Sweden - Spurred on by unprecedented orders (more than double that anticipated) for the new FP+ Series amplifiers, Lab.gruppen engineering and manufacturing have pulled out all the stops to get the benchmark FP+ amplifiers into production, well ahead of the anticipated date.

" It is with an immense sense of pride that we make this announcement," stated Tomas Lilja, Lab.gruppen's managing director. "Everyone has worked so hard, with much overtime and weekend work, to make this happen. We have a large order book to fill and demand for existing models is still increasing. The company will now redouble its efforts to continue the new product introductions and aim to have the four new C Series models in production very early in the New Year. Again demand is outstripping

USA - Chauvet Lighting, known internationally for their innovative ranges of value-driven DJ lighting products have now launched a brand new range of high specification installation effects and moving heads aimed at the presentation, late night venue and live performance markets.

With a significant change in direction to meet the needs of the professional installation sector, Chauvet's brand new 'Q Series' and 'Legend' products bring a whole host of high quality moving heads, scanners and colour washes with aggressive pricing set to have a real impact on the market.

The new Q Series includes an ever-increasing line of mirror and barrel scanners, moving yoke spots and washes from 150W right through to 575W. Leading the Q Series range, the Q-Spot 575 features colours, motorised focus, vector movement, full range dimming and 16-bit resolution, lending itself to high-end club inst

UK - RSS by Roland have confirmed the landing of products and components and forged new friendships with third party suppliers. The AES/EBU input and output boards for the Digital Snake have arrived in the UK. These allow you to mix and match analogue and digital inputs and outputs in the same system, the output board having sample rate conversion and word clock per module. Each module has four inputs or outputs and can be synchronised to each other. A system containing AES populated Digital Snake has been purchased by the Royal College of Music in Kensington for integration into their new recording system.

The latest software revision for the Digital Snake is now available. Version 1.5 enables remote control of pre-amp gain, pad, phantom power and memories from your Yamaha M7 or PM series desk. A converter from RS-232 to RS-422 is required.

New to the UK are the latest AR ser

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

USA - Wybron, Inc. has received the Best Debuting Product of the Year Award in the lighting category from LDI 2006 for the InfoTrace Control and Management System. InfoTrace (IT) is a new lighting design system that uses Remote Device Management (RDM) to control and manage Digital Multiplex (DMX)-controlled devices, such as colour changers, moving lights, fog machines and dowsers.

"We are delighted to have been selected for the LDI 2006 Best Debuting Product Of The Year Award," said Keny Whitright, chairman and founder of Wybron. "We are excited to have received both the LDI award and the PLASA innovation award in the same year for the second time."

Larry Turner, Wybron CEO comments, "We strongly believe that the InfoTrace System will make it easier for everyone involved with managing the increasing complexity of lighting shows. The InfoTrace System pr

Russia - Clay Paky and its distributor for Russia, Doka Media, exhibited from 12 to 15 October at Music Moscow, an annual event dedicated to audio and musical lighting technologies. "This year Doka decided to invest the majority of its resources in our brand, " said Clay Paky sales manager Alberico D'Amato. "The results were seen on the market and were also reflected in this Fair, where Clay Paky was able to have its own stand for the first time."

The Clay Paky stand displayed the Alpha Profile 1200 professional shaper, Alpha Spot HPE 1200 high performance spot and the two washlights, Alpha Wash 1200 and Alpha Wash Halo 1200, with ample space dedicated to demos. The wide Alpha range now numbers 12 models.

"Thanks to the solid partnership with Clay Paky, our turnover last year increased considerably," said Alexander Folkichev, Doka Media own

UK - October 2006 saw Chris Rea play an exclusive show to an invited audience at London's Bush Hall, on the occasion of the launch of his first ever live album, 'The Road To Hell and Back', for which R G Jones provided another top quality, bespoke sound system. The intimate venue has a capacity of only 300, so the lucky few were treated to an 'up close and personal' set by the man who has cheated death to re-emerge as a dedicated exponent of the Delta Blues. Such is the dedication of some to Rea's music, that one particular couple had flown from Brazil for the privilege of experiencing the man in such a unique environment.

Of significance to R G Jones is the company's heavy involvement with the creation of this landmark album for Chris. The recordings were all made during the recent tour of Europe and the UK, for which RG's provided a state of the art sound system. The system ha

USA - In a record year for ETC product releases, its Eos lighting control system, which is set to launch in Europe in summer 2007, won the LDI Product of the Year Award for best debuting product in the lighting category. The award praised the new console for its "groundbreaking innovation and functionality".

The independent panel of judges said: "Eos is a radical move forward in console design that allows everyone to see whichever displays they prefer." Marian Sandberg, editor of Live Design magazine, presented the award to ETC's CEO Fred Foster and the Eos design team.

Eos is a fully networked system, managing conventional fixtures, moving lights, LEDs, fog machines, media servers and more. The system is both forward thinking and reverse compatible, as it simultaneously outputs both ETCNet2 and the new Net3 protocol, ETC's network powered by the new

USA - Element Labs Inc received a 2006 Live Design International Products of the Year award for its new Stealth LED Screen at the LDI 2006 exhibition held in Las Vegas. The award was presented at the Live Design International Awards reception, which was held on Saturday, October 21 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

The award recognises the best new equipment in entertainment technology that has been released during the autumn trade show season and is currently shipping. The award is determined by a panel of judges consisting of designers and technicians in their respective fields of lighting, projection, sound, staging, rigging and special effects.

"Being recognised in this way is tremendous," said Nils Thorjussen, EL's founder and CEO. "We are so fortunate to have such a strong and talented group of engineers and designers to make winning an award like this p

UK - The Fake Flame, launched at PLASA '06, is a patented product designed by Back Stage Technologies Europe (BSTE), and built by Le Maitre. The Fake Flame creates the illusion of real gas flames, but uses absolutely no flammable products.

The system was designed for use in theatres and theme parks as well as on concerts and in nightclubs where a flame effect is desired but it is deemed simply too dangerous or just not practical to use real gas.

Better than silk flames and cost effective to run (with 2.5 litres of haze fluid giving 60 to 80 hours of continuous operation), this system is ideal for fixed installations as well as touring and hire work.

The system creates a linear fire effect of 1.2m wide. The effect reaches the very edge of the unit, so multiple units can be placed side-by-side to create as wide an effect as desired.Each FakeFlame module weighs about 70kg and i

UK - MC2 Audio is pleased to announce the appointment of Mark Bailey as sales and despatch support to the current admin team. Mark graduated from the University of Gloucestershire in 2005, where he studied Business, Marketing and IT and his previous work experience was in the financial industry. He has a strong interest in audio, and comments: "I am delighted to have obtained employment in the audio industry, especially as my hobbies include music production and DJ'ing and I see this as a great opportunity to learn more about the industry."

Bailey is a regular DJ on the local club circuit, and is looking forward to applying his business and marketing skills within MC2.

(Lee Baldock)

UK - Roger Deane is to join London based design and production company Event as head of lighting operations. Roger has been recruited to ensure that the lighting services supplied by the company remain at the highest standards while the company continues to develop a full, technical production service.

Deane's experience as managing director at the Essential Lighting Group, combined with his diverse range of lighting design skills, will bring a new dimension to the lighting division, the company says. The lighting operation at Event services the needs of both the internal production team, which manages a growing number of high-profile clients, as well as a design, delivery and hire service for channel clients.

Managing director of Event, Mark Beaver, says: "We are delighted that Roger has joined us. We started life as a lighting company, and I intend to ensure that the hi

UK - The young Vic has been heralded as one of the most exciting new performance spaces to open this year. Charcoalblue Theatre Consultancy, subcontracted by Theatre Projects, is responsible for the design, specification and integration of the entire technical infrastructure of this exciting new space.

One of the most important producing theatres in the UK, the Young Vic was originally founded in 1970 by Sir Laurence Olivier for the younger members of his newly formed National Theatre Company. Built as a temporary space, it had an intended life span of a mere five years. However it wasn't until 2000 - when the building reached a dangerous state of disrepair - that 'the powers that be' sanctioned its rebuild. The theatre reopened six years later to press on 11 October - on time and on budget.

Designed with total flexibility of space utilization and configuration in mind, Charco

Italy / India - Announced at the PALA India exhibition in early October, Italian manufacturer LDR has appointed Modern Stage Service as exclusive distributor for its theatrical and architectural lighting products in India, following discussions earlier in the year at PALME in Dubai and at PLASA in London.

LDR's Fabiano Besio told L&SI: "MSS is one of the leading companies in the Indian market, not just a distributor but a company that really understands applications and how to support its customers, with strong knowledge of the local market and its requirements." He added: "The Indian market deserves a lot of attention."

Varinder Wadhwa of MSS commented: "LDR manufactures quality products, far better than what is available in India. Now the Indian market is opening up, and people are willing to pay for quality."

(Lee Baldock)

USA - SE Systems of Greensboro, NC has been named the recipient of a 2006 TEC Award for Outstanding Creative Achievement in Tour Sound Production for the North American tour of Alison Krauss and Union Station, featuring Jerry Douglas. The award was presented to SE Systems as well as FOH engineer Bernie Velluti and monitor engineer Mark Richards.

According to SE Systems owner Cliff Miller, the use of JBL Vertec line arrays proved to be one of the keys to the tour's success. "The system has worked out extremely well for us on the Alison Krauss tour," he said. "We try to make the sound system as transparent as possible to maintain the purity of the acoustic instruments and Alison's vocals. With the Vertec line arrays, we are able to amplify the instruments through microphones without any additional built-in pickups. This provides us with significantly more gain at th

France - At this year's Paris Motor Show, Lighthouse Technologies' R6 6mm LED screens added impact to the stands of Porsche, Nissan, Fiat and General Motors among others.

One of the most eye-catching stands what that of Porsche, which featured three R6 screens each in a 7 x 5 panel configuration. Two of the screens were used as portrait format backdrops, while the third was angled above the right hand upright screen and showed footage of the sky to create the illusion of the car, positioned directly in front, actually driving along a winding country lane.

"Car shows are always a spectacular affair," says Lighthouse managing director Mark Chan. "Each year the technology involved in the manufacture of vehicles becomes more sophisticated and the way in which companies market their products has become equally technologically advanced. LED screens are not only equal

The Netherlands - In early September, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Athletics World Championships took place at De Smelt (Ice Stadium) in Assen, the Netherlands. After the Paralympics this is the largest worldwide sporting event for the disabled in the world with approximately 1200 athletes from 78 countries competing for 891 medals. The event was broadcast worldwide.

The Championships' Opening Ceremony was produced by IdtV Events & Promotions with technical production and design completed by Livetime Productions. Livetime chose AED Rent as its partner for sound and lighting equipment. AED Rent recently purchased 100 MAC 700 washlights and Livetime was the first to use the new MAC 700 Washes in a technical production.

The Opening began with a parade of nations followed by a dance spectacle in which Fair Play and the importance of the referee in competition was h

India - Avolites, working with its Indian distributor Jagmag Electric, staged a workshop, seminar and open day in Mumbai for its newly launched Pearl Expert console. This was the first viewing of the Pearl Expert in Asia.

Avolites' Steve Warren and Koy Neminathan organised the event with Jagmag's Atul Sonpal. It was attended by over fifty enthusiastic and interested individuals including LDs, programmers, operators, rental companies and show producers - representing a broad range of market sectors.

Avolites left Mumbai with 16 confirmed orders for the new desk. "I was honestly overwhelmed by the response" says Steve Warren. "The original Pearl has been a huge success for us in India generally, but reaction to the Expert has been stunning, and took us all by surprise."

Atul Sonpal comments, "This console has come to our market at exactly the right tim

UK - Audio-Technica is employing an innovative Bluetooth based mobile marketing application at this year's Music Live exhibition to promote the new Artist Series range of microphones.

The BluRange Ranger from electronic marketing specialists, LHM Media, will broadcast a MMS message to all Bluetooth enabled devices - mobile phones, PDAs or laptops - within a 100 metre radius of the Audio-Technica stand (C50) during Music Live. The promotional message, with content incorporating full colour graphics, offers customers a further 10% off of the special offer price on all Artist Series microphones during the show, to anyone showing it on their mobile device to an Audio-Technica member of staff.

Commenting on the campaign, Harvey Roberts, senior UK marketing manager, Audio-Technica, states: "We are constantly looking to extend the reach and effectiveness of our mar

UK - Adlib Audio has completed the design, specification and installation of a new sound system at Liverpool Royal Philharmonic Hall. The prestigious 1700 capacity concert hall venue is one of the city's landmarks, and Its music programme encompasses a wide variety of events.

Adlib's Andy Dockerty and Roger Kirby designed the system, and the installation project was co-ordinated by Mark Burnley. The system is based around a 9-a-side Nexo GeoD line array, with two Adlib AA 218 HL subs a side. The Nexo was chosen by the venue for its neat, tailored appearance that would cause minimal intrusion in the room and provide sufficient SPL for the various events held within the hall.

Across the front of the stage, the old Nexo PS10 speakers have been reutilised for centre stalls infills and onstage there are eight AA1214w floor monitors, Adlib's latest 650W/12" wedges. To the rear

UK/Germany - Forge Europa will be launching a new range of standard and custom designed LED assemblies along with new product developments such as aLED high power LED lighting assemblies, high intensity traffic LEDs and long life LED technology at Electronica 2006.

These aLEDs consist of a high power LED mounted onto a thermally optimised substrate complete with a connector or solder pads. This takes the headaches of thermal design away and gives an easy to use sub-assembly.

The standard aLED range consists of 1w hexagonal shaped assembly, 1w triple cluster assembly, 1w lighting strip in single colour and in red, green, blue for colour mixing, and 1w double and triple LED lighting strips. Additionally a diverse range of standard optics giving wide, medium and narrow beam patterns in a variety of sizes can also be supplied to fit the aLED devices, thus giving the lighting or ga

USA - Crown International announces two key appointments to its senior staff with the dual promotions of Scott Potosky to vice president of engineering and Marc Kellom to vice president of marketing.

According to Crown president Mark Graham, who made the announcement: "Both Scott and Marc have impressive track records with Crown, leading the development of some of our most important products over the past decade. Each brings extensive leadership experience and an intimate understanding of our business to their respective positions."

Potosky has enjoyed an 18-year tenure with Crown, most recently serving as a product development manager. "Scott's experience in the engineering process and collaboration with other Harman Pro business units makes him a great fit for his new role," says Graham.

Prior to joining Crown, Potosky earned his bachelor's degree in el

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