UK - Turbosound's Milan portable self-powered range of loudspeakers has a new addition - the Mi0, a lightweight, self-powered two-way compact loudspeaker that makes your portable system even easier to handle.

The Milan Mi0 enclosure consists of a 10" reflex-loaded neodymium low frequency driver and a 1" high frequency compression driver on a 90°H x 60°V dispersion HF horn in an optimally tuned injection-moulded enclosure, together with an integrated two-channel amplifier module.

The integrated amplifier is a two channel unit - the Class D low frequency section delivering 180 watts while the Class AB high frequency section delivers 50 watts - which provides a balanced XLR microphone input and balanced line input on a jack/XLR connector with individual level cont

Benelux - GDS (Global Design Solutions) has announced the appointment of AED Distribution as its exclusive distributor for Benelux as part of a deal with its equipment banker AED Rent. Equipment banking means AED Rent rents equipment to AV professionals only. AED Rent now holds the largest stock of GDS LiteWare anywhere in Europe.

AED Rent is part of the AED group has subsidiaries across Europe. With over 31 years' experience AED Rent carries an extensive portfolio from leading manufactures, ranging from lighting and sound products to video, electricity and accessories, holding extensive stock including over 44 miles of Truss in its Belgium warehouse. AED Rent delivers leading brands in to the rental market including, L'acoustics, Clay Paky, GLP, Varilite, Yamaha, QSC, Robert Juliat, and Avolites and provides a complete rental solution to the event industry.

AED Rent committed

Germany - The multimedia autosymphonic show closed celebrations for the 125th birthday of the automobile in Mannheim. An audience of 17,000 attended the spectacle that traced the history of cars and gave an insight into their future development.

For the show, the whole Friedrichsplatz was transformed into a concert stage area of 65,000sq.m. Entertainment included a gig by leading band Söhne Mannheims in addition to the autosymphonic show that was specially commissioned for this event and performed by the SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden Baden. One hundred percussionists joined in by opening car doors in time with the music, or turning on windscreen wipers as well as playing on wheel rims and other car body parts with sticks.

Horst Hamann's multi-media show used lights and lasers to illustrate the history of automobiles. Lighting designer Thomas Gerdon, opted for a gr

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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

USA - Lighting rental and production company Christie Lites has purchased 2000 of Martin Professional's award-winning MAC Aura moving head wash lights for their many rental locations across North America.

Christie Lites CEO Huntly Christie commented on the purchase, stating, "When making a commitment, Christie Lites looks for products that are first in its class. We believe the MAC Aura's patented colour mixing system, powerful output, clean optics and affordable price tag will deliver the design community a fabulous tool. We are very pleased to be adding a significant quantity to our product line."

The MAC Aura which features two independent illumination systems - multicolour beam LEDs and a backlight LED lens array - launched at PLASA 2011 in mid-September, winning a PLASA Award for Innovation.

Martin US President Brian Friborg stated, "Our latest LED moving

World - Dolly Parton is touring with a pair of digital consoles from the Midas PRO range: a PRO6 at front of house, operated by Mike Fechner, and a PRO9 on monitors, both supplied by Thunder Audio of Detroit. The world tour, in support of her Better Day album, kicked off in the US before travelling to Europe for a string of sell-out arena concerts.

Using Midas digital for the first time, Dolly's monitor engineer Jason Glass is finding his PRO9 invaluable for the complex show, which changes from bluegrass to full string pop to gospel and back again, performed by seven multi-instrumental musicians and three backing vocalists.

"I'm using scenes extensively as I have a lot of changes happening on layers that are out of sight and out of mind while I'm paying attention to Dolly," he says. "It really simplifies the show for me; it's also reliable and consistent.

Norway - One of Norway's most popular recording art monitorsists, country rock group the Hellbillies, is spending 2011 taking Nexo's new N-12 stage monitors all over the country on an epic eight-month tour.

Hellbillies' monitor engineer Atle Aamodt sourced eight of the 45°N-12 wedges from rental company and Nexo distributor Fotophono for the national tour, and has found them a major advance on the in-ear monitors being used by the band, especially in an environment where the acoustics or PA are poor and muddying the sound on stage.

"The lead vocalist Aslag Haugen has always used IEMs in situations where the PA or the room acoustics make monitoring difficult. Since we started using the N-12s, we don't need the IEM back-up; even in the worst possible conditions, these monitors provide listening conditions for the musicians that no other monitors can match."

Aamod

Sweden - Wireless Solution Sweden has added yet another company to its growing list of OEM partners. W-DMX technology is now available in the new i-Pix Satellite II, an LED brick light based on the original best-selling Satellite fixture, now with three times the output.

Suitable for stage and theatrical applications where space is a premium, the handy sized Satellite can be easily concealed in a wide variety of small spaces in stage sets, under risers, in trussing, etc. With the addition of W-DMX, this unit solves a myriad of challenges involving complex cabling and difficult locations.

Additional features of the Satellite II include RGB and daylight white (5600°K); homogenised optics; 16-bit, self contained; quick rig mounts for omega brackets; easy interlink between units to create linear forms with square pixels; optional beam shaping films clip onto the front; and opt

UK - AV specialist, VDC Trading has launched a series of new cable and connector ranges. that represent "the first wave of an expansion that will see hundreds of new stock items added to the VDC Trading catalogue in the coming weeks - in direct response to customer demand".

Commenting on the firm's expansion plans, VDC Trading's CEO Niall Holden said, "The excitement for me in business is the constant need for change and improvement. I always enjoy the challenge, and this range expansion has been no different.

"When you're adding even one new product there is no half measure. The factories can't make 300m of cable to 'see how it goes' and, whilst our MOQs are quite high, so are our quality requirements. As a result, we have carried out a huge amount of R&D in preparing to launch this range of new cables and connectors - and we are very pleased with the outc

USA / Canada - Acuity has acquired for cash Pathway Connectivity, Inc. Pathway is a leading manufacturer of networked data communications and interface equipment for architectural and entertainment lighting control applications worldwide.

Established in 1985 and based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Pathway designs and manufactures electronics that enable lighting control systems to communicate with intelligent lighting fixtures and power devices, even when those products utilize different communications protocols. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed and the acquisition is not expected to materially impact Acuity Brands future consolidated financial results.

Pathway is strategically positioned at the intersection between architectural and entertainment lighting. Its established management team and product portfolio support a diverse customer base, and serve a broad range

USA - It's to be expected that a bar might be serious about the drinks that it serves, but The Pony Bar, located at 10th Avenue and 45th Street in Manhattan's famed Hell's Kitchen neighbourhood, takes the quality of its sound system no less seriously.

The Pony Bar, which offers some of America's finest craft brews, also provides beer aficionados with a nightly music soundtrack from artists such as Neil Young, Grateful Dead, Phish and Wilco played back though six Genelec 8030A Bi-Amplified Monitor Speakers and a 7050A Active Subwoofer.

Dan McLaughlin, who opened The Pony Bar with a business partner in mid-April 2009, first experienced Genelec speakers while working at another bar for six years. "It was the best sound I'd ever heard anywhere, just incredible clarity," he enthuses. But after the first installed sound system at The Pony Bar failed to live up to those exp

USA - Dataton and their North American partner, Show Sage LLC, will be demonstrating version 5 of WATCHOUT multi-display production and playback system at LDI.

Jim Testa, Show Sage's president, explains, "As Dataton's North American distributor we are pleased to be spearheading the introduction of WATCHOUT version 5 to LDI attendees. Already recognized as the number one multi-display software solution for the industry, WATCHOUT version 5 offers many new advantages to our customers including enhanced live interaction and a significantly reduced cost per display channel.

"We look forward to introducing the new features of WATCHOUT version 5 to those attending LDI as well as highlighting our WATCHOUT-tuned computer systems."

Michael Engström, Sales Director at Dataton adds: "Presentations have never been more creative, accessible or as easy to utilize and,

Belgium - Robert Juliat has added AED Distribution NV (Belgium) to its family of international distributors. The latest addition to Robert Juliat's worldwide network, AED Distribution forms part of the AED group which has a strong reputation for investing in the industry's most popular, high quality equipment.

With over 200 Robert Juliat followspots in stock at the time of going to press, AED Rent (AED group's dry-hire company) holds one of the largest rental stocks of Robert Juliat equipment in Europe.

"AED is constantly investing in extra equipment to meet the ever changing demands of the industry," says AED group PR manager, Alex Goemans. "AED Distribution is well placed to service sales of this market leading brand across Belgium and Luxembourg. The new partnership between our companies and our commitment to holding high levels of sales stock will enable AED

UK - At last week's Professional AV Awards, Blitz was awarded the accolade of 'AV Rental and Staging Company of the Year 2011'.

Chaired by Clive Couldwell, Editor of AV Europe, the judges' citation read: "A fantastic entry from Blitz Communications! Their submission showed that hard work really pays off - making significant profits this year, despite the economic downturn. They have shown product innovation with the development of their own digital signage system, LiveVIEW, as well as impressive marketing innovations."

The awards ceremony was held at the London Hilton, Park Lane and was attended by over 600 executives from the AV and events industry. Paul Hutton, managing director, collected the award on behalf of the Blitz Team, which currently numbers some 95 employees.

Commenting on the win of the award, Munir Samji, chief executive, said, "This awar

Spain - Martin Professional will be participating in the upcoming PLDC event in Madrid as a Silver Sponsor and will have its European Project Sales Team of sales, project and product managers on hand to present the latest in Martin dynamic lighting and visual solutions.

This year's PLDC will be held at the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid from 19-22 October. PLDC is a conference held every second year that addresses trends in architecture and lighting with a series of presentations by internationally renowned speakers. It also includes a manufacturers' exhibition and has evolved into one of the highlight events for lighting design professionals.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Black Light has supplied a versatile new dance floor for one of Scotland's leading independent dance schools. The company was commissioned by the Yvonne Gray Dance School to revamp the flooring at its Cupar Studio and chose a Rosco Adagio floor for the job. The project was turned around on time and on budget - now hundreds of young (and not so young) Scottish dancers will be able to enjoy this wonderful new facility.

"Black Light have been so helpful in the process of selecting and installing our new dance floor covering. Their friendly advice and customer care has been second to none," says Yvonne Gray from the Dance School. "Our new Rosco Floor was delivered quickly, fitters found and fitting completed in a time that suited our needs."

To deliver this project, Black Light liaised with the client to clarify their needs and requirements. Once the proje

UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) received a great reception to many leading innovations showcased exclusively on the company's stand at PLASA 2011 - with highlights including new products from Chroma-Q, GLP, PixelRange, Jands Vista, Litec and Traction Sound.

AC-ET UK sales director, Jonathan Walters commented, "We've had a great response to the latest Chroma-Q, PixelRange and GLP LED-based fixtures alongside moving head models from GLP, Clay Paky, Martin Professional, Robe lighting and VARI*LITE. Also causing a buzz were the Jands Vista v2 lighting control software's power with simplicity and Traction Sound's innovative SDS loudspeaker design. Litec's MyT supertruss made an explosive entrance on the stand, plus the latest Green Hippo Hippotizer software and our Cable Express cable manufacturing service also received a lot of interest."

Visitors to this ye

Italy - Two Medialon MIP HD media player units along with a Medialon Manager show control license are currently running on The Black Arch, a collaboration work made by the Artist Shadia Alem and writer Raja Alem to represent the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for its debut participation in the 54th International Art Exhibition - la Biennale di Venezia - running in Italy from June 04th to November 27th, 2011.

Damien Lebrun and Nathalie Grassi from CYWEB, a France-based company specialized in multimedia tools and content development, were in charge of the design, production, and the installation of the audio/images/lighting system, as well as the programming of the Medialon show control system.

The Black Arch installation is about two visions of the world, of two cities - Mecca in Saudi Arabia and Venice in Italy. The work is a stage, set to project the artists' collectiv

Denmark - Moto Rental has been supplying equipment for the annual Ledreborg Slotskoncerter (Ledreborg Castle Concert) for almost 20 years. Since 1999, Moto Rental has used L-Acoustics systems for the event, hosted by the Danish National Chamber Orchestra with various guest performers. This year, FOH engineer Henrik Bonné chose Moto's new Kara WST modular line source system with SB18 subs for the concert.

"Everyone was very excited about getting this large Kara/SB18 system," says Bonné who has mixed the concert since 1995. "Normally we work with V-DOSC in larger venues and Kara in smaller venues. But using Kara on this large outdoor concert, which attracted with 24,000 people over two days, really impressed us. We only received good, positive feedback about the sound."

The main system consisted of 20 Kara cabinets each for left and right hangs,

UK - Entertainment lighting specialist White Light - UK distributor for lighting manufacturer Coemar - recently teamed up with television lighting supplier Richard Martin Lighting to let lighting director Will Charles sample Coemar's Infinity range of products - Spot, Wash and ACL - while lighting the UK version of Minute To Win It, a new TV challenge show based on a US show of the same name.

Produced by Shine TV for ITV2, the show was shot at BBC TV Centre's TC6 studio. However, part of the challenge faced by set designer Simon Kimmell and lighting director Will Charles was the production's desire to feel like it was hosted in a sports stadium rather than a 600sq.m studio.

To help with this, Charles deployed the additional "fire power" of the high-output Coemar fixtures, making use of Infinity Spot Ms, Infinity Wash Ms and Infinity ACL Ms. "I used the In

France - PAN.OPTIKUM describe themselves as an ensemble of street or action theatre artists. They are all about outdoor theatre productions on a huge scale with complex and spectacular pyrotechnics, gigantic purpose-built theatrical machines, large-scale projection, stunning lighting and effects, and a troupe of artists who clearly aren't afraid of heights.

Each show tells a story through the media of theatre, music and song. The company responsible for transmitting those messages - aurally, at least - is Freiburg-based rental company, Coco Sound, who specified a significant Uniline system from APG for PAN.OPTIKUM's European tour.

The PA configuration is an unusual one given that PAN.OPTIKUM perform in large, open spaces with the audience in the middle and the show going on around - and indeed, at times, amongst - them. Consequently, Coco Sound's Joscha Muschal specified a fou

India - The Gaitey Theatre in Himachal Pradesh, India, has a special look that is worth preserving. This remarkable piece of Victorian-theatre architecture was conceived by legendry Architect Henry Irwin, and symbolises the grandeur of the British colonial period heritage.

After the inception in the year 1887, eminent theatre personalities like Rudyard Kipling, Baden Powel, K.L.Sehgal, Prithviraj Kapoor, Balraj Sahni, and Manohar Singh have taken to the stage of this theatre.

The government of Himachal Pradesh recently restored the 124-year-old historical landmark, which seats 320 people over two floors, and whose main purpose is still for dramatics and other classical and folk cultural activities. However, after the restoration, it was clear that the existing sound system wasn't meeting the demands of this busy theatre, and that a new, state of the art solution was required.<

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