Details
UK - The latest wave of PLASA's industry research - Market Trends 2005 - indicates that, after two years of declining value, the market for entertainment and communication technology served by PLASA members has started to recover. Since 2001, a number of factors including global insecurity and economic instability, have had a negative impact on many of the key sectors that make up the entertainment and communication technology industries. However, in 2004 the market stabilized and the research suggests some slight growth in market value.

The researchers, Purple Market Research Ltd, estimate that the UK market in 2004, in terms of end user expenditure (and excluding any cross-selling among suppliers) is worth just over £1.1bn. The market consists of five main product c

Details
UK - Gatecrasher's long-awaited second club is set to open in Leeds this month following a £3 million fit-out. Named 'Discothéque', the 1400-capacity venue is the cornerstone of Gatecrasher's plans to increase turnover to £11.2 million by 2007 with the launch of its new 'Boutique Blueprint' clubbing concept. Featuring an expansive and flamboyant interior design scheme from Matt Rawlinson Design, Discothéque is also pioneering a groundbreaking new video dancefloor technology with the first installation of the new Ayrton DreamPanel - one of the product launch highlights of the PLASA Show this week.

Distributed in the UK by Ian Kirby's Lighting Effects Distribution, who are providing design support, the system has been installed as part of an automated lighting package by Hugh Frazer-Mann's HFM Lighting & Sound Ltd.

The DreamPanel floor will be controlle

Details
UK - At PLASA 2005 Hawthorn was awarded the UK Rental Company of the Year Award by Martin Audio, an acknowledgment of its continued growth, and the ongoing expansion of its Martin Audio stock.

"Our continued expansion and growth within the sound market, both hire and sales, has been tremendous" said Iain Reinhold, head of sound at Hawthorn, "allowing us to continue with our commitment to and investment in new kit and placing us in the right position to provide the best and latest equipment to our clients and customers."

Zero 88 in its 2005 Dealer Awards at PLASA also awarded the Independent Dealer of the Year Award to Hawthorn. The award is in recognition of the growth and development of its Zero 88 dealership and in recognition of its commitment and support for the brand over the last year.

"We are delighted to receive the two awards, which are furt

featured content

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

Details
At PLASA 2005, the recipients of the 6th Michael Northen Bursary Award were presented with their prizes by Rick Fisher (Chairman, ALD), Mark White (Manager UK & Ireland, ETC) and Will Evans (Student Rep, ALD) - the competition's judges, alongside David Howe (lighting designer).

The Michael Northen Award was won by Matt Daw, studying at the Central School of Speech and Drama, who submitted a lighting design for Extremely difficult Times, a circus piece performed at London's Circus Space. The entry was judged to be outstanding not only for its final achievement but also in its preparation, research and planning. He received a cheque for £500 and a copy of 'Northen Lights' (Michael Northen's autobiography).

The ETC prize went to Mary Pope, a RADA student, for her lighting of Movies in Motion at University College London and the ALD prize to Andrew Ellis, also attend

Details
UK - A new LED product has made its debut in a restored Grade-II listed building in Canterbury. Leading architects and designers Satmoko Ball, returned to Lighting Effects Distribution, to purchase and install quantities of the new X-Chip in the award-winning Jalsha Indian Restaurant.

With its own built-in driver, X-Chip LED - distributed in the UK by L.E.D. - can create up to 16 million colour combinations and boasts a lamp life of 50,000 hours. Moreover, designer Adrian Ball says that the tiny modules presented him with a wide range of creative options. "LED was in my mind after working with Ian Kirby at Umbaba," he said. "The beauty of these is their size - they are only four inches long by less than an inch wide. But in addition to being compact, they are low-maintenance, colour-changing, fully dimmable LED's with no heat dissipation. The light source can thus

Details
Building on the success of the V-Series in sound reinforcement, Tannoy is now offering a fully active version called VNET. By integrating its Dual Concentric point source, constant directivity drive unit with leading edge digital signal processing (DSP), network control and class D amplifier technologies into these high definition sound reinforcement (HDSR) loudspeakers, Tannoy says it is providing a fully monitored active speaker system; a turn key solution for the most demanding sound reinforcement applications.VNET's capabilities were demonstrated at PLASA 2005 via impressive live performances by former members of Wet Wet Wet

All VNET models are supplied with the active speaker system fully optimised; requiring only room equalisation to finalise the set up. Room EQ is simplified via user accessible signal processing based on the latest third generation SHARC DSP that can be used in

Details
UK / Ireland - After an absence of 10 years from British and Irish shores for the Carver brand, Newstagesound has now been appointed exclusive UK and Ireland distributor for the Carver Professional range of amplifiers. Carver, now a division of Phoenix Gold International Inc of Oregon, USA, says it has taken the best aspects of Bob Carver's original ideas, for redesign, refinement and further development to produce three state-of-the-art product ranges, the ZR, Xi and CV Series which cover all touring and installation requirements for the professional audio market.

The immediately available range includes the ground-breaking Class T (Tripath) lightweight designed ZR Series, the classic Class AB linear Xi Range and the convection cooled constant voltage commercial CV Series. In addition, optional signal processing modules, including mixers, zone pagers and DSP are available for t

Details
UK - EAW used PLASA 2005 to demonstrate a new family of self-powered loudspeakers that benefit from "a revolutionary DSP technology that represents the first fundamental leap forward in loudspeaker design for more than a decade".

Making its first appearance in EAW's new NT Series loudspeakers, Gunness Focusing (named for its developer, EAW's director of research & development David Gunness), is billed as "a revolutionary new approach for dramatically improving loudspeaker performance using the intrinsic advantages of digital signal processing (DSP). In contrast to conventional DSP implementations, however, Gunness Focusing represents digital correction done properly: algorithms tailored exactly to fix correctable loudspeaker anomalies. The result is sonic performance rivalling that of the best recording monitors."

EAW says that Gunness Focusing can theoreti

Details
UK - As a first time exhibitor, audio communications specialist HM Electronics enjoyed its debut at PLASA, exhibiting in conjunction with its UK distributor Orbital Sound. Building on the success of the show, Orbital is looking forward to bringing the potential of HME's range of wireless digital intercom systems to the UK market. This includes the Award-winning DX200 and HME's new Pro 850 2-channel UHF intercom. Chosen by HME as a specialist in their field, Orbital boasts the technical know-how and the sales customer base to expand its market share across applications as diverse as broadcast, theatre, conferencing, and live events.

Orbital's technical support team also provides the know-how and ability to offer 24/7 support in line with HME's rigorous standards. HME's sales manager, John Kowalski, commented: "The PLASA Show was terrific, we met dozens of excellent end clien

Details
USA - High End Systems (HES) has announce a worldwide lowering of its Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Pricing (MSRP) on its entire line of entertainment lighting products and control systems. MSRP changes represent an average of a 20% drop in pricing; more specifically, a 23-25% drop on the line of HES automated luminaires and a smaller percentage drop on Wholehog consoles and the HES digital lighting product line.

Bill Morris, VP of Americas sales for the Austin, Texas-based lighting manufacturer, explains the reasoning behind the decision, stating that with a more efficient reseller network and lower pricing, HES can put together a stronger marketing, service and support program to better serve the needs of its resellers. HES plans to implement more training programs for customers to help them use and deploy the new technology.

(Lee Baldock)

Details
UK - Digigram took advantage of the IBC and PLASA exhibitions this week to showcase the extension of its EtherSound product range for touring, installed sound, recording and broadcast markets. ES881, ES1241 and ES16161 form a range of rack-mount AES/EBU to EtherSound interfaces in a variety of I/O configurations that will connect any digital product to an EtherSound network.

ES881 offers four stereo AES/EBU inputs (eight ES channels) and four stereo AES/EBU outputs (eight ES channels) while ES1241 and ES16161 provide two stereo AES/EBU inputs (four ES channels) and six stereo AES/EBU outputs (12 ES channels), and eight stereo AES/EBU inputs (sixteen ES channels) and eight stereo AES/EBU outputs (16 ES channels) respectively. ES881 and ES1241 come with XLRs on the digital audio inputs and outputs while ES16161 features Sub-D connectors. All devices offer sample rate converters on

Details
UK - Compulite launched its new Vector Lite lighting console at the PLASA show at Earls Court, London, this week - the first showing of this new product anywhere in the world. The Vector range has already proved popular in the market due to its flexibility, both in terms of playback and its user-configurable programming syntax, say Compulite. Vector systems are already in use on major TV, theatre and live music productions around the world Vector Lite is the latest, most compact member of the Vector family that already includes the Red, Blue and Green.

With the addition of the 'Lite', the Vector line now offers a comprehensive and effective solution for any venue, whatever the type or size. As a stand-alone console or as a tracking backup unit, it brings the most advanced control technology available in the market to limited-budget venues. The Lite offers four DMX512 universes (

Details
UK - The summer of 2005 has been a busy one for UK cabling specialist VDC Trading, with a number of top bands turning to the company to provide specialist equipment for concerts and tours. Among the artists the VDC has helped are The Doves and US rock band The White Stripes, whose UK summer tour included a performance at Glastonbury.

For The Doves, VDC supplied Michael Jobson Management with multicore looms, single manufactured leads, cable, components and patch panels, which were used throughout the band's recent UK and US tours. For The White Stripes, VDC constructed a custom panel and multicore using Van Damme Black Series cable. This enabled the band's concerts to be recorded for future release.

VDC also provided dance band Goldfrapp with a new patch panel for its custom stagebox, enabling the band to significantly increase the number of channels available during live date

Details
The Netherlands - Alcons Audio has appointed Anders Uggelberg to develop the cinema market for the Alcons cinema product range. Uggelberg brings a wealth of knowledge to the company, having formerly been director of cinema products for Europe at Digital Theatre Systems (DTS). Before that, he co-founded A&T Ljudproduktion AB in Stockholm and as a consultant in Scandinavia, he was responsible for the projection and sound design of over 250 screens and several mix studios built during the nineties; including 100 THX certified premier run theaters.

Anders Uggelberg studied math, physics and architectural acoustics at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm and Industrial Design at the Swedish institute of arts and crafts. He is a board member of the ITEA and a member of AES and SMPTE. Anders Uggelberg says: "I have been part of the cinema industry for quite a while now,

Details
UK - Turbosound announced a new series of contractor products at PLASA 2005. The TCS Compact series is being promoted as a multi-model range, offering contractor-specific features that encompass installation, audio performance and aesthetics, says the UK manufacturer.

Designed to offer contractors a range of installation alternatives, the TCS Compact products can be supplied as standard in black-painted cabinets or with an all-over-white finish. They are also available as weather-resistant variants to IP54, and can be ordered in custom colours to suit specific interior design and architectural requirements. The range comprises the TCS-081C, TCS-101C, TCS-121C and the TCS-151C, fitted with 8", 10", 12" and 15" LF drivers respectively, together with the TCS-115C and TCS-118C single 15"and single 18" bass cabinets. TCS-215C double 15" and TCS-218C

Details
UK - Community launched four new models in its iBOX series of installation loudspeaker systems at PLASA 2005. The new iBOX iHP3500 series are high performance 3-way systems, based on a third enclosure dimension which is slightly larger than the existing 1200 and 1500 series.

The iHP3564 and iHP3594 are large format, full-range systems. The driver complement in both consists of a 15-inch (380mm) high power low frequency driver, an 8-inch (205mm) mid-range driver and a 1.4-inch (36mm) exit / 2.87-inch (72.2 mm) edge wound voice coil compression driver. High order crossovers minimize band overlap and the large format horn flare delivers well controlled dispersion, 60 x 40 degrees for the iHP3564 and 90 x 40 degrees for the iHP3594.

Both the iHP3564 and iHP3594 can be used in passive or bi-amp operating modes. The passive mode is designed to deliver "outstanding performance w

Details
UK - In a move designed to ensure that Lumidrive's LED products are reliable and provide high levels of performance, the UK based LED technology provider has become one of just a handful of LED companies worldwide to invest in a thermal imaging system.

A thermal imager gives an instant picture of the thermal performance of an LED based system and can even record a real time mpeg image to show a system heating and cooling over time. Gordon Routledge, managing director at Lumidrives says: "Thermal design and testing of high powered LED systems are essential to ensure their long term reliability and give customers complete confidence in the product. "Traditional methods of testing relying on temperature probes can take hours and often will not identify a problem area such as assembly error."

The system can even be used to validate the performance of critical compon

Details
Europe - In a move designed to better serve its network of dealers in Europe and the Middle East, Wybron has appointed PRG Europe as its exclusive distribution partner for the region.

The agreement between the two companies, say PRG, ensures that Wybron dealers throughout Europe and the Middle East will have faster access to product and spare parts, thanks to the stock of Wybron products, which PRG Europe will hold at its Greenford, UK, warehouse. With quick and easy access to courier routes across Europe and the Middle East, delivery times will be reduced considerably. Among the Wybron brands being stocked by PRG Europe are the Nexera family of luminaires, the award winning Autopilot II, Forerunner, and BP-2 beam projector, as well as all Wybron RDM ready products.

In addition to stocking equipment and spares, PRG Europe will be offering Wybron dealers full sales support and

Details
UK - Lighting and sound design specialists Audiotech & The Lighthouse supplied sound and lighting design, equipment and crew to Manchester-based production company With, for the annual Virgin Vie sales conference, staged at the NEC, Birmingham.

The high energy one day event - "The Big One" - saw 5,200 Virgin Vie Cosmetics and Jewellery consultants and managers gather in the NEC's main arena for the highly theatrical conference. Phil Wiffen from The Lighthouse designed lighting. His brief was to produce an up-tempo show suggestive of the themes of opulence, glamour and the kind of lifestyle that successful Vie consultants might strive to achieve.

The show was produced by Sam Pole and Jenny Hazelhurst, with set design by Tim Wilding. Wiffen designed a U shaped truss overhead at the front and two gently angled mini-beam trusses at the back, which formed a subtle 'V' ove

Details
USA - Joe Marchese, an active member of the New York production community, has been diagnosed with a brain tumor, and a fund has been set up to assist his family in defraying the anticipated medical costs. Marchese, 46, a father of three, has been the technical director of Guild Hall's John Drew Theater since 1998, making theatre spring to life with sound and lighting for hundreds of performances. He has worked solidly with the community and touring performers on numerous concerts, lectures and plays. His expert and professional guidance on stage lighting, sound engineering and theatre design have helped thousands of artists bring their work to life on Guild Hall's stage.

Recently, while working on a poetry reading at Guild Hall, Marchese was overcome with a migraine seizure. The next morning, he was rushed to a local hospital, then transported to Stony Brook University Hospital

Details
Finland - The Finnish visual technology company FogScreen was awarded the highly prestigious Plasa Award for Innovation on 12 September, at the PLASA 2005 show in London - Europe's foremost exhibition for the entertainment and presentation industries. The PLASA Awards focus on excellence in design and development work across these industries.

The awards, which are judged by a panel of professionals, attracted 66 nominations leading to eight technical awards and an additional award for environmental impact. The judges believe the FogScreen to be a genuine first.

The FogScreen is a penetrable projection surface consisting of dry fog made from pure tap water. The fog is cool and dry to the touch and can be walked through quite comfortably. Images projected onto the FogScreen take only seconds to reform.

"We are very grateful for this award as it represents another importan

Page 1819 of 3465

Latest Issue. . .