UK - Jands is set to release a new console at PLASA 2012. The Stage CL console has been designed specifically for LED fixtures and provides 12 direct fixture control channels, 'powerful yet simple storing and a touch-screen interface, all packaged in compact and elegant chassis you can carry in one hand.'

CEO Paul Mulholland comments: "LED fixtures are rapidly becoming popular as a cost-effective and flexible lighting solution, but until now there hasn't been a console that gives you simple direct control of their colour and intensity. We saw that there was a whole group of people who would benefit hugely from the ability to harness the true power of their LED fixtures, that's what the Stage CL is all about."

Designed with smaller venues and operators in mind, the Stage CL is ideal for rental applications, audio-visual suppliers, clubs and other venues, karaoke bars,

UK - XTA Electronics and MC2 Audio are joining UK distributor POLARaudio at PLASA London again this year and exhibiting together on stand 1-F9.

XTA will be showing the new DS8000 8 to 32 audio distribution system with a host of new features (including a digital option), the DP548 dynamic audio management and the DC1048 Installation audio manager.

MC2 will showcase a range of products including the S-Series S800 and S-1400 Signature Reference Power Amplifiers, designed for high quality studio monitoring applications. Also on show will be the E-100 Lightweight Touring Power Amplifier, capable of efficiently delivering 4 x 2500W per channel into 4 ohms with minimal heat dissipation even under the most challenging conditions.

Sales application and support manager Richard Fleming from XTA and MC2 will be there to answer questions along with marketing and brand manager Waring Haye

UK - Product training is an integral part of the 'total support' Ambersphere Solutions offers customers. And if proof were needed, then come along to the Ambersphere stand (1-E36) at PLASA 2012 next week to pick up your free training voucher for the highly successful MA onPC command wing, says the company.

The voucher will entitle the holder to a one-day introduction training course, courtesy of Ambersphere and usually valued at £88 plus VAT.

This special offer is for a limited time only, and exclusively available to visitors to the Ambersphere stand at the PLASA Show. Courses will run throughout the autumn in a number of cities around the UK.

"With the MA onPC command wing being so accessible because of the price point, we want to ensure that we support this by offering everyone the opportunity to expand their knowledge of this product through this special traini

UK - Clay Paky is one of the main sponsors of PLASA 2012. The Clay Paky stand (1-E36 as usual), is facing the 'main square' in the very heart of the exhibition floor, where the Innovation Gallery is placed. This year the stand will be managed by Ambersphere Solutions, the exclusive distributor in the UK for the Clay Paky and MA Lighting ranges of products.

Located on the back of the main stand, the demo-area provides a suitable environment for an effective presentation of Clay Paky products. Access to this area is open to all visitors that, every hour, will be able to attend a 20 minutes product presentation. In the time between the scheduled demos our staff will be available for questions & answers and for in depth individual presentations. Please contact our counter for appointments.

Clay Paky has donated to PLASA one of the six 'Union Jack' Sharpy fixtures that have been us

UK - Allen & Heath will launch the XB-10 at PLASA, an ultra-compact broadcast mixer designed for a range of applications from small radio or internet broadcast studios, to college and university radios, podcasting and content creation.

Based on the larger XB-14, the XB-10 has three mic/line and three stereo inputs and equipped with a similar range of features specifically designed for broadcasters, including a telephone communication channel, mic channel on switch sensing, stereo channel start/cue outputs for CD deck transport control, and automatic muting of speaker outputs.

A separate monitor mix can be created for operator and guest or presenter, and the operator can communicate off-air to the studio or telephone callers using the 'Talk' feature. XB-10 also features a built-in full duplex USB soundcard, which has several routing options for recording and broadcast applicati

UK - Launching at IBC and PLASA 2012, the new Roland R-88 eight-channel recorder and mixer is designed for recordists who currently record in stereo but want to switch to multi channel recording and for those who need more channels than existing 4 channel recorders. Designed for a variety of professional needs, the R-88 provides a portable recording and mixing solution for situations where there are multiple microphones on location and music recordings with more than FOUR microphone channels. Complimenting the existing award winning range of Roland portable and hand held field recorders, the R-88 is a high quality yet affordable solution with rugged construction, an extended feature set and superb sound quality.

The R-88 is fully compatible with SMPTE timecode and can act as slave (with timecode regeneration on the timecode out) or as master to enable a fully synchronized video

UK - Spotlight is introducing three products in the new Green Line - FresneLED250 Tunable White, ProfiLED 200 and ProfiLED 250 RGBW.

On display in T H5, hall 1 will be three innovative LED products of the Green Line, luminaires that are characterised both by high optical performances and by the real contribution in terms of energy saving, achieved thanks to a specific use of the LED and to the application of 'clean technologies' in the luminaires' production.

This wide family, which includes Fresnel, PC and Profile spots of the series Mini, MIDI and Sintesi, designed both for shop windows, malls, museums, etc., and in theatre or TV studios.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Midas' newly launched PRO1 digital console is making its European debut at this year's PLASA. The MidasVeniceU is also making its European debut.

"The PRO1 features new manufacturing materials and techniques, comprehensive I/O on the back, and a previously undreamt-of price point," explains MIDAS brand development manager Richard Ferriday. "The PRO1 is now accessible to freelance engineers, small music venues and anyone who actually cares about audio quality, reliability and portability.

"The VeniceU expands the range of Midas 'Digi-log' hybrid consoles, offering a user-friendly, high quality analogue audio console with integrated 8x8 USB digital audio interface. Applications include multitrack recording, playback from computer, and live inclusion of 3rd party plug-ins."

(Jim Evans)

UK - Le Mark's Dirty Rigger team chose PLASA 2012 to launch four new PPE and accessory items, including the Glowman LED glove range.

Steve Marshall Dirty Rigger project manager commented, "Strongest sales on day one came from the new fully EN rated Tool Lanyard system , in particular the interchangeable clip and carabiner system. This allows for tools to be pre connected before commencing work. Strong export interest has come from the new pulsing or fixed beam LED Radio and accessory front of body radio and equipment carrier.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Examples from Christie's huge projection portfolio can be seen at PLASA 2012 - both on the show floor and at the high profile collateral event, The Knights of Illumination.

AC Entertainment Technologies is showing the Christie Nitro integrated motorised yoke and projector system (in the shape of a YK50 harnessing a Christie LHD700 projector) on stand # 1-E10.

Coolux GmbH is also be using Christie 3-chip DLP HD projection on stand # 1-C17, where a pair of Roadster HD10K-M 3-chip DLP® 1080 HD projectors will be soft-edge blended and warped to project onto a geometrical shaped screen, made from different pieces of Styrofoam.

These are supported by four Christie LWU420 3LCD projectors. While two of these WUXGA projectors will perform a 360° projection on a wooden bird house, a further two LWU420 will project onto an interactive wheel and an interactive brick, where

UK - Entertainment industry training centre Backstage Academy has launched an exclusive PLASA competition for one lucky student to win a week's work experience at LS-Live, helping on the set build of a touring artist.

Sponsored by leading trade publication L&Si, the first prize will enable a young student to gain valuable experience at an internationally renowned set design and construction business, based at the LS-Live Studios in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. LS-Live has worked on stage shows of famous artists such as Kasabian, Jay-Z, Tinie Tempah and Robbie Williams, with many of them rehearsing in its arena-sized production rehearsal studio.

The second prize, sponsored by the UK's biggest distributor of Apple and Adobe products, Jigsaw Systems, is an iPod and a 50% voucher off any Short Course or Career Course at Backstage Academy. There are also 25 third prizes; 10% off vouc

UK - On Monday 10 September, in front of a packed audience at the PLASA Awards Ceremony at Earls Court John Meyer was announced as the winner of the 2012 Gottelier Award.

John Meyer is one of the original pioneers of the modern sound reinforcement industry. He began his career in 1967 by building a customised system for the Steve Miller Band, and from there he went on to develop loudspeaker systems for the likes of Creedence Clearwater Revival and the Grateful Dead. Since founding Meyer Sound Laboratories in 1979 with his wife Helen, Meyer has continued to research, experiment and develop sound technology ever since - building Meyer Sound into an iconic brand and a consistent world leader in the pro audio market. Meyer is a more than worthy winner of this highly prized accolade.

This prestigious award is named in honour of the late Tony Gottelier who was one of the industry's

UK - The PLASA Awards for Innovation, sponsored by AED Rent and Lighting&Sound, were presented at the PLASA Show in London yesterday evening, along with the announcement of the prestigious Gottelier Award.

During the show's opening two days, 47 products were judged 'live' in front of a crowd of show visitors and camera crew by an independent panel of expert judges who toured the show floor to view each product presentation.

John Meyer of iconic pro audio brand Meyer Sound was honoured with this year's Gottelier Award in recognition of his life as one of the pioneers of the modern sound reinforcement industry.

Eight Awards for Innovation were presented - including a final Gold Award for Innovation - along with a special Award for Sustainability.

Nominees are asked to demonstrate a new style of thinking, an improvement in technical practice, an aid to safety, energy-s

UK - Neatly summing up its mission to achieve "the utmost excellence in every part of its business", Sennheiser comes to PLASA 2012 with a bold statement of intent - The Pursuit Of Perfect Sound.

Exhibiting on Stand 1-F6, the pursuit of excellence has been the core of Sennheiser's ethos since the company was founded nearly 70 years ago. This year Sennheiser is reaffirming its quest to seamlessly link science and emotion by launching its continuing mission for The Pursuit of Perfect Sound.

"We believe that the purer and more intense a sound is, the greater the emotional response it produces in the listener," says Phil Massey, Sennheiser UK's general manager. "This bringing together of science and emotion is why we strive to make the very best equipment possible. By providing Sennheiser users with perfect sound, they get the most rewarding experience fro

UK - ETC's stand at PLASA 2012 this year is better than ever, the company reports, with a range of new and updated products on demonstration.

ETC introduced the new Source Four Dimmer on the stand. The Source Four Dimmer reduces cabling and energy demands on buildings while increasing Source Four fixture brightness and efficiency.

By regulating output to support 115V HPL lamps, the Source Four Dimmer supercharges a 230V Source Four luminaire - allowing a Source Four ellipsoidal profile on 230V line voltage to use a 115V lamp to outperform a typical 1200W condenser profile.

Seen for the first time in the UK, ETC's Layers of Light theatre on the stand offers a short presentation, on the hour every hour, visibly demonstrating the power of ETC's Selador x7 LED colour system, as well as offering a close-up look at the different Selador Desire LED luminaires and the new Source Fou

UK - Shure UK is featuring the ULX-D Digital Wireless Microphone System with new multi-channel receivers, a High Density mode that enables 63 channels to operate in just 8 MHz of spectrum, and integrated Dante digital audio networking.

The new ULXD4D dual channel digital receiver and ULXD4Q quad channel digital receiver pack two or four channels of wireless into one rack space, with individual gain controls, LED meters, and XLR outputs for each channel. Like the single-channel, half-rack ULXD4 digital receiver, the new dual and quad receivers feature fully digital audio processing and RF transmission as well as AES 256-bit encryption".

"ULX-D has already set a new bar for audio quality, spectral efficiency, and features with its intelligent rechargeable batteries and AES256 encryption," said Erik Vaveris, category director for wireless products at Shure. "T

UK - LED Engin, Inc., a leader in high lumen density LED products, has demonstrated emitters and LED modules that enable the size of entertainment lighting products to be reduced significantly, on stand 2-S11 at the PLASA 2012 exhibition.

The company's LuxiGen platform of white and multi-colour compact emitters generate the high luminous flux density demanded in entertainment lighting, particularly for spot beams, distance lighting effects and in dynamic lighting scenarios. Patented thermal management technology allows the LED die to be driven to higher current levels and in a denser configuration than industry standards, without adversely affecting operating life. LED emitters are up to 80% more efficient than traditional tungsten lighting and this combination of features in LED Engin products enables lighting fixture designers to at least halve the size of their products, and

UK - Declaring after taking over lighting company SGM last February that his days of producing moving lights were finished forever, word leaked out during PLASA in London this week that SGM's Peter Johansen's R&D team had in fact been feverishly developing radically different LED Spot, Wash and Beam fixtures from their skunk works in Ã…rhus, Denmark.

"We had wanted to keep this under wraps," stated Johansen, "but then someone got hold of our product pipeline and leaked it. When one of our key distributors heard about it, they placed an order for more than 2,000 fixtures ... even though we will not be launching the range until the Prolight+Sound Show in Frankfurt next April."

Up to that point SGM had been denying rumours that they were about to re-enter the moving head arena. And although full details will continue to remain secret, the product's big USP is

UK - Several years ago, Rosco innovated the concept of "a colour that keeps on giving" and Rick Fisher created Supergel 313, Light Relief Yellow. Rosco committed to make a donation to Light Relief from the income generated by the sales of the colour. This year's cheque presented by Mark Engel, Rosco's CEO brought Rosco's contribution to Light Relief to $28,076.

In presenting the cheque to Matthew Griffiths, Engel said: "Every year, I have the opportunity to stand here with you and present Light Relief with a cheque for the proceeds from global sales of Rosco Supergel 313 Light Relief Yellow. It is one of the most fulfilling moments of the show for me and for Rosco. As you know we work hard to offer real solutions and tools for designers through our products, and working with you to develop this colour that continues year after year to provide much-needed, tangible

UK - Robe lighting enjoyed "a fabulous and highly eventful PLASA 2012 exhibition at Earl's Court".

In addition to a super-busy four-day expo, the Czech moving light manufacturer launched seven new products; won a 2012 PLASA Innovation Award; raised £6,200 for industry charity Light Relief with the auction of a genuine Olympic Torch and hosted a popular party on the Sunday night.

Robe's 'Working With Winners' campaign launched earlier this summer embraced new levels of excitement, with Robe CEO Josef Valchar commenting, "It was an incredible PLASA all round for us - carrying on what's been an amazing year". Robe also celebrated its tenth PLASA.

Back in 2002 the company burst on the scene with its first PLASA as an 'own brand' entity, up to that point having been a quality OEM manufacturer of some experience.

In this short time, Robe has rocketed fr

UK - 5 Star Cases reports yet another successful PLASA exhibition in London.

5 Star highlighted samples of its most popular product ranges for the entertainment industry, concert touring, television and theatre markets. Over the four days of the show these all attracted plenty of interest, with some deals also completed on the stand. 5 Star's MD Keith Sykes comments that visitor quality was "Generally very good".

5 Star's latest Drawered Racks attracted plenty of interest and were a prominent element of the stand display.

Three types of Drawered Racks are offered as 'standard' - two hinged versions and one with removable doors.

There's a choice of two dynamic styles for the hinged option - one with a fixed top and one with a hinged top, complete with very cool gas strut supports to prevent accidental closure.

The hinged top version also features a workstation a

UK - ETC's new Source Four LED luminaire has won the prestigious PLASA Award for Sustainability at this year's PLASA 2012 show in London, against some strong competition.

Performing at 30 to over 40 lumens per watt, the Source Four LED spotlight excels in efficacy. This powerful yet energy-saving light creates beauty and artistry in stage, studio and architectural applications. It combines the popular features of ETC's conventional Source Four profile spotlight with the intelligence and seven colours of ETC's Selador Desire LED luminaires. And it comes in three different models - the Lustr+, Tungsten, and Daylight - each using just a fraction of the electricity of its incandescent counterpart. As the PLASA judges also commented: "[The Source Four LED] has a highly efficient optical system, and you can reuse existing lens stock."

ETC's CEO Fred Foster responded to the

UK - Midas Consoles has presented live audio specialists Britannia Row with a special 'Pushing the Boundaries' award for its work on the Queen's Jubilee Concert earlier in the year.

Midas announced the gong during a pre-PLASA distributor's dinner and then later in the week on the Midas PLASA Stand during the European press launch of the PRO1 and VeniceU.

"The award was made in recognition of Britannia Row's design and application of the largest, most complex network of Midas consoles to date," explains brand manager Richard Ferriday. "The system was used on the hugely demanding Queen's Jubilee Concert where more than 250,000 people packed into The Mall, St. James's Park and at the Queen Victoria Memorial, to watch the stellar line up of bands, who performed in quick succession, as millions more watched around the world on TV."

"We are delighted to be

UK - At PLASA 2012, Spotlight promoted a comprehensive LED range. The company wanted to present in London the latest products of the new Green Line family specifically projected for performing arts and TV studios.

With the three new FresneLED 250 White Tunable, ProfiLED 200 and ProfiLED 250 RGBW - Spotlight LED range attracted an audience as probably the most complete LED products line of the highest quality and efficiency today available on the market.

The luminaires of this wide range are characterised by excellent performances, energy saving, clean light without heat and UV/IR emission.

ProfiLED 250W RGBW, optical discharge profile spot, was the real highlight of the event, showing a light power equal to the one of a traditional halogen 2000W and with an extreme precision of the projection.

ProfiLED 250W RGBW impressed because it is innovative, versatile and interesting

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