can also be rotated easily by a quarter turn. In addition HK introduced various upgrades to its existing Elias, Premium and Actor ranges of speakers.

However, aside from all of the above the company seeme

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Meyer Sound has produced a scaled-down Milo - to be known as Mica - which sits somewhere between Milo and the M2D, "the latter a product more suited to the theatre market and not really intended for use in live concert," says John Meyer. Mica boasts the same signature as its bigger cousin, greater headroom and an ability to take abuse. "We launched this product at Frankfurt because it's a more European-style box," added Meyer, indicating a nod to the generally lower weight limits of European venues. "We've also simplified the internal rigging, eliminating that potential for people to get their fingers pinched between cabinets when making adjustments. Compared to M2D you can push this system much harder." Pause. "But inevitably some theatre people will want to use Mica in theatres," he added resignedly. Meyer, more than many, tries very hard to educ

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The full production version of the Ethos line array from UK-based Logic System was on show for the first time at Frankfurt. Although PLASA visitors will be aware of the Ethos system they will not have seen the new B.5 compact sub, based on a 12" driver delivering 96dB (1W/1m) covering the range 52 to 150Hz. For UK readers interested in hearing the Ethos system in action, an installation at the Edinburgh Liquid Rooms (what a perfect name for a music bar) was completed last Christmas.

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Alcons Audio showed the full production version its ultra-compact line-array module the LR14, featuring the patented RBN401 pro-ribbon driver and double 6.5" woofers with a dispersion pattern of 120 x 15°. The LR14 is designed to be used either as an ultra-compact line-array system, or as an under-fill of the LR16.

New on show was the LR14B, the ultra-compact, lightweight, high-output bass module of the LR14 line-array, with double Neodymium 12" double-tuned band-pass configuration. However, the company's main focus was on the official introduction of its new Q-series - based on modular line-source columns with lengths of 1m or 0.5m. Designed as a solution for ultimate intelligibility in "acoustically challenging" environments, the scalable ribbon-arrays combine a very high directivity with totally controlled dispersion, in both vertical and horizontal plane. The s

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UK - Eat to the Beat fed the artists, BBC and production team at BBC Radio 1's One Big Weekend in Sunderland. Many of the artists on the bill, including the Foo Fighters, The Levellers, Kasabian and Basement Jaxx along with the Radio 1 DJ's Chris Moyles and Colin and Edith , left the sanctuary of their dressing rooms and joined the production team in the sociable atmosphere of the 'backstage restaurant' created by Eat to the Beat.

The hail was bouncing off the roof of Eat to the Beat's temporary kitchen in the backstage area of Radio 1's One Big weekend, as superb food was served at breakfast, lunch and dinner, cooked on site by Heather and Paul and their team of six. The menu choices had everyone spoilt for choice and the compliments were flowing.

(Sarah Rushton-Read)

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AKG announced that five different mic heads are now available for its WMS 4000 wireless mic system's handheld transmitter, the HT 4000. The heads are a design continuation from the company's cabled Emotion/TriPower series. Aside from launching a series of budget level microphones - the CCS (Crystal Clear Sound) Series - for speech, vocal and instrument miking, AKG's main news was that its first product to become compatible with Harman Group's HiQnet proprietary audio system control and configuration software (see L&SI March 2005) will be the WMS 4000.

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Dutch PA system manufacturer Sound Projects revealed that AED, one of Europe's largest dry hire rental companies, has ordered a further 64 of its SP-4 systems to add to the 100+ it already owns. Described by AED's Glenn Roggemans as "a hybrid form between ground stack and line array", the SP4 systems are, he says, in a world where most sound reinforcement is ground-stacked "one of our most rewarding investments in the last 10 years."

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Italian manufacturer Outline exhibited a number of new products. The H.A.R.D. 45 SP expands the company's series of stage monitors, and is the most compact in the range, but with the same original design seen in the 115 and 212 models. Also new, the Global Sub exploits Outline's internationally patented 'space-saving' philosophy, used for the first time with the Kanguro system which received an Award for Product Excellence at the 2001 PLASA Show. The Global Sub is a 15" sub, but is also a container (complete with a cover) able to hold three different Outline loudspeaker systems.

Outline's new-generation 2U rack-mounting amplifier, the D4-2K is the first in the company's new DHD digital range, offering four channels with 530W each in 4 Ohms (4 x 310W in 8 Ohms) which can, on request, have a 24dB/octave output filter.

Finally the COM.P.A.S.S. (COMpact Polar Adjustable Sound System

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Shure's new PGX Performance Gear Wireless Systems, targeted at working musicians and bands, combines wireless technology, automatic setup features and Shure microphones in eight pre-configured systems. The system scans the wireless landscape, identifies a clear channel and then automatically sync's the transmitter with the receiver frequency via an infrared link. PGX Wireless Systems also feature Shure's patented Audio Reference Companding, until now only available in the SLX and ULX wireless systems, eliminating artefacts normally associated with traditional wireless companding. Receivers feature attached quarter-wave antennas, 6.3mm (¼") and XLR audio outputs, frequency and power lockouts and an in-line power supply. Handheld transmitters are offered with PG58, SM58, SM86 and Beta 58A capsules. The body pack transmitter works with head-worn, lavalier and instrument microphones an

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UK - Suffolk-based Synergy Audio is the first UK sound company to take delivery of Proel's new Axiom line array system. The choice of Axiom followed a tough demo at Synergy's headquarters, on the old RAF Bentwaters airfield in Suffolk.

In the course of a dank afternoon, against a tearing crosswind, the system was tested with a variety of program material, ranging from classical through to heavy rock and spoken word and, says Synergy Audio's Rob Quin, "The results were quite staggering. Even in the strong winds, the system produced a very even sound field, across a large area, with very little noticeable drop in level or quality.

"It's extraordinarily good. The people behind the design have worked with some of the "big names" in line array, so it has a good design pedigree. We've been inside the boxes and the components are very good quality. The build of th

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