Sound

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Australia - ARX Systems has released a new addition to its EQ series of graphic equalizers. The new ARX 215 dual channel 2/3rd octave graphic equalizer is ideal for non-critical equalization requirements for sound reinforcement, installation and broadcast applications.

Each channel on the front panel features 15 of the company’s new Extended Resolution long throw, centre grounding sliders, switchable to either ±15dB or ±6dB, for a combination of high fader resolution and maximum cut and boost. There is also a Gain Level control with up to +10 dB of gain; a Clip LED to indicate circuit overload, a sweepable 20-200Hz High Pass filter, and an In/Out hardwire bypass switch with optional transformer output.

With innovative circuitry and low noise design, the EQ 215 boasts a Signal to Noise of 95dB unweighted, a dynamic range of 120dB and distortion lower than .004% at 100Hz

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UK - Denon has released new software for its DN-S5000 single CD player. The Denon DN-S5000 expands the creative scope for DJs with its cut-and-scratch facilities and hands-on design which makes it act and feel like an analogue turntable.

The upgrade adds further new features which can easily be added to the DN-S5000 - just by loading a CDR. The new Plug Ins include MP3 playback and new Scratch Sound. MP3 playback supports V.B.R & C.B.R, includes Folder/File search, has ID3-Tag display for artist, album and title information, and is Play List Compatible in .m3u form.

The most significant innovation is the spinning platter, which accurately emulates a record deck and with a grooved vinyl disc, the real feel of a conventional record. The software upgrade’s new ‘Scratch Sound’ feature takes the experience even closer to vinyl authenticity. The marker point refere

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Spain - Since 1976 Trui Espectáculos has specialized in providing a total entertainment package in the Balearic archipelago. It also became the first company to offer sound reinforcement equipment to artists visiting the islands when managing director Miquel Jaume Perez realized that when top artists came across from the Peninsula, they had to carry their own production. This posed a double complication - of time (because marine transport could take up to three days) and cost.

Thus Trui Espectáculos decided to invest in its own equipment and contacted distributors, Lexon S.A, who have now been supplying professional audio equipment to them for the past 18 years. Trui’s first acquisition was a 32-channel Soundcraft 200B and this was swiftly followed by two 40-channel Soundcraft 500s - one for PA and other for monitors. Later they acquired a 40-channel Vienna and an SM12 f

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USA - Telex Communications has announced the appointment of Raymond V. Malpocher as president and CEO - he will succeed Ned Jackson who is retiring from the position.

Edgar S. Woolard Jr, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Telex, paid tribute to Ned Jackson: "During his tenure with Telex, Ned Jackson made outstanding progress improving our operations and introducing a new family of products. We greatly appreciate his many contributions." On the appointment of Malpocher, he added: "We are excited that Raymond Malpocher has decided to join Telex. He has broad operating experience implementing world-class processes. Together with his strong management beliefs and practices, we are confident he will build on our solid foundation and provide the necessary leadership to continue the company’s success."

Malpocher was most recently with Teleflex Corporati

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Austria / UK - AKG's new modular MAX system is an instant, no strings attached, sound reinforcement solution. No cables are involved with the MAX system: it draws up to 14 hours of power from its own built-in rechargeable battery which powers both its internal 60W amplifier, as well as a retro-fittable radio mic receiver, so it doesn’t even require mains electricity. This makes it an ideal and quick sound reinforcement solution whether in a conference presentation or for use outdoors.

Housed in a sturdy wooden and metal enclosure, with standard 35mm stand-mounting flange, the MAX is now modular in design: in addition to a microphone input and a pair of unbalanced line inputs, there is also a slot for either a WMS 80 or WMS 40 radio mic receiver in the rear panel. These simply slots into the back panel, creating an instant wireless solution.

The 3-channel mixer on the ba

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UK - Following the Sound Division Group’s recent sound and lighting installation at the American Community School in Egham, Surrey, the company continues to build upon its reputation in the educational market with the completion of another comprehensive sound and lighting installation at Islington Green school in North London.

Islington Green is a large county comprehensive facility that educates over 1,000 students in the heart of one of the most culturally diverse areas of London. Sound Division’s brief was to provide a system for the main hall that was capable of handling everything from speech reinforcement to live and pre-recorded music in a variety of situations, including awards ceremonies, assemblies and drama productions.

As a result, the company specified and installed a Crown-driven ElectroVoice sound system based on EV Sx300 loudspeakers supplemented

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UK - Shuttlesound Ltd, the UK distributor for Telex-EVI products, has appointed Phil Pell as its regional sales representative in the South of England. Pell brings to Shuttlesound a long track record in sales of MI products, as well as knowledge of the audio installation market and the wholesale business. One of the most experienced sales people in the industry, Pell has spent the last four years at RCF-Mackie, and prior to that, worked for JBL and at Celestion.

Phil will be covering the southern half of England, from Lands End to Leicester. "The main focus will be on the MI market where my background will be especially useful, but I'll also be flying the Shuttlesound flag in the installation sector, where they've been making important inroads over the last couple of years. As soon as I found out Shuttlesound was looking to fill a sales position, I knew it was the job for m

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UK - Polydor recording artist Daniel Bedingfield has recently embarked on a UK tour with wireless systems from Hand Held Audio. Tour manager John Gibbon approached HHA to look after this new artist after being impressed with the service he'd received from the North London radio mic specialists on previous productions such as The Appleton sisters and Jon Bon Jovi.

The first thing on the agenda was custom ear monitors. Although HHA had fitted Daniel with a set of Future Sonics in 2002, the singer felt he'd like to try a different ‘feel’ and commissioned a set of Ultimate Ears UE5 Ambient dual driver monitors. These earpieces feature user-changeable filters to control levels of ambience and bass response - a level of individual control that appealed.

During rehearsals in London, John Gibbon was also keen for the artist to assess different hand-held radio mics and in-

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UK - Based in Kirkmichael, Scotland, GAB Audio Engineers specialize in installing high quality sound and AV systems in places of worship, council chambers and concert venues. They also have a thriving hire division catering for small to medium PA requirements. Among the gamut of products they have specified from the Martin Audio catalogue, the C115 surface-mount architectural enclosure rules supreme for the style of installation in which they specialize.

In fact GAB have just installed six in a 100V line distributed system, discretely mounted in the Grade A-listed Garnethill Synagogue (the oldest in Scotland), for concerts and school festivals. A further four grace the ornate meeting room at the Merchants Hall in George Square, again in the centre of Glasgow and the listed Meeting Chambers of one of the city’s oldest institutions. "The aesthetic styling and performanc

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UK - Carlsbro Electronics Ltd has welcomed Duncan Boniface as MI product manager - he will join the research and design department. Boniface’s experience includes working as principal engineer at loudspeaker manufacturer Celestion International, and he holds a degree in Acoustics from the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research at Southampton University.

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - Ohm has revealed further details of its latest line array professional speaker system - the Lunaray. Weighing in at around 15kg, the new Lunaray is the ultimate rigger’s mate, providing a lightweight alternative to carrying monster speakers in and out of venues. Its compact quality is also ideal for permanent locations where a discrete, space saving installation is required, say the company.

The first 300 Lunaray systems have already been produced for major hire and touring companies including Duchsound in Denmark, Sound Reinforcement in Norway and Blue Audio in the UK, plus several theatre and club venues (one of its first installations came at the Syndicate Club in Blackpool which was reviewed in the February issue of Lighting&Sound International). Hire and installation specialists Blue Audio were among the first to take delivery of Lunaray and have more on order to

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UK - Salt Lake City based, ClearOne Communications Inc (formerly Gentner) has recently re-structured its pan-European distributor network and awarded beyerdynamic GB as a distributor of its highly sophisticated range of telephone and video conferencing products in the UK and Eire.

With this change of distribution ClearOne, formally known as Gentner Communications signals the organisation’s determination to grow market share beyond traditional telephone conferencing into mainstream high specification integrated conferencing solutions.

Commenting on the company’s appointment, which is effective from 1 April 2003, beyerdynamic’s managing director John Midgley, explained: "We are delighted to have been appointed as one of ClearOne’s UK distributors. Their range of audio and video products fits perfectly into our expansive, but complementary product por

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UK / Russia - As members of the Professional Lighting and Sound Association (PLASA) will be aware, PLASA has been approached by IIR Exhibitions to work on a project that will see the launch of a trade show in Moscow, Russia in April 2004. In order to assess interest in the project, PLASA and IIR Exhibitions are staging an Open Day on Wednesday 21 May at One Whitehall Place, London SW1.

The Open Day will include presentations from a number of key speakers including representatives from PLASA, the DTI and IIR Exhibitions. The presentations will focus specifically on doing business in Russia, emphasizing changes in the business culture, the types of assistance that can be accessed, the pitfalls to avoid and the opportunities available. The event will be a half-day session starting at 11.00am and concluding at 1.15pm with a buffet lunch to follow.

All interested parties are invit

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UK - Craig David played two nights at the Royal Albert Hall this month, performing a dynamic set through a Meyer line array system. Canegreen’s Pete Hughes designed the system installed into the RAH, working with Craig David’s front-of-house engineer ‘Snake’ Newton. Flown in two central clusters above the stage were 16 M3Ds, 12 M2Ds and 12 MSL4s, with two pairs of MSL2s with 650 subs flown wide. Pairs of MSL2s and UPAs provided front-fills with a pair of 650 subs under the stage completing the rig that filled every niche and cranny of the hall.

"The coverage in the venue was great," said Newton. "Pete came up with the plans and then once installed he covered the whole venue with his laptop, making fine tweaks to the angles of the cabs to ensure there were no deadspots. This Meyer Line Array gave us great sound throughout and thanks to Pete

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Germany - Dortmund recently hosted the thirteenth edition of Mayday, one of Europe's leading indoor Techno dance events. Over 20,000 people took part in the party, which began on 30 April 2003 and ran through until 10 o’clock the next morning. Area 3, also known as the ‘VIVA Floor’ (after the famous German TV music channel), had an Outline sound system consisting of 16 Tripla II 5040 and 24 Topsub Plus subwoofers, plus four H.A.R.D. 212 ultra-low profile monitors on stage. Two Bomber enclosures were used as DJ monitors and the entire set-up was powered by Series T digital power amps and controlled by Genius 6 processors. The rig’s install was organized by Outline’s German distributor, Stramp (Audio-Vertrieb Peter Strüven GmbH).

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - d&b audiotechnik has announced the dates for its latest series of Sound System Design seminars in the Cotswolds. These seminars feature the ‘show and tell’ approach, rather than ‘chalk and talk’, and are hosted by the experienced presenter John Taylor who has his own distinctive style of communicating his message.

Most sound engineers have a good knowledge of the electronic signal path, but are less sure of the acoustic signal path between the loudspeaker and the listener's ears. It is this part of the signal chain that the d&b seminars address. The main emphasis is on intelligibility and John believes that the sound quality should be excellent for every listener in the house. The seminars exist solely for that purpose, offering comprehensive electroacoustics with all the physics you'll need thrown in! The style is friendly and the demonstrations mem

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UK - Highfield Church in Southampton has installed Allen & Heath's recently-released iDR system to manage its live sound reinforcement. The system has enabled the church to establish automated sound settings for the many and varied events that take place in the building.

iDR is a Digital Signal Processing (DSP) audio system for fixed installation into any type of venue. It comprises a range of hardware units, wall plates and remote controllers which build into integrated systems, all set up using iDR System Manager software. Control parameters are saved to patches, which may then be recalled by the operator using front panel keys, remote wall plates or virtual wall plates using PL Designer software.

Highfield Church's original installation was constructed around a DR66, which provided the core signal routing, room EQ and delay processing. The Church tailored its new system to

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USA - Seventeen leading professional audio manufacturers have signed on to become Charter Members of the Professional Audio Manufacturers Alliance (PAMA), according to PAMA executive director Paul Gallo, who has called the alliance’s first membership initiative "a complete success".

"PAMA has received a very strong vote of confidence from a number of leading companies who have agreed to become Charter Members of this vitally important alliance," said Gallo. "These companies will form the nucleus that will chart the future course of the professional audio industry."

PAMA’s Charter Members include AKG Acoustics, Altec-Lansing, Audio Technica, Calpine, DigiCo, Dolby Labs, Group One, Harman Pro Group, Klotz Digital, Meyer Sound, Neutrik, Sennheiser, Shure, Sony, Tascam, Telex and Yamaha. Other companies have indicated their intent to join

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UK - XTA’s latest C2 digital compressor was at the heart of front-of-house engineer Chris Pyne’s PA system for the first ever tour by 2003 BRIT Award winners Liberty X. The vocal five-piece, signed to Richard Branson’s V2 label after their appearances on ITV’s PopstarsTV series, played a six-week sold-out tour of UK theatres which finished at the end of March, with Australian engineer Chris Pyne at the controls for the band’s début concert performances. The gigs were deemed so successful that a UK arena tour has been scheduled for February 2004. In a unique twist, the tour culminated in a headline appearance at a gala dinner for the Sony group at their Brooklands, Surrey HQ, with a full-scale recreation of the tour production.

Capital Sound provided the sound production for the tour and full event production for the Sony show. For the latter, the M

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UK - Autograph Sales has sold the UK's first Symphotec OMS orchestral microphone system to classical music reinforcement specialist Sound By Design, which has purchased a touring system comprising 26 mics, 5-way and 1-way routers, stands, cables and self-contained flightcase.

Before purchasing the system, Sound By Design used it on a wide range of classical events including the Mountbatten Festival of Music featuring military bands, a UK tour by opera diva Lesley Garrett, Classic FM Live and Louis Hoover's Salute to Sinatra. As Symphotec OMS - introduced to the UK last October - has become more and more established, it is being increasingly specified by the classical sector, and looks likely to become a new standard for orchestral rental companies.

"When amplifying orchestral instruments, transparency, sonic quality and aesthetic appearance are of the utmost importance,&q

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UK - Allen & Heath has launched version 3.1 of iDR System Manager, the Windows PC software which configures iDR hardware components into an integrated audio distribution system. Version 3.1 supports the forthcoming PL-7 (remote LCD) and PL-8 (4 in 4 GPIO) units from the PL series of remote control devices which supplement the iDR system, scheduled for release at the PLASA Show this September.

The new software has the additional features of 'draggable' curves for EQ and dynamics processing sections, cross over slopes in the output PEQ and a new cut and paste system whereby information appears on the toolbar, there is an undo paste feature and cut and paste functionality for PL devices.

New features also include password protection for the Ethernet and RS232 connections, centred windows, new front panel diagnostic options and a ‘plug and play’ ability if PL units ar

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USA - The First United Methodist Church of Troy in Michigan has upgraded its front of house console to a 24 input, 12 buss Allen & Heath GL2200. The new console, chosen for its capabilities and competitive price, was supplied by Audio East in Dracut, Massachusetts.

Head of sound for the church, Jacob Lozier, installed the Allen & Heath live sound console as part of an upgrade that also saw the addition of Tascam CD recording and playback capabilities to the existing sound system, which features EAW speakers and Mackie amplifiers. The GL2200 offers dual-mode switching between FOH and monitor functionality, four subgroups, six auxiliary sends, and a four-band EQ section with switchable high pass filter.

Services at First Methodist range from the traditional, simply involving a pulpit microphone, to contemporary services with a full band, including drums and guitars. The console

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UK - Ampekko Ltd has completed acquisition of the Millbank Voice Evacuation Systems business from Federal Signal Ltd, a subsidiary of Federal Signal Corporation, the US-based, NYSE-listed company, with turnover in excess of US$1 billion, in a move which will form the largest UK-based voice evacuation products manufacturer and one of the fastest growing global players specialized in voice evacuation technology.

The two ranges of equipment are highly complementary, with Millbank’s Class D amplifiers and parallel banking solutions contrasting against Ampekko’s VxLAN control network and digitally controlled MAX series matrices. Ampekko’s Neil Voce commented: "There are so many strong Millbank products and some of them deserve to reach a wider audience - we are extremely keen to re-establish these products’ leading position and satisfy increased market de

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Worldwide - In the June issue of Lighting&Sound International, the Technical Focus section will be looking at Wireless Microphones.

The ever-increasing level of technology available has resulted in the increase in complexity of wireless systems. Simple VHF systems are being replaced with their, sometimes digital, microwave counterparts offering far superior audio and functionality. This article will go some way to giving the reader an insight into this new technology, explaining the methods and terminology. It will be followed by a brief profile of the main manufacturers and coverage of their key products.

If you would like your product to be featured in this report, please e-mail L&SI’s technical editor James Eade before Tuesday 27 May.

  1. L-Acoustics debuts with CAVS
  2. All change at Autograph’s hire division
  3. Biamp opens new learning centre
  4. Munro Associates becomes Munro Acoustics
  5. Tell Me On a Sunday
  6. Sennheiser’s new extended bass DJ headphone
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