Czech Republic - A new multicultural congress centre has provided the Czech city of Zlin with a new purpose built facility for staging concerts, conferences, exhibitions, symposiums and more.

Designed by noted architect Eva Jiricna - with an overall construction budget of CZK 650 million (£22.75m) - the contract to design and install the audio at the Congress Center Zlin was undertaken by Inton SRO. After winning a competitive bid, they recommended a Martin Audio line array solution for the 837-seat Great Hall.

Two separate Martin Audio line array systems were detailed, with eight W8LMI and a WMX sub (biamped) installed each side as a main PA system, and a further eight LE1200's provided for stage monitoring. Forming the second zone is a Martin Audio OmniLine Micro Line Array system, eight modules per side - reinforced by ceiling speakers for conference purposes.

Said

The Netherlands - Tannoy has unveiled at ISE 2011 its "most significant new product range in several years", in the form of VX Series.

VX Series heralds a number of advances in Tannoy's core offering to the pro sound reinforcement market, says the company, as well as marking the dawn of a collaboration with Lab.gruppen on the self-powered 'VXP' versions - the first product of its type to feature both Tannoy and Lab.gruppen technologies.

With an expanded range of enclosures and transducer compliments, the new VX Series combines Dual Concentric driver technology with smart, ergonomic, portable and install-friendly new cabinet designs, enhanced build quality, and "carefully thought-out functionality".

In addition to an extensive passive range, there are also self-powered loudspeakers, the VXP Series.

With 10 passive models in the range (nine of which are a

USA - Audinate has announced the availability of its new Dante Brooklyn II audio networking module.

The Dante Brooklyn II module is a low-height, small mini-PCI form factor module that provides a complete, ready to use Dante interface for a networked audio product, with the addition of a range of new features and interfaces for even more flexibility of design. Brooklyn II is also designed to be upgradeable to AVB networking standards.

Brooklyn II's new features include the widest sample rate support to date (from 44.1 to 192kHz), up to eight configurable serial audio lines, a range of new or improved module interfaces, including SPI, I2C, serial ports and configurable GPIO, plus a choice of single, redundant or multiport switched Ethernet network implementations, including an AVB-compliant option.

As the latest addition to the Audinate Dante product range, Brooklyn II intero

Germany - In the course of restructuring and taking over sales of all its software products in German speaking countries, Berlin-based AFMG, manufacturer of the simulation platform for room acoustics EASE and audio measurement tools EASERA and SysTune, has appointed graduate engineer Thilo Schuetz as its director of press, marketing and sales.

Stefan Feistel, managing director of AFMG, comments, "We are proud to have Mr. Thilo Schuetz joining our team. He has come to grips with our company and products in no time."

Thilo Schuetz, who has worked as production manager and CTO for Gahrens+Battermann GmbH in Berlin before coming to AFMG, has many years of experience in the field of audio engineering.

(Jim Evans)

The Netherlands - L-Acoustics has joined forces with control and automation specialist AMX to provide external control of the LA4 and LA8 amplified controllers from an AMX touch screen panel, for fixed installation applications.

"The new AMX module provides L-Acoustics integrators with an interface control solution to take full advantage of the flexibility and performance of our LA amplified controllers in fixed install applications such as worship, convention centres and sports facilities," says Cedric Montrezor, head of installation support.

The main features of the new module include: Mute, Input gain, Delay, Input selection : AES/analogue; Standby/Reboot; Monitoring information: metering, clip, limit; EN60849 Fault management and Preset management.

(Jim Evans)

Italy - Organisers of the Italian professional entertainment technology exhibition ShowWay have announced that the long-awaited second edition of the event will take place in Bergamo, Italy, from 15 to 17 May 2011.

Having put the show on ice last year, allowing its exhibitors to "concentrate their efforts on optimising their businesses during the peak of the world recession," organisers feel the time is right for a recovery-boosting show.The show will follow the same format as the successful 2008 debut event, which saw 65 exhibiting companies attend - 60% coming from outside Italy - and 6,783 visitors from 35 nations.

APIAS, the Italian association of manufacturers and importers of equipment for the entertainment industry, which represents some of the most important and distinguished firms in the trade in Italy, confirms its utmost commitment to working together with

Qatar - Pearce Hire has been awarded a new contract by QMDI to supply all of the temporary event power for the VIP opening of the Georgetown University School of Foreign Services in Qatar.

Managing director Shaun Pearce will spend a week at Education City, Qatar this February 2010 installing four event generators (2 x 500KVA and 2 x 100 KVA) along with electrical distribution throughout the venue. The temporary power installation will supply outdoor architectural lighting, along with projection, lighting and audio inside the main auditorium and associated conference rooms.

The event's production manager John Adkins brought in Pearce Hire for their "consistently high standard of work and impeccable safety procedures".

"We are proud to be entrusted to supply the event power for this prestigious occasion," says Shaun Pearce. " Pearce Hire is developing

USA - Audio-Technica is now offering the ATW-CHG2 Two-Bay Recharging Station for its new 2000 Series wireless transmitters. This unit charges ATW-T220a handheld transmitters and/or ATW-T210a UniPak transmitters (in any combination). Batteries are charged within the transmitters.

The ATW-CHG2 has many protective features to preserve the integrity of the transmitters. A built-in safety feature monitors cell voltage and automatically turns off the unit if problems are detected. The unit will also automatically shut off if damaged or alkaline (non-rechargeable) batteries are installed. Maintenance charging prevents battery self-discharge until the transmitter is removed from the charger. Two AA 2000 mAh Ni-MH rechargeable batteries are included.

Other recent enhancements to the 2000 Series include the addition of a second operating frequency band for more flexibility and increased

USA - On the heels of a solid growth year, Loud Technologies awarded international distributors for outstanding 2010 sales and service performance.The following distributors received an award in these respective categories:

APAC - Distributor of the Year - Musiclink Australia; Ampeg Best Performance - Kanda Shokai Corp, Japan; Mackie Best Performance - Musiclink Australia.

EMEA - Loud Distributor of the Year - A&T Trade, Russia; Ampeg Best Performance - Casale Bauer, Italy; Mackie Best Performance - Music Info, Poland.

Latin America - Loud Distributor of the Year - Hermes Music, Mexico; Ampeg Best Performance - Grupo Romulo Garcia, Argentina; Mackie Best Performance - Casa Musical Nunez & Import Music, Ecuador.

"Our customers responded very strongly to our 2010 new products and programmes, contributing to double-digit sales growth for the Mackie and Ampeg brands,"

Ukraine - Dnipropetrovsk was the setting on 10 and 11 November for a series of training seminars for dealers organized by Electro-Voice's Ukrainian partner Sound House Pro. The course, conducted by a team led by Andrey Garkaviy, was attended by 70 representatives of the Ukrainian pro audio scene. These included not only the nation's leading dealers but also employees of installation firms and rental companies. As was the case last year, the dealers' meeting was organized in collaboration with Dynacord's's partners in Ukraine, Cortmi.

The Dnipropetrovsk academy focussed mainly on products from the current Electro-Voice range, such as the new ZxA1 loudspeaker family, microphones from the N/DYM, PL and RE series, CPS series amplifiers, the N8000 audio matrix and the Dx46 FIR Drive Sound System Processor, which made a particularly strong impression on attendees.

The course was con

Austria - The Grosses Festspielhaus (Great Festival Hall), home to the famed Salzburg Festival has revamped its main audio system for the first time in two decades. The upgraded system includes a completely redesigned control room, featuring a Studer Vista 5 digital console. Celebrating the hall's 50th and the festival's 90th anniversaries, the Vista 5 was chosen for its optimum recording capabilities, with performance recordings in demand throughout the year.

Working to achieve 5.1-quality sound in the control room, which is fairly small and oddly shaped due to the architectural aspects of the nearly century-old venue, the Vista 5 features a lightweight, high-performance compact operating surface, ideal for the small space. The console is rigged to be mobile and can be easily disconnected and reconnected and transported to areas beyond the hall for performances outside of the f

France - Denon DJ Europe has agreed to supply equipment enabling students to work with the latest media file and DJ software control systems, alongside vinyl and CD. To this end, Denon is supplying UCPA Formation with training systems comprising its top fight DN-X1700 mixer and DN-S3700 digital media player. For its part UCPA Formation is committed to building a new dedicated Denon DJ training room.

The Lyon based UCPS centre, which offers multidisciplinary training in audio, video, lighting and animation, established its DJ school in 2001 with a focus on the professional training and the latest technologies and developing techniques.

A rolling programme of special events and online initiatives is planned by Denon to further enhance the students' experience, both during their training and after they graduate.

Commenting on the inaguartion of the sponsorship initiative, Phili

Belgium - Sound Inc, based in Roeselare, West Flanders has chosen a Midas PRO6 to spearhead its move into digital, becoming the second Belgian rental company to invest in a Midas large format digital console.

According to Axel Nagtegaal, MD of distributor Midas Consoles Benelux, this marks a milestone in the Belgian market. "Sound Inc chose the Midas PRO6 to support their future growth plans," he says. "With Jan Durant spearheading the Midas digital march in Belgium, I am confident that more PRO Series deliveries will follow soon."

Sound Inc has long experience of Midas consoles, with XL200s, XL3s, Legend 3000s and H3s all featuring in its portfolio over the years. Jan Durant, Sound Inc founder and MD, who had previously rented a number of digital consoles of various brands, says purchasing the PRO6 was the logical step.

"At first we were worried tha

Germany - With Oberstdorf, Innsbruck and Bischofshofen, Garmisch-Partenkirchen has for 59 years been one of the venues for the world famous Four Hills ski-jumping tournament. Traditionally the resort in Upper Bavaria hosts the event - one of the highlights of the winter sports calendar - on 1 January each year. In 2011, no fewer than 25,000 fans provided a motivating backdrop for the competitors.

The task of keeping spirits up in ice cold temperatures fell to the commentator Wolfgang Hostmann partnered by DJ 'Mike'. The pair acquitted themselves with flying colours, helped by the quality of the sound reinforcement, for which the Weilheim-based specialists from TC-Showtechnik were responsible for the fifth year in succession. Once again, the centrepiece of the system was formed by a compact yet powerful XLD line array from Electro-Voice.

"After optimising and adding to the

Oman - The new Multipurpose Hall at Sultan Qaboos University, located in the Sultanate of Oman, features a fully equipped, state-of-the-art sound, lighting and video system. Included in this setup is an extensive Aviom Pro64 audio network which is used to route audio to and from various locations in the space, namely the PA system, control room and production room.

Designed and supplied by Venuetech, LLC, the audio system supports the 5,000-seat auditorium, which hosts live performances such as plays and orchestras, movie screenings and conferences. The facility also features an automated motorised seating system, which allows the chairs to fold back and out of the way so the hall can be converted into a large indoor sports arena. The flexible nature of the Aviom Pro64 audio network allows it to easily support any event that takes place in the hall.

To accommodate the ever-cha

The Netherlands - With a strong focus on "simple-to-use yet effective microphone conference systems", AKG is promoting its CS 5 Conferencing System at Integrated Systems Europe. The interactive system is Ethernet technology-centric with 64 audio channels suitable for any meeting space, from small discussions to large congresses, says the company. AKG also offers a decentralised power system that incorporates AC adapters throughout the 12 microphone audio ring stations for high redundancy and all-inclusive software for easy setup.

The CS 5 Conferencing System gives users "an unprecedented amount of control" through the CS 5 Base Unit (BU), which controls the entire system, allowing users to set the number of delegates speaking simultaneously. The CS 5 VU microphone station acts as delegate or as president station, enabling the main speaker to control the discu

Indonesia - Proel participated in November's Audio Pro Expo, held at the Jakarta Expo Centre - a strategic meeting point for all companies developing commercial channels in the region.

Proel Systems also featured on the stage at Japex and attracted the attention of the visitors gathered for the live performance of some of the most famous bands in Indonesia, for the clinics held by local musicians and for a series of dedicated musical events.

In the spotlight were the NEOS15P loudspeakers combined with 4 NEOS118SP subwoofers. Stage monitors and side-fills were 15" passive models and 12" active models from the Flash series.

The whole system was powered by HPD1500 digital amplifiers and mixed on a M20USB console. Proel's connectors, cables, microphones, mic stands and clips completed the set up .

Effendi, Mitra Communications managing director commented, "Our p

The Netherlands - BSS Audio has introduced a new full-bandwidth Acoustic Echo Cancellation (AEC) algorithm for its Soundweb London conferencing processors. The new full-bandwidth AEC algorithm is released with HiQnet London Architect v3.04 and can be used with existing Soundweb London AEC Input Cards and the recently-introduced Soundweb London BLU-101 and BLU-102 devices.

The existing 8kHz-bandwidth AEC algorithm is optimised for POTS, VoIP phone system and digital phone system applications. The full-bandwidth AEC algorithm facilitates enhanced fidelity for specific applications, while also offering a reduced processing latency. A property within HiQnet London Architect v3.04 allows users to switch between the new full-bandwidth AEC algorithm and the existing 8kHz-bandwidth algorithm. Dedicated full-bandwidth 'dry' signals for local sound reinforcement or recording are offered f

USA - The Pasadena Symphony and offer a full spectrum of live symphonic concerts year-round at the historic Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena and Pasadena Rose bowl grounds.

Complete Production Rentals uses Audio-Technica microphones nearly exclusively for their work with the Pasadena Symphony and POPS because of A-T's "ability to accurately and consistently convey the nuances of the broad classical and popular music repertoire of the Symphony".

Jack Haffamier, president and founder of Complete Production Rentals, has specific microphone choices for the entire Symphony. On winds he uses the ATM650 Hypercardioid Dynamic Instrument Microphone. For the cellos and string basses, he chooses the AT4040 Cardioid Condenser Microphone, while the AT4051a Cardioid Condenser Microphone is used to capture woodwinds and percussion.

The AT2020 Cardioid Condenser Microphones are u

World - PLASA is pleased to announce the launch of its Facebook pages. Visitors to PLASA Focus, The PLASA Show, members of PLASA and anyone interested in the industry can join (or "like") the Facebook pages from today.

Members of the pages will be the first to find out about industry news, PLASA news and show news and content Plus, PLASA 2011 is offering the first 1000 members the chance to win a pair of Sennheiser HD 380 Pro collapsible high end headphones! To be in with a chance of winning all you have to do is "like" the PLASA 2011 page, then a winner will be picked at random.

To view the PLASA Facebook page, click here.

For the PLASA Focus page,

Spain - Claus Behrens, a professional with a long and distinguished career in the professional audio industry, has joined the D.A.S. Audio team in the new position of business development manager.

Behrens' broad professional background includes collaboration with TC Electronic, TC Works, TC US and most recently Lab. Gruppen and Lake, where he took on management and sales roles.

"It's going to be fantastic, joining a company with such a professional and passionate team, with such excellent products that reach an increasingly bigger share of the market," says Behrens. I hope to contribute my experience and the knowledge I've accumulated in this dynamic and competitive sector."

(Jim Evans)

Germany - Electro-Voice has introduced the R300 wireless microphone system that "opens up a new category in today's wireless marketplace - entry-level professional - and brings world-tour-proven Electro-Voice wireless technology to a new, more accessible price point".

Features like One-Touch ClearScan and EZsync make the R300 quicker and easier to set up and use than any other similarly priced wireless system, says the company, while its rack-mountable metal receiver, sturdy metal bodypack and handheld transmitters, and remote-mountable antennas are of a build and performance quality usually reserved for higher-priced professional products.

The R300 package is aimed at a a wide range of wireless applications, from live vocals and instruments to professional presentations. Three different microphone configuration packages are available: handheld, headworn, or lapel.

USA - The tragic death of legendary sound engineer and audio innovator Bruce Jackson has shocked the pro audio world. A keen pilot for many years, Jackson was killed last weekend when his plane crashed in southern California.

Jackson, an Australian, was a true pioneer of the live sound reinforcement industry. He was the 'J' of Jands, the company which he co-founded in the late 60s and remains today as one of the biggest names in Australia's professional entertainment technology industry. A meeting with Roy Clair in 1970 led to a long and fruitful relationship with Clair Brothers Audio. Moving to the US, Jackson mixed monitor sound for Elvis Presley until the singer's death in 1977; later he worked for many years with Bruce Springsteen and Barbra Streisand. His mixing credits also included many other major artists, including Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, The Jackson Five, Barry Whit

UK - French sound designer and foley artist Nicolas Becker has used a quantity of DPA microphones for the Philippe Parreno exhibition at London's Serpentine Gallery. Parreno, an Algerian artist and film maker, has created a space in which a series of filmed events are projected in different galleries. Sound, which plays a major part in the exhibition, can be heard inside the gallery, as though the outside environment of Kensington Gardens and the surrounding streets is leaking in.

To facilitate this, Becker has positioned three DPA SMK4060 stereo mic kits, which each include a pair of 4060 omnidirectional miniature mics, around the space. As a film ends in one gallery, the blinds at the windows rise and the DPA mics transmit the sounds from outside into the gallery, while in the next space the blinds descend and the lights go off.

"I chose the 4060s because they provide i

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