Robe - Leaderboard - 27 Aug25 - Jan26
ISE 2026 - Banner - Oct 2025

Business

Details
UK - Christie has announced a new UK partnership with Visualization. The UK-based company will be joining Christie as the UK’s technical distribution partner, offering a full system design, build and supply of services and products, to the integration and dealer channel.
Visualization is an associate company of AV Rack Build and is able to draw on a long-established relationship with Christie and its products. The new arrangement gives integrators a one-stop-shop for system pricing, orders, and an opportunity to take advantage of additional AV engineering services and technical expertise each step of the way.
“Christie products are respected across the AV world and their reputation speaks for itself,” comments Nick Pidgeon, managing director at Visualization and AV Rack Build. “We have enjoyed an excellent working relationship with Christie since early days wit

Details
Italy - K-array has launched a new pro audio brand, Kgear, which aims ‘to bring the latest technologies and top-level performance into a sleek design, easy-approach package, with a special attention to budget-sensitive yet demanding applications’.
Kgear’s product portfolio is divided into two main areas - high performance and installed sound - and comprises column systems, line-arrays, ceiling and wall mount speakers, subwoofers and amplifiers for applications ranging from large venues and commercial buildings to room-sized, residential environments.
“Over the past two years we took the chance to re-focus ourselves and start dreaming and designing in a different, challenging perspective to draw the very essence of K-array and apply it to create a more accessible product line without sacrificing the quality and performance we have been worldwide known for,” sa
ISE 2026 - Banner - Oct 2025

Details
USA - Shure Incorporated is entering its 96th year in audio technology and is planning a number of celebrations of company landmarks throughout the next 12 months.
S.N. Shure started the audio company in downtown Chicago in 1925, selling radio parts kits. Since then, the company has grown into a global player, offering a diverse portfolio of wired and wireless microphones, personal and professional listening products, and conferencing and meeting solutions. Shure products are now sold in more than 120 countries, and through the decades, they have been trusted and used around the world by such luminaries as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Elvis Presley, Pope Francis, Nelson Mandela, The Beatles, and every United States President since Franklin D. Roosevelt.
“While our 95th year provided several challenges as it relates to the pandemic, we continued with our superior pro

Details
Italy - Powersoft has launched a new training programme on its website, which provides two new free training sections for users: Webinars, where all Powersoft’s recent webinars are uploaded, and E-Learning, where the live sound and install courses are available online now for anyone who wishes to take them. The OEM course will be released in the coming weeks.
The E-Learning platform is designed to be a one-stop destination for online training. The courses are designed to provide sound engineers, integrators, and AV technicians the advantage to learn directly from Powersoft’s experts and gain certification upon completion.
“Created by our in-house experts, these courses are for anyone working in the professional audio market, so they can operate with specialist understanding on audio systems, and gain an expert’s insight into our audio products,” said Marc Koc

Details
South Africa - DWR Distribution’s Jaco Beukes welcomed nine delegates who attended the two-day DiGiCo S-Series training workshop hosted in May. The course was held at the DWR offices in Johannesburg.
“The training went exceptionally well,” said Beukes, who presented the workshop. “It was exciting and good to recap everything on the S Consoles. We went through a lot of interesting topics and everybody seemed to enjoy it. Even the more senior guys learned new things.”
The group of delegates included freelancers, technicians from rental companies and technical crew from a local church.
“Some of the delegates have used the console for years while others have only started audio more recently, so it was a diverse group,” said Jaco. “Thank you very much to everyone who joined us.”
The training included a demonstration of the DiGiCo S-Series digit

Details
China - Follow-Me, manufacturer of remote follow-spot and auto tracking solutions, has announced the appointment of ACE, Advanced Communication Equipment (International) Company as its distributor for China.
“As an established name, marketing quality manufacturers and their products throughout China, we believe ACE is perfectly placed to promote the Follow-Me brand,” explain Gary Yates and Erik Berends, co-founders of Netherlands’ based Follow-Me. “Due to their experience and professionalism we see ACE as the ideal partner to support our growing client base in China.”
“Follow-Me is the perfect addition to our lighting product portfolio, being both a flexible and cost-effective performer tracking solution that can be deployed in multiple applications,” says ACE’s vice-president, Mr. Bingo Tso. “We are constantly looking for products that represent the

Details
Hungary – Rental and installation company, G-Sound, was founded in 2014 by József Gricz, an experienced engineer who previously worked for the country’s National Radio. Recently, the company decided to add L-Acoustics K Series to its inventory, elevating its own standing within the Hungarian market and strengthening the country’s K2 alliance.
The system was supplied by Audmax, an L-Acoustics certified provider distributor for Hungary, whose CEO, Krisztian Varga, recalls G-Sound’s decision process for choosing K2. “In 2019, József was looking to take the next step in event technology and started to dive into the L-Acoustics world,” Varga says. “In December of that year, I offered him a visit to the L-Acoustics corporate office in Marcoussis. Both József and his system engineer Zsolt Balogh were impressed with what they saw. We spent a fantastic day with sales

Details
UK - Following on from the latest Scottish Government announcement and in light of UK guidelines summarising clear plans for the return of the events industry south of the border, event industry leaders across Scotland have warned of a critical juncture in the recovery of the Scottish sector, as there still remains no indication of when gatherings of scale will be permitted and when social distancing parameters will be removed.
Whilst restrictions on retail and leisure are lifted in Scotland, the events sector remains largely locked down and unable to plan ahead under current policy and plans.
Geoff Crow, director of 21CC Group and member of the Event Industry Advisory Group comments, “We need consistency and clarity. The event sector in Scotland is at a standstill, which is difficult to watch when we see other sectors opening up and the rest of the UK and parts of

Details
Green Light - Theatres across England have been given the green light to reopen from next week under the next stage of the government’s roadmap. Venues will be able to open with social distancing, with capacities capped at 50% or 1,000 people for indoor shows, and 50% or 4,000 people outdoors.
For many theatres it will mark the first time they have been able to open their doors in more than a year, with theatre bosses now looking forward to the possibility of social distancing being removed completely by June 21, the next date in the roadmap.
Prime minister Boris Johnson said theatres would be able to reopen on 17 May and added that the country was “on track" to move to Step 4 of the roadmap on 21 June, under which social distancing would be removed. "Today we are announcing the single biggest step in our roadmap and it will allow us to do many of the things we hav

Details
UK - Eyes in the UK and across the World focused on Liverpool’s Bramley Moore Dock successful test events, at Circus, hailing the return of live music from lockdown, with two nights of dance music (30 April/1 May), with over 6,000 people in the audience and Symphotech managing the health & safety.
Symphotech worked from the conception of the test events, supporting the organisers, Circus Music and The Events Company UK, to create a Covid safe event. With the emphasis on the research and test event aspect of the shows, protocols had to meet the criteria required by the scientists and multiple stakeholders.
Symphotech director Eddy Grant was their project leader, producing a detailed, constantly evolving risk analysis for the staff and the audience. He explains: “When the roadmap out of lockdown was announced by the government, in February, I spoke with Sam News

Details
Europe - Sennheiser and the Sonova Holding AG with headquarters in Stäfa, Switzerland, have confirmed their future cooperation under the Sennheiser brand. The global provider of medical hearing solutions will fully take over Sennheiser's Consumer Electronics business. Subject to regulatory approval, the plan is to complete the transfer of the business to Sonova by the end of 2021. Sennheiser had announced in February that it would focus on the professional business in the future while seeking a partner for the Consumer Electronics business.
With the takeover of the Sennheiser Consumer business, Sonova is adding headphones and soundbars to its hearing care portfolio, which includes hearing aids and cochlear implants, among other hearing solutions.
"We couldn't have asked for a better partner than Sonova for our Consumer Electronics business," says Daniel Sennheiser, c

Details
UK - Avolites is celebrating its 45th anniversary today (Friday, 7 May).
From its first touring dimmer rack, the landmark Avolites LD dimmer (later to become the FD dimmer), to the launch of its latest flagship Diamond 9 console earlier this year, the company has been at the forefront of technological change in the lighting events industry ever since.
The company was first set up by Ian Walley in 1976 and gets its name from the AVO meter (Amps, Volts, and Ohms) that he would habitually have with him at load-ins. Over the decades, Avolites has manufactured a wide range of lighting control and networking products, media servers, accessories, and software, but is probably best known for its range of lighting control consoles and dimmer racks. These include the first generation of consoles designed to control the new intelligent lighting products that were emerging onto t

Details
UK - A recent study conducted among 25,000 concertgoers has shown fans are overwhelmingly in favour of providing COVID certificates to be admitted to a live event.
75% of those surveyed have said they would be happy with the idea of COVID certification, and over 50% have said they are ready to attend music events right now, with a further 25% stating they would attend once the right mitigations are in place.
This is welcome news for the live events sector, which is currently in talks with the UK government over the type of access control measures that should be put in place to allow events to resume in the summer.
The #ReviveLive survey was released by LIVE (Live music Industry, Venues and Entertainment), a federation of live music industry associations representing 3,150 businesses, over 4,000 artists and 2,000 backstage workers. Members include Associa

Details
UK - With the popularity of Bring Your Own Devices (BYOD) to virtual and hybrid meetings, the ability to provide quality meeting audio is more important than before.
Shure and Barco are working together to help ensure customers achieve “a revolutionary workplace experience”. The Shure Audio Ecosystem now pairs seamlessly with Barco ClickShare Conference, allowing customers to combine audio for remote communication with easy-to-use wireless in any meeting space.​
“Customers can rely on powerful and certified solutions with Shure networked audio solutions and our ClickShare Conference products,” said David Fitzgerald, vice president, global alliances at Barco. “This offers customers an engaging videoconferencing experience with high quality audio and easy, seamless wireless conferencing. Hybrid collaboration has never been easier and is just one click away.

Details
UK - Only Helix, known for its work with artists like Years & Years, Bat For Lashes, Amy Macdonald and Bombay Bicycle Club, has launched a new travel service that’s designed to meet the specific needs of touring professionals. OH Visas is rooted in an understanding of how the entertainment industry works, and has been developed to take the travel stress out of touring.
Only Helix’s Steven Down and Tom Nicol are the masterminds behind the service, which will be headed up by travel industry specialist, Ben Young.
“OH Visas was borne from our combined experiences, frustrations and successes with travel over the years,” explains Down. “Brexit and Covid-19 has obviously also shifted things quite dramatically and we wanted to find an easier process for ourselves and our clients.”
Nicol elaborates: “We realised this solution was something that others w

Details
USA - The Behind the Scenes Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Initiative has announced its participation in the Mental Health Action Day, to be held on 20 May in partnership with more than 600 leading brands, non-profit organisations, government agencies, and cultural leaders.
Over the past two decades, suicide rates have risen and the COVID pandemic has accelerated the already crisis, giving way to what many mental health professionals have called the “second pandemic”.
Though more people than ever are comfortable discussing mental health, finding effective resources and knowing how to get help remains a challenge. Mental Health Action Day is an open-source movement to drive culture from mental health awareness to mental health action.
Partners will encourage people to take mental health action - whether for themselves, for their loved ones, or to advo

Details
USA - Eastern Acoustic Works (EAW) has successfully begun assembling its MKD speaker line in-house at its Whitinsville, Massachusetts headquarters.
The new dedicated assembly space began operation in November 2020 and has not stopped since, with production of the new MKD1200 Series and customisation of existing products, such as the QX and MK lines. With two stations for assembly, the 2,400sq.ft space is in full operation.
“EAW is proud to once again be assembling product in the US and is looking at additional lines that would be a good fit for the new assembly space,” says TJ Smith, president, EAW. “Many of EAW’s products are offered with configurable options, such as multiple horn patterns, rotatable horns and/or transformers all in black, white and weather protected cabinets. Conducting final assembly of these products in Whitinsville allows us to respond

Details
Vietnam - DTS has appointed Acoustic & Lighting System Vietnam as its distributor for the territory.
Ben Lee, country manager at A&L Vietnam, comments: “When approached by DTS to represent this already well-established brand in the Vietnam market, and after learning more about the way forward and future vision of the brand, we found that our goals aligned. We are looking forward to the opportunity to work together to serve the Vietnam market.”
Carmen Savarese, international sales manager at DTS, adds: “Acoustic & Lighting System Vietnam carry out their job in the best possible way, training professionals and offering a first-class level of expertise for each client. It is my absolute pleasure to work with these guys: their dedication is constantly looking towards the development of significant relationships of trust with customers, suppliers and partn

Details
Germany - As part of a plan to increase its presence in Europe, Valencia-based DAS Audio is set to open a new subsidiary office in Germany on 1 June 2021. Currently celebrating its 50th anniversary, the manufacturer has branches in the USA, South America and Asia.
DAS Audio GmbH will be in charge of sales, marketing and customer service of DAS Audio Germany under the direction of managing director and partner Arne Deterts.
Deterts was the head of the German branch of dBTechnologies for more than 20 years, including as the managing director for the last eight and until he left the company.
“I came across DAS Audio relatively early on, not really knowing a lot about them,” comments Deterts. “But the more I dealt with DAS Audio, the more enthusiastic I became and the more I realised how well all this fitted together. Great company, great products, great people

Details
On Trial - A pilot concert in Liverpool on Sunday saw 5,000 people legally crammed into a small space for the first time since the start of the pandemic. The mini-festival, headlined by Blossoms, in Liverpool's Sefton Park was one of the government's official trial events to research how large gatherings can safely take place again.
All ticket holders had to take a supervised lateral flow test at one of four testing centres in the city the day before and were only allowed in if the test was negative. They were also strongly encouraged to take more sensitive PCR tests on the day of the show and to do so again five days later, on Friday. That will be crucial to working out whether there was any spread of the virus. It's all with the aim of working out how summer music festivals can go ahead after 21 June, when stage four of the government reopening roadmap will, in theory, see

Details
Europe - Elation’s artistic power luminaire, the Artiste Mondrian, takes centre stage on the 6 May Elation Coffee Break. Filling out the top of Elation’s award-winning Artiste LED moving head series, the Mondrian LED Profile FX partners alongside and uses the same technology as the Artiste Monet and Artiste Rembrandt, including Elation’s exclusive 7-flag SpectraColor colour mixing system, and endless and continuous rotational framing system.
Presenters Alistair Smyth and Frederik Afif will go live on Thursday, 6 May at 11:00 a.m. CEST. Tune in at www.facebook.com/ELATION.Pro.Europe/live/. No registration is required.
Optimized for extreme output (51,000 lumens!) and housing an all-inclusive FX package for unmatched projection performance, the Artiste

Details
Europe - Showlight has revealed the speakers for its one-day online Virtual Showlight on 25 May.
In a snapshot of the full Showlight event, a series of papers will be presented by international keynote speakers, interspersed by a series of video shorts from the likes of Peggy Eisenhauer and Bill Klages. There will also be a discussion panel based on the subject of diversity in the lighting industry, chaired by award-winning lighting designer, Paule Constable.
The speakers for Virtual Showlight 2021 are:
David Bishop - BBC Strictly Come Dancing - BBC Strictly Come Dancing’s award-winning lighting designer, David Bishop, will outline the challenges of re-designing an icon of UK television after 15 years, the latest season of which required the incorporation of live augmented reality into the show.
Ken Billington, Rob H

Details
UK - Surrey-based systems integrator proAV has completed an impressive 333 courses at the Shure Audio Institute (SAI) in Waltham Abbey, earning over 150 certifications across 60 members of staff.
Staff from across the company including sales, design, technical management, commissioning and service departments, have all taken part in the courses, establishing strength and knowledge across the business.
Discussing the achievement, Richard Brookes, managing director, said; “proAV takes certification extremely seriously, as it is fundamental to our business as a leading workplace technology integrator to ensure we are always at the forefront of current and emerging technological solutions.
“Our clients expect the highest quality standards and in-depth product knowledge from proAV and SAI certification delivers this assurance.”
Regarding the continued deve

Details
UK - Martin Audio has been honoured with a Queen’s Award for Enterprise in Innovation for its Wavefront Precision optimised line arrays. Announced yesterday (29 April), Martin Audio has been recognised for its excellence in Innovation.
Martin Audio is one of 205 organisations in the UK to be recognised with a Queen’s Award for Enterprise. Employing over 60 people, Martin Audio is celebrating its 50th year in designing and manufacturing professional loudspeaker systems.
“It’s an honour to win such a prestigious award and very fitting to do so in our 50th anniversary year,” said Martin Audio managing director, Dom Harter. “Wavefront Precision arrays have become our fastest ever selling line array format suitable for both install and live sound applications and the Queen’s Award for Enterprise underlines both its innovation and commercial success.”
  1. PMC introduces new corporate board structure
  2. The Week in Light & Sound
  3. ISCVE launches remote HS&E invigilation service
  4. Clearcut Sound Studios invests In Yamaha Nuage
  5. Industry will work with government towards recovery
  6. PLASA Online programme revealed
Page 159 of 1813

Latest Issue. . .

PLASA Media Limited is a company registered in England and Wales with company number 4111709 - VAT Number GB 762 5913 14
PLASA Media Ltd, Redoubt House, 1 Edward Road, Eastbourne, BN23 8AS, UK Tel: +44 (0)1323 524120

 

login