Business

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UK - Essential Lighting has announced its acquisition of trade hire specialists, Lighting Hire Ltd. Lighting Hire's team have been integrated with Essential Lighting's rental operations to provide an enhanced service, specifically for the lighting industry. The combined rental stocks of the companies now include an expanded range of generic and intelligent lighting equipment for rental.

Martin Lubach, technical director of Essential Lighting, takes overall responsibility for trade hire. His team consists of James Rose, Dave Charters, and will shortly be joined by a further member. Pete Barford, previously general manager of Lighting Hire, joins the board of Essential Lighting to take charge of business development.

Essential Lighting calls this "an excellent development", who are already well known and regarded within the lighting industry for their moving light rent

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UK - The PLASA Show closed on Wednesday this week after four successful days of business. The general feedback from exhibitors was very positive, with a number of exhibitors expressing their satisfaction at orders taken at the show.

PLASA Show director Nicky Rowland of Clarion Events told LSI Online that the organizing team had been very pleased with the levels of re-booking for next year's show - both from current and returning exhibitors - and also said that a number of entirely new exhibitors have booked up for PLASA 2006. "We've had extremely positive feedback," said Rowland. "It seems that a high level of business was conducted, with a number of companies even saying they had been overwhelmed by the orders being written at the show." One of these was Vari-Lite's European distributor, PRG Europe, where Philip Norfolk told PLASA Media the company had been

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Ibiza - Pioneer reports a string of successes for its DJ products on the Mediterranean party island of Ibiza - a platform for the world's finest DJ talent. Clubbing lifestyle leaders are integrating the latest Pioneer equipment into their installations - including its "revolutionary" new digital 1000 series - the DJM-1000 mixer and EFX-1000 effects unit - and the world's first DVD/CD turntable - the DVJ-X1.

The DJM-1000 six-channel digital mixer (boasting an impressive three-band master isolator and choice of rotaries or faders) has been a breakthrough this year, say Pioneer. Installed at the party capitals of Cafe Mambo, Manumission, Pacha, and Space, the DJM-1000 seems to be the mixer of choice on the island. Providing a 24-bit/96kHz digital sampling rate and a 32-bit/96kHz digital sound processor, the DJM-1000 offers excellent connectivity and control, and can digit

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UK - Harman Pro UK has supplied Sound Division with an integrated audio solution including JBL speakers, BSS routing and processing, dbx zoning and Crown amplification for the impressive new Albannach venue in Trafalgar Square, one of London's most famous locations. The contemporary Scottish restaurant, bar, cocktail lounge and social space is top quality, independently-owned venture. Occupying a prime spot of London real estate, its breathtaking views include Nelson's column, the National Gallery and other historical landmarks. Albannach is at the very heart of the bustling and buzzing metropolis.

The venue is divided into three distinct areas - the bright and open main lounge bar on the ground floor as you walk in, featuring large windows, lots of natural light and the stunning urban views. The mezzanine restaurant area above the rear portion of main lounge bar is a cosier and

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USA - Color Kinetics reports that the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts has issued an order dismissing the lawsuit filed by Super Vision International Inc against Color Kinetics alleging infringement of US Patent No. 4,962,687 (also known as 'the High End' or 'Belliveau' Patent). The Court determined that Super Vision was not the owner of the High End Patent and that it was, instead, simply a non-exclusive licensee, with no right to enforce the patent. The Court ruled that Super Vision's suit is to be dismissed, but did not exclude the possibility that Super Vision could at some point acquire rights from the patentee that might permit it to assert a claim in the future.

On March 4 last year Super Vision announced that it had acquired the patent from High End Systems, and the following day filed a lawsuit in the US District Court for the Middle District of Flori

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UK - Following the introduction of several key new products and a renewed focus on the pro audio chassis market, Celestion International reports dramatically increased OEM sales in this sector during the first quarter of this financial year. Growth was demonstrated across the full range of cast chassis product including FTR, ultra-low distortion ceramic magnet drivers and NTi, inverted neodymium speakers. Sales were increased by 85% in F1 2006 compared with the same period last year (F1 2005), say the company.

At the same time, volume sales of CDX compression drivers have seen a year-on-year sales increase of more than 70%, which Celestion says "demonstrates the success of a clear strategy that concentrates on providing the highest level of service for our existing customers, while further extending our customer base". OEM sales manager Kevin Shove said: "Developi

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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 categories: professional lighting, pro audio for presentation and performance purposes, pro-audio for

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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)

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Hong Kong - Lighthouse Technologies has received a Highly Commended Award for Exhibition Stand Design at IBC 2005, held in Amsterdam's Rai Centre at the beginning of September.

The award was given for a successful combination of powerful visual impact, combined with a user-friendly yet creative configuration that allowed visitors free access around the stand. The design featured Lighthouse's flagship ultra high resolution R6 6mm pixel pitch screen in a 2.88 x 5.12m format, the super quiet R10 10mm pixel pitch screen hung in three vertical strips and the new portable, self-contained PopVision based on the 6mm pixel pitch screen, as well as sister company OptiLED's Linear Optical Array flow above the R10 screens.

"The highly creative nature of our product really lends itself to a visually impactful stand," comments Lighthouse managing director Mark Chan, "and bein

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UK - Elumin8, manufacturer of electroluminescent lighting will see its technology on show with Workplace Art, at the sleep.05 exhibition, Old Billingsgate Market on 8-9 November 2005 and used to create a series of spectacular freestanding lighting panels by leading designer Ginco.

The panels have an intricate abstract motif that lights up gradually. Ginco has been experimenting with Elumin8 lighting since 2003. Her work aims to create a vision of the future living environment.

Richard Kirk, managing director of Elumin8 says; "Electroluminescent (EL) lights are paper-thin, low-energy, and flexible and can be screen printed on to large-scale surfaces. Emitting a glow, they have the potential to transform advertising billboards into flashing, eye-catching animations, to create low-level lighting in jet aircraft and car interiors, and provide a fascinating tool for young desi

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UK - A new strategic partnership between two of Europe's leading suppliers to the entertainment sector will see Pfaff-silberblau and Tomcat UK collaborating to provide a comprehensive design and technical service to the UK entertainment industry. The announcement was made at recent the PLASA Show in London. Together the two companies will provide a highly efficient and cost-effective end-to-end solution for the entertainment industry incorporating staging, trusses, lighting and hoists.

The arrangement, announced by Mitch Clark, president of Tomcat and Thomas Dory, CEO of Pfaff-silberblau GmbH, will see the two companies working together to develop and deliver new projects utilizing their combined resources and experience. Their collaboration will strengthen sales, technical and design support and enable a significant expansion of the UK stockholding of the specialist products re

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UK - Experienced sound engineer and system integrator François Paré recently completed a prestigious installation at Annabel's Club in London's Berkeley Square.

An institution of society clubbing in the capital since being set up by Mark Birley in 1963, the venue recently took delivery of a new Martin Audio sound system - supplied by dealers LMC Audio to fulfill a design conceived by François' company, Sonotec Ltd.

The contract had been offered to Paré, who had become known to the venue in his previous work capacity, when he would take Martin Audio demo rigs into the venue. "We had put on a show there using a Martin W2 system and they liked the sound and brand value," he said. Whilst competitive systems were proposed by other installers, Sonotec was awarded the contract on the strength of its design.

Paré was clear about his system configurat

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UK - FX Rentals has announced a continuing investment in new equipment for its hire inventory. The new additions range from a RADAR V Nyquist 24 track hard disc recording system and Neve 2252 compressors through to backline and MI gear.

A recent welcome addition to live performance and recording is Aviom's A1611 16-channel personal monitor system which provides each musician with their own small mixer with level, pan and EQ control, linked with CAT5 network cables. FX first hired this out as part of a temporary studio installation for Franz Ferdinand's forthcoming album. "The Aviom's A16 was very well received by both the band and engineers," says FX technical manager Adam Pope. "The monitor mixers need only be connected by single network cable, so they could be located wherever required in the house."

The A16 is now out on an extended hire in France with M

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UK - By the time Paul 'Pab' Boothroyd received the call from Paul McCartney's producer Nigel Godrich to set up a music workshop for the former Beatle in the legendary Studio 2 at Abbey Road, he knew what mixing desk he wanted to use. Despite being given just 24 hours notice, and with Concert Sound rustling up the foldback, he was set on emulating some of the vintage tube sounds that characterised the Beatles' golden studio era.

He also realised that, with an audience of 50 people crammed into Studio 2, he would have a limited footprint on which to operate. A call to Digidesign's Mike Case and a Venue mixing environment (with the restricted surface requirements of the D-Show and sidecar) was shipped to site and shoehorned in behind the boom covers. Playing all the instruments himself, McCartney debuted eight songs from his forthcoming album Chaos And Creation In The Backyard

  1. Bright future for University lighting course
  2. Wilkes Iris acquires sheet metal specialist
  3. Ministry moves over to Martin
  4. Robe lights world's largest mirror ball
  5. Cadac expands Rack Range at PLASA
  6. 2004 Olympic Ceremonies awarded Emmy
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