Sound

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UK pro audio distributor Fuzion showed a wide collection of gear from a wide range of manufacturers. The company, which distributes for the likes of Nexo, Littlite, Camco and Symetrix to name a few, were kept busy by a wealth of visitors to their stand.

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Rock monsters Peavey Electronics had two significant announcements at PLASA this year. The first, a licensing deal with EtherSound for use in the company's MediaMatrix, Architectural Acoustics and Crest Audio product ranges is something that Peavey believes will benefit its customers in a number of areas.

Secondly, the company was showing its new Versarray line array system. The mid/high box is loaded with a 12" and a 4" ribbon driver, while the subs can either be a single or double 18". The system is flexible and can be ground-stacked or flown, with its own crankable tower lift, the Vermette. This combination allows Peavey to price the system in the market substantially lower than many other manufacturers, while utilising a driver combination unseen in any other array. Rock on!

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Meyer Sound offered the PLASA debut of the M'elodie high-power curvilinear array. Part of the MILO range of loudspeakers, it is named after the grand-daughter of company founders John and Helen Meyer. A small unit, it nevertheless offers a maximum peak output of 131dB SPL. Also shown was the new MJF-212, a self-powered stage monitor designed for use as a main vocal monitor, high-output drum or keyboard monitor, or as a side-fill monitor in small- to medium-scale systems. The company also announced the release of 1.7.0 software for the Galileo loudspeaker management system and version 1.7.0 software for the SIM 3 audio analyser. The primary focus of the updates is to provide greater integration between the Galileo system and the SIM 3 analyser, adding new interoperability capabilities.

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The Phoenix range from ElectroVoice on the Telex/Shuttlesound stand sees a return to point source PA systems. Using EV's manifold technology with dual compression drivers, the Phoenix system produces the highest SPL of anything in the EV range, the company reports - 141dB peak from the Sub, 139dB from the top box.

X-Line E, the ultra-compact version of EV's line array range, contains a single 8" and 1" as used in the X-Line D, and has its own dedicated 2 x 12" sub. The sub is designed to be flown behind the mid/high line array from its own hanging frame; the two elements then connect to a master beam above which allows correct angling of the more critical mid/high line.

Also on show the new TG-7 range of remote control, network compatible, high-power switch mode amps just 2U high; And NetMax N8000, a 32-channel DSP in blocks of 8 in/8 out, CobraNet and Ir

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Acustica Beyma displayed new drivers at the show, with the powerful P1200/Nd high-power devices in 18" and 15" versions, P1000/Nd in 18", 15" and 12" versions, and finally the MW/Nd Series mid-range loudspeakers in 15", 12" and 10" options, with a new patented design for high-power capability, yet small magnetic assembly.

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Crown (Harman Pro) exhibited three new products at PLASA this year. The CDi installation amplifier comes in two flavours: the CDi 1 provides 500W per channel into 4ohms, while the CDi2 boasts 700W per channel. The amps are also switchable to 70V output and a front panel LCD enables fast and easy setup.Doing light and efficient, Crown also showed the XTi range, incorporating the 1000, 2000 and 4000 models, providing 500W, 700W and 1200W per channel into 4ohms. The new line also provides connectivity either via USB or Harman Pro's HiQnet software. Finally, the XLS series is a lower power range providing between 300W and 800W per channel across four models.

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USA - Tomcat, 4 Wall and TPUS are holding an industry party on Friday, October 20, 2006. The party begins at 7pm at 4 Wall Entertainment Las Vegas - where there will be food, drinks, swag and a DJ.

The Swinging Johnsons will take the stage from 10pm - midnight. Band members include: Bruce Jordahl of Total Production US, Tommy Hall of Vari Lite, Robert Mokry of Light Parts and Scott Church of Selecon.

Visit booth #271 at LDI for more details.

(Chris Henry)

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UK - Northern Light was responsible for the complete production lighting and sound and communications at London's legendary Young Vic - which is due to reopen on 11 October following a major renovation managed by architects Haworth Tompkins.

After winning the tender to provide their expertise in ensuring that the technical aspects of the production lighting and sound were installed to the highest standards possible, Northern Light went on site in January 2006.

In addition to the efforts of Northern Light's drawing office, project management and technical staff, the company's manufacturing division had a tough challenge to face on this project. Due to the performance space and very nature of the Young Vic's artistic direction, Northern Light was called upon to custom make various aspects of the technical requirements.

Simon Cooper, head of projects at Northern Light, said: &q

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Australia - On Friday 17 November, Allen & Heath, 3D World Publishing, andSydney's Home Nightclub will present Australia's longest running, biggest and best dance music awards, the Australia Dance Music Awards (DMA's).

"The DMA's are all about celebrating and acknowledging Australia's achievement in the dance music industry. The artists who perform will be reflecting the industry and where it is at today," commented Hayley Conn, producer of this year's Dance Music Awards. "3D World Publishing is really excited to be once again presenting this year's event."

The event will be hosted at Sydney's superclub, Home, and the club's 2500 capacity gives the DMA's the opportunity to open the event to the public for the first time. Home will open its doors at 7:30pm for the 2006 awards ceremony, where fans and industry VIP's will witnessperformances from the co

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With 30 years' industry experience, Gemini has re-aligned itself as GCI Technologies to market its own Gemini, Cortex and i-KEY branded products. The company concentrated on Cortex at the show because its Digital Music Controller represents real innovation - in the form of a digital USB controller that can manipulate files (via a CD player) held on any USB device without the need for a computer.

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Cloud Electronics showed the complete range of products on stand, while promising the release of new additions in the near future. From the current range, the recently-introduced CXV-225 transformer-less 100V line two channel amplifier was on display, while the launch of the CXV-425, a four-channel 250W version, is still to come.

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"We can expect a micro line array by Christmas '06, or January '07", said L-Acoustics, to whet our appetite. However, already available are the new-ish self-powered speakers 108P and 112P. The 108 is just 2kg heavier than its un-powered forebear, yet offers 500W to the low end, 250W to the highs. The slightly larger 112 is rated at a total 1000W. Both boxes are two-way coaxial, both conical dispersion (100° for the smaller box, 90° for the larger). A matching sub, the SB15P completes the system. "Expect the usual high quality performance from these, but - this is not the start of a trend to self-powered systems," said a spokesman.

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Audica had the worldwide launch of its new range of tiny Micro Series loudspeakers at the show. The range, consisting of the ceiling mountable Microdot and wall mountable Micropoint and Microline, can all be used in conjunction with Microsub providing a frequency response from 40Hz-20kHz. The wall-mountable brackets are fully articulated, enabling the speakers to be focused easily - and used in conjunction with the Microzone digital Class D amplifier and EQ, the entire system can be controlled remotely via a hand-held remote control.

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Tannoy took a bit of a backseat this year. After their live band rocking stand of 2005, the company brought out the sofas and comfy chairs in the quieter upstairs level at Earls Court. From his soft four-seater, sales director Simon Sinclair detailed the company's first foray into ceiling loudspeakers with the introduction of the CVS Ceiling. The 4" and 6" versions are available now, as are the CMS 401 Eyeball ceiling loudspeaker. The 401 is designed in the same tradition as eyeball light fixtures, allowing the speaker to be angled around the room.

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A long-awaited addition, plug-in effects are now implemented on InnovaSon consoles, with direct development between InnovaSon and Wave and the slightly less well-known VB-Audio. All Sy80 and Sy48 consoles are compatible immediately, and older consoles will require a software upgrade, but otherwise are still entirely usable, making a welcome extension to their utility. Also shown, in late development prototype form, was a remote tablet-to-desk controller that enables the manipulation of two parameters simultaneously: this should be released next year.

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A new DSP system management processor from the Audient brand (exhibited by LA Audio), DLX 2000 is suitable for sound reinforcement and installation applications. Key features of the SHARC-based DLX200 Series include 96kHz sampling rate, 20Hz - 40kHz frequency response (+/- 1dB), 8 bands of EQ on every input and output, Hardman progressive filters and 45 user and ready-made presets.

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Turbosound was another of the companies to enter this year's Innovation Gallery, with their new TA500DP wide dispersion box that complements the existing Aspect modular point source system. At the other end of the spectrum, Turbosound introduced a new product in a new area in the form of the TCS-C50T full-range ceiling loudspeaker. The 5" low/mid driver and 1" neodymium soft dome tweeter gives wide dispersion with high power handling and is suitable for use on 70 and 100V line systems, say the company.

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Infinium has produced a low-cost, long-life contact-free fader for DJ mixers, lighting consoles and other devices. It's smooth, noise-free and has a lifespan of over five million cycles, the company says. The 'feel' can be adjusted according to user tacticity requirements, without dismantling the device, via a magnetic system.

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VME were showing a wide range of Kling & Freitag loudspeakers on their stand. Used and distributed by VME, this German manufacturer's loudspeakers are renowned for their high quality and ease of use, and the company says it is unique in the industry for its use of special passive filters that optimise phase coherence.

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Void Acoustics do manufacture the coolest-looking loudspeakers. Alex Skan, general doer of everything, detailed Void's new AirTen mid/high unit for club installation. Sitting on a prototype sub, the ParaPod, the pair were also entered into the Innovation Awards. Void were also showing remodels of the Stasis 3 touring mid/high featuring their own proprietary waveform technology. Most of the Void range could also be heard in their demo room, which Skan described as 'The wonderful world of Disney'. Sounds like the rest of PLASA really!

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Made in Germany, the GAE brand of speaker systems is known in the UK but not yet widely used: GAE UK Ltd aims to change that and showed the latest product, Director Waveline. A 100° by 10° line array box (minimum three boxes for the coupling effect) that weighs just 45kg, Waveline contains a pair of 10" for low end down to 80Hz. Each plywood cabinet has an aluminium chassis that allows for very close coupling on the front plane - one reason perhaps why just a six-box-a-side system was man enough for the Expo Islamia at the Manchester Evening News arena.

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Proel announced the introduction of the JTS in-ear monitoring system. The UHF PLL technology provides excellent stereo separation and advanced circuit design to ensure excellent signal to noise ratio, say the company. Also on the stand, Proel launched the NEOS range of loudspeakers. Available in both active and passive versions, the cabinets come in 10", 12" and 15" two-way passive and active versions and there are both 15" and 1" active and passive sub-woofers, capable of delivering up to 1,800W each. Additionally, Proel showed new products from B&C, FBT and Alto.

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The V4 software upgrade for DiGiCo's desks, and D5T (12) are both welcome additions. The (12) variant adds 12 master faders or groups, yet maintains a smaller footprint than the D5T plus wing (achieving the same operational surface) saving four theatre seats. The V4 software adds a hardware element as well - a new, non-volatile random-access memory board, an up-rated processor board and brand new, high-density mini drives.

Software improvements include a redesigned hardware configuration panel; refined networking with graphic interface; auto-route inputs; improved auxiliary architecture; a channel presets recall scope; effects presets; and many more. A major overhaul.

DiGiCo TV - or more correctly www.DiGiCo.tv - answers the problem of console operation familiarisation DVDs becoming rapidly obsolete as DiGiCo issues the next software improvement: desk users can go online and find the

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Crest Audio used PLASA to launch a brand new mixing console. The CV20 is a large-format FOH console available in 24-, 32-, 40-, 48- and 56-channel frames. The desk, due to start shipping in January was so popular that sales representative Bob Harrison told us that 10 desks had already been sold at the show.

In addition to the CV20, Crest showed the Ci20x4 and Ci20x8 power amplifiers providing four or eight channels respectively. Both amps are capable of running from 4 ohms through to 70V line switchable per channel and can run 100V system with an optional unit. Other modules allow the amplifier to sit on a CobraNet-8 network providing a fully monitored and controlled solution.

  1. XTA
  2. Interspace Industries
  3. Playback Music Istanbul
  4. KV2 Audio
  5. Barbican's Midas makes its debut
  6. DMC
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