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UK - Founded in 1976, Rugby-based electronics solutions provider Zirkon, is one of the rare success stories since the downturn in the UK electronics and manufacturing industry. In the last year, the company has researched and assessed the industry, re-positioned itself accordingly, donned its all-weather gear and gone out fighting for every piece of business available.

Zirkon's approach to market is epitomized in the relationship it has with Garwood Monitor Systems, where it has worked jointly with them on the APM series of in-ear monitoring. The APM Series comprises three products - APM 200/400 main stations, APM 12 dual stereo headphone amplifier and the APM 31 3-channel headphone amplifier. Using headphones, in-ear monitors or a mixture of both, the APM Series gives the user the benefits of greatly simplified wiring, high audio quality and individual mix balancing by the musi

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UK - Yet more developments in the contentious Alcohol and Entertainment Licensing Bill, which is currently being bounced between the Commons and Lords, whilst those bodies with a vested interest, continue the fight to get their voices heard.

It all stems from the UK Government's desire to do away with the existing two-in-a-bar rule, which allows up to two performers to appear in a venue or pub without a licence. If the Licensing Bill as it stands becomes law, this will no longer be possible. The concern expressed by those most directly affected - the musicians and the venue owner/operators - is that the replacement Bill will mean a lot more paperwork, will prove costly, and could do some serious damage to the UK live music industry.

The pro lobby believe that the Bill is well intentioned and will update archaic licensing laws, clamp down on some of the UK's more worrying crimi

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USA - The award-winning Dixie Chicks kicked off their 'Top of the World' Tour 2003 in Greenville, South Carolina in May, before taking their unique sound across the country and ending on 4 August in Nashville, Tennessee. Upstaging and Tomcat USA came together to provide top notch equipment for the tour: besides the 12 sections of medium duty, 24 sections of heavy duty, and various corner blocks and pick-up bars, Tomcat provided a custom 16ft truss circle and 16 sections of the EDDY Award-winning Swing Wing Truss. The Dixie Chicks will also be extending their tour into Europe with 10 show dates recently announced.

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - The controversial reform of England and Wales' archaic licensing laws has now been given the go-ahead by Parliament. This paves the way for delivery of the Government's promise to provide for flexible pub licensing hours.

Having finally been approved by both Houses of Parliament, after much negotiation over the fine detail, the Licensing Bill will now go forward for Royal Assent, after which it will become law. The key elements of the bill include flexible opening hours; measures to tackle alcohol-related crime and disorder (including new police powers to close licensed premises without notice for up to 24 hours); a greater say for the public (licences will be granted by electorally-accountable licensing authorities, instead of magistrates, with local residents able to make representations); strengthened protection for children and less red tape (the new Bill sees the amal

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UK - For the fifth year running, Blackout was appointed as drapes and rigging contractors for Microsoft's annual Tech-Ed conference by London-based production house PCI:Live. Simultaneously, Blackout was also commissioned by production company Thomas Hannah Associates (THA) to provide the drapes and rigging for software giant Oracle's AppsWorld Conference in London's ExCell Centre.

Tech-Ed is one of the largest conferences in Europe, filling both halls of the enormous Fira de Barcelona 2 exhibition center. Over 6,000 Microsoft employees and IT professionals traveled to Barcelona for the five-day conference. The 6,000 capacity keynote room coupled with the delegates' dining area filled an entire hall; the second housed a further 10 breakout rooms, some seating 2,000.

Blackout director Chris Brain worked with PCI:Live's Matt Hearnden designing the system of room-dividers using c

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Portugal - O2 Lx is a highly-designed, new-build club in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon, owned by South African, John Blummenfeld.

Blummenfeld committed a million euros to convert the former restaurant and discotheque, with Philippe Starck furnishing and decor forming the centrepiece of the predominantly blue interior design. Around 20% of the budget was allocated to the sound, lighting and video system, which was specified and installed as a fully-integrated system by Lisbon-based Audium, who had worked with Blummenfeld on a previous installation, Rock City, back in 1994.

The 1000-capacity club trades on two levels - the ground floor space and an upper level mezzanine around the dance floor. While the ground floor is open to the general public, the upper floor operates as a kind of private club for VIPs, special guests and private parties.

Serving up a fare of mainly Hous

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Greece - A massive AV installation on board the Thomson Spirit cruise liner, owned by Lewis Cruise Lines of Greece, has just been completed. With 1,400 passengers, and a crew of 520, it is one of the largest ships operating out of Palma offering cruises around the Mediterranean.

Now 18 years old, the ship has recently undergone an extensive refurbishment, which has seen major changes across the entire ship, from cabins to kitchens through to entertainment systems. Thomson's consultants provided the specifications and a list of equipment to Live Business International (LBI) who were brought in to provide system design and schematics, installation, commissioning and ongoing maintenance. The LBI team, with Gerry Logue as technical project manager, thus either fitted from scratch, or refitted, 12 entertainment areas.

The Broadway (main show lounge) features a full theatre sound, l

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USA - Bandit Lites has introduced wireless computer capabilities to its world headquarters office in Knoxville, Tennessee. The size of the building (95,000sq.ft has necessitated wireless network capabilities to allow drawings, equipment lists and all other information to be accessed and updated from anywhere in the facility. This capability is due to the work of Bandit's computer resources department where director of that department, Jim Guinn, took less than one day to set up the service. "This allows our road crew to access the internet and the company network without us having to run network cables through out the warehouse," Guinn said.

Bandit Lites' vice-president, Richard Willis added: "This technology will help the road crew communicate more effectively when they are in the warehouse prepping a show." Bandit Lites believes the innovation will be an en

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UK - As we reported last issue, Ampekko acquired the business of Millbank Electronics, one of the UK's most respected names in public address and voice alarm. We talked to Ampekko CEO Neil Voce about the deal and what it means to both Millbank and its parent company, Ampekko Ltd.

What plans do you have for the future of the Millbank name'

There are very few global brands within our particular sector and this is an opportunity to re-position Millbank back at the top of the pile. Worldwide distribution channels take a long time to put in place and we now need to work with our partners to ensure that the placing of the brand is maintained. The product line will be enhanced - quickly and powerfully. Some of the products suffer from an image of being a bit tired, although I have been very pleasantly surprised with their functionality.

What investment will there be in t

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UK - While millions queued for their copies of J.K. Rowling's latest addition to the Hogwarts adventure, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, 5,000 lucky children already knew they were in for the treat of their lives. Bloomsbury Publishing (plc) called upon Clear Channel Entertainments to stage a special event at London's Royal Albert Hall, an event which gifted these avid fans an opportunity to quiz Rowling herself.

No simple question and answer session, the confines of the Albert Hall were converted into a magical rendition of Hogwarts school, replete with flying ghosts, for a spectacular simultaneous webcast on the MSN network. Naturally, this called for the specialist talents of the UK's presentation industry; amidst a burgeoning production team can be found the names of Britannia Row Productions, Light&Sound Design, Creative Technology, Hand Held Audio, Unusu

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UK / Latvia - Following talks at Frankfurt ProLight&Sound, Chameleon Audio has appointed pro audio design and install company, Amphion SIA, as its distributor in Latvia.

Formed earlier this year, Amphion has already established a wide customer base, including the Latvia National Opera and Ballet Theatre, Riga airport and railway station, Latvia National Theatre and Liepaja Drama Theatre. "Our brief is to design and install sound reinforcement systems for a wide variety of venues and businesses - from supermarkets and clubs, to theatres and concert halls," comments Amphion's general manager, Einars Jaunbralis. "When I visited Chameleon's stand at Frankfurt, I was impressed with the positive comments of other professional end-users and, particularly, their opinions on the amps' superb sound quality. I'm looking forward to working with Paul Houlden in establishing th

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UK - The hit musical theatre production Boogie Nights has just announced dates for its third national tour in the UK, and Arranpaul, the Blackpool-based sound rental company, will once again be providing PA systems for the show. With this production playing in 2,000-capacity theatres, a significant number of Arranpaul's Nexo Alpha E and PS Series cabinets will be on the road this autumn, so proprietor Arran Culpan has taken the decision to top up his inventory. The company has asked Fuzion to supply another pair of stacks of Alpha E, plus additional PS10 and PS15 speakers.

"We ran short of Alpha E earlier in the year," explains Culpan, "when we had Boogie Nights out at the same time as the incredibly successful karaoke musical SingalongwithAbba. Now that Boogie Nights has confirmed yet another tour, it's a good opportunity to stock up,

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UK - Ian Holmes from 11:59 Productions has undertaken many esoteric lighting requests in his career, but the challenge of lighting the underbelly of Charing Cross railway bridge in London was one to relish. Eight Studio Due CityColor architectural luminaires and 10 of the smaller MiniCity fixtures were used to up-light the underneath of the bridge for the official gala opening of the new Golden Jubilee Bridges footbridges (previously known as Hungerford Bridge), identical halves of which flank the railway bridge.

Although these spans, designed by Lifschulz Davidson, have been open since last year, they were officially inaugurated and named at last week's VIP ceremony. 11:59 Productions was approached by Murray Goth, promoter for the opening event, who was liasing with the two councils - Westminster City from the north bank of the river, and Lambeth from the south. The brief was

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Italy - Umbria-Jazz is one of the world's most famous annual international jazz festivals and is held every summer in the Umbrian region of central Italy. The audio systems to be used this year will feature Adamson speakers and Powersoft amplifiers as part of a system designed by Reference Laboratory which will be installed in the S. Giuliana Arena, the stage where some of the major international artists are performing.

The linear-array audio system will consist of 24 Adamson Y-Axis speakers, 12 per side, powered by six Digam D 4002 amplifiers. Supplementing the above will be 12 Sub Y10s (six per side) and individually powered by 12 Digam amplifiers. Front fill is provided by four Epsylon 2 12/P Reference speakers.

(Sarah Rushton-Read)

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UK - Reproduced Sound 19, organized by the Institute of Acoustics (IoA), has published a provisional programme for this year's conference, to be held at the Oxford Hotel in Wolvercote, Oxford, from Thursday 6 (main programme from Friday 7) to Saturday 8 November 2003.

The provisional programme, which can be found on the website below, promises another lively and informative weekend, in the long-standing tradition of Reproduced Sound conferences. This year, the theme is 'Exploring and Sharing Audio and Acoustics', and the topics covered include Speech Intelligibility; Perception; Room Acoustics; Audio Networks; Loudspeaker Arrays and Loudspeaker Measurements. The conference will also feature presentations from Dr DurandBergault of NASA, Floyd Toole of Harman International, Dr Wolfgang Ahnert of ADA (and EASE fame), Phil Nelson of the ISVR (Institute of Sound and Vibration Researc

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Austria - Organizers of the Wiener Festwochen selected Chameleon's German distributor, Alex Schloesser GmbH, to supply the sound system for this annual open-air event, staged in the city of Vienna. Attended by 25,000 people, the concert was broadcast live on ORF and 3SAT TV/satellite stations.

Utilizing the historic Vienna City Hall as a backdrop, performers are drawn from the worlds of classical, traditional and contemporary music, and span mainstream rock bands to opera singers, a brass ensemble and a philharmonic orchestra. "The organizers specified that the system must be able to handle all the different styles of music and, above all, deliver a combination of power and clarity," says Schloesser. "Following a brief from local sound designer, Adolf Togel, I supplied an Adamson Y-Axis 18 line array for the main PA and an Adamson RA system for the delay. The moni

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UK - London's prestigious Royal Albert Hall has recently purchased 10 Clay Paky Stage Profile Plus units to add to its existing Clay Paky Stage Zoom 1200 inventory for use in the famous auditorium. Supplied by Clay Paky and Pulsar reseller A.C. Lighting Ltd, these workhorse units will be used to complement all visiting showcase events.

RAH technical manager Mark Jones explains why he chose the Stage Profile Plus: "Due to the diverse nature of the shows in the hall, and the varying distance that the units are from the stage, we were looking for a zoom profile with high light output and overlapping shuttering. After a lengthy product comparison of 1200W shuttering moving head projectors on the market, we chose the SP+ because it is exceptionally bright with good colour mixing, the gobos can be changed easily, it's quiet and most importantly very reliable. The overlapping shut

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Italy - A total of 40 Outline Micra Reflex loudspeaker enclosures, powered by Series T power amplifiers, have been installed as the sound reinforcement system for 'Escape from Atlantis' - the latest attraction at Italy's huge Gardaland amusement park. One of Europe's largest water parks, it covers an area of 15,000sq.m, and has already been the setting for spectacular publicity footage transmitted by major Italian and international television broadcasters.

Outline's systems can also be found at Gardaland outside the 'Valley of Kings' - an attraction that's a faithful 1:2 scale reproduction of Egypt's' ancient Abu Simbel temple. Here, two Doppia enclosures, two Victor Live subwoofers powered by DSP Genius 6 and T power amps and two (delayed) Digita Plus N enclosures reproduce the soundtrack for the laser, accompanied by dancing fountains and water walls up to 45ft high.

Outline

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USA - Bandit Lites is currently on tour with lighting designer Eddie 'Bones' Connell and country music star Toby Keith, whose stage show includes a changing backdrop. Instead of employing the traditional 'Kabuki Stick' or the existing bulky Kabuki boxes to accomplish the curtain drop, Bandit Lites has improved on the design of the existing boxes to make them smaller, lighter and more maintenance friendly.

These newly styled Kabuki boxes were designed and manufactured by Bandit Lites' Technical Services Division. Each box has a load bearing potential of 15 pounds. The system is 'fired' from a custom-designed control centre, which is rack mountable and is contained in the PD racks. It holds the potential to fire up to 60 Kabuki boxes simultaneously. "This system is much more versatile than anything else on the market," said Richard Willis, Bandit Lites vice-president. Th

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UK / USA - UK exhibitors, facility owners and customers attending this year's 115th AES Convention in New York, are being invited to a special reception hosted by the British Consul General and the APRS. The event, which takes place on Thursday 9 October (6.30pm - 8.30pm), will be open to all UK companies attending at the Convention, not just APRS members.

The aim of the reception is to provide an opportunity for UK companies and their suppliers and customers in the US to meet and network before the show starts the following day. Companies who would like their US customers to sample British hospitality are invited to send names and contact details to APRS executive director, Peter Filleul, at the e-mail address below, so that personal invitations from the New York British Trade Consul can be issued. All customer contacts will be held in strictest confidence by the APRS.

The AP

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UK - Fuzion plc will be showing new additions to the WORK WPL Series of loudspeakers at PLASA 2003. Designed to exacting standards to produce a high quality acoustic response in an attractive, compact, ABS injection-moulded cabinet, the product represents top-class audio engineering.

The WPL Series is also conceived with a host of features to suit a variety of applications. They can be flown, while their trapezoidal shape also facilitates clustering. With their interlocking feet, stacking is also straightforward - while at the same time the integrated handles make them highly portable.

WPL products come in both passive and powered versions and models on show include the WPL 1 (12in + 1in 350W RMS passive); WPL1A (the bi-amp active version); WPL5 (15in + 1in 500W RMS passive) and WPL5A (the active equivalent).

WORK can be found on the Fuzion stand at PLASA, F60.

(Lee Baldoc

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UK - International Leisure Industry Week, the UK's only event for the out-of-home leisure industry market, and PLASA, the Professional Lighting and Sound Association, have announced a new partnership.

PLASA will be hosting a special lounge in the Leisure Environments section of this year's LIW. The section focuses on how to create the right environment through design, lighting, sound, vision, furniture and fittings.

The strategic partnership was born of a mutual dedication to the leisure industry. LIW addresses the full range of needs of the leisure market, attracting decision-makers from across the board including nightclubs, late-night venue operators, theme parks, themed restaurants, fitness clubs, leisure centres, heritage centres and museums. The audience represents a fertile hunting ground for PLASA's members as these visitors all require lighting and sound products in

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Belgium - The 10th Exhibition of the ACF (Audio Creative Fair) will be held at the Parc Des Expositions exhibition centre in Brussels, in Halls 11 and 12, from 25-28 November 2003. Exhibitors, originating from several countries of the European Community, will be presenting the sectors latest innovations.

The ACF will bring together manufacturers, importers and distributors of professional equipment, pre and post production firms, producers, creative talents in the field of image, sound, lighting, special effects, computer generated or virtual images and multimedia, the representatives of service companies working in these fields and Belgian and European official bodies. Stands dedicated to showing off equipment, services and know-how will be spread over the 22,000 square metres of Halls 11 and 12 of the Parc des Exposition in Brussels.

As in previous exhibitions, the AFC aims

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Ireland - Duran Audio UK has recently supplied two AXYS Intellivox 4Cs, two AXYS Intellivox 2Bs and two AXYS Intellivox 1Bs to Northern Ireland-based installer DL Electronics as part of an installation at St Patrick's Cathedral in Armagh.

The Cathedral has recently undergone an extensive refurbishment programme: an important part of this project was to replace the PA system, as there had always been problems with speech intelligibility in the building. Acoustic consultant, Peter Lloyd, and the installers, DL Electronics, were keen to investigate a more innovative approach, as distributed systems had not worked well in the Cathedral in the past. Following several conversations with Duran Audio UK, they arranged for an Intellivox demonstration so that they could see what could be achieved using Duran Audios DDC technology. The benefits of the technology were immediately clear and

  1. Fuzion to launch Camco Tecton at PLASA
  2. Primary Colours for Robe UK
  3. Nexo Geo T headlines on Glastonbury's Pyramid Stage
  4. Premium-rate fax scam targets audio companies
  5. Scottish Opera takes Christie Roadrunner Lx65 on tour
  6. Montreux Congress Centre equipped with L-Acoustics
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