>Robe Show Lighting's second year at the PLASA show saw the launch of two new moving head fixtures. The ColorSpot 575 AT has two separate gobo wheels and two separate colour wheels and features motorized multi-step zoom, iris and prism with a separate and variable frost effect and remote focus. The ColorSpot 250 AT is a new streamlined design with updated features including a new rotating seven position diachronic glass gobo wheel plus open, and a 10 position colour wheel plus open. Both these and the three facet-rotating prism are now replaceable. Entirely new software enables very smooth rotations of both gobos and prisms, and also offers the choice between 8 or 16-bit resolution for gobo indexing, prism indexing and dimmer, while an improved cooling system improves operating conditions for the lamp and reduces noise.

The ColorSpot 250 AT is aimed at TV studios, small to medium-size

>At PLASA for the second time, e:cue had a host of products and was having a great show with a well attended stand. e:cue programmer is the central programming interface for almost all products produced by the company: this is a PC-based software which offers all the opportunities of an advanced lighting controller. The e:node 512 Ethernet DMX interface is now offered with a choice of stylish colour fascias aimed at the architectural market.

>The new Lodestar BGV C1 electric chain hoist was on show from Columbus McKinnon's Entertainment Division. Designed to meet the German standard for entertainment rigging, it's avaialable in capacities from 1/4 to 1 ton (250 to 1000kg) and speeds at 16fpm (4mpm). It has a 10:1 design factor to meet the most demanding rigging applications in the entertainment industry. CM's ProStar Hoists are now available in 227kg (500lbs) and 454kg (1000lbs) models. Other new products and the company's well-known, established rigging products, were also being shown and the team was enjoying a successful show.

>PCM highlighted its new Unibar at PLASA, designed in collaboration with Slingco, and collected a Product Award along the way. A winch system that presents a cost-effective alternative to the more sophisticated power-assisted winch sets, Unibar is initially available in 250 or 400kg models with single or two-speed options. The entire Unibar unit is self-contained, with the motor unit positioned on the end of the track. Single or three-phase power options are offered, and dual brakes are also available as an option. Unibar supports any number of suspension cables and any length of suspension bar with the top and bottom limits contained within the unit's controls. Units can be positioned side by side with the suspension bars at 200mm centres - a vital requirement for all theatres. The control panel can either be fixed to the wall or operated by hand-held remote.

>The Clay Paky stand highlighted the new Point range of miniature colour changing fixtures. Point is a fixed bracket mounting unit; Point IN is a flush-mount version with adjustable angle and rotation, while Point MH adds full moving-body facilities. A lens kit for gobo projection is also available. For the outdoor market, the Rain Spot 575 effects projector offers four interchangeable lenses, rotating and fixed gobos, four rotating prisms and eight colour capability. Further innovative new products are promised from Clay Paky at LDI in Orlando this autumn.

>Award for Design Excellence

>PCM/Slingco

>Unibar

The Unibar system allows (a joint development between PCM and Slingco) for the quick and easy raising and lowering of suspension or lighting bars for scenery and lighting equipment with a motor-driven unit. The system has been designed to be installed onto any style of fixing or structure and will prove a cost-effective alternative to the more sophisticated power-assisted winch sets.

Initially available in 250 or 500kg models with single or two-speed options, the entire Unibar unit is self-contained, with the motor positioned on the end of the track. Single- or three-phase power options are offered, and other highlights include its simple, logical 'plug and play' operation.

Although initially designed for five suspension cables, thanks to flexibility in its design approach, the Unibar can be amended to support any number

>A most unusual amplifier from Danish manufacturer MTI, the MPA82000 is a standard 19" rack-mount, eight channel, 1000W into 2 ohms (or other variants W-vs-ohms) that is just 550mm deep. Offering full DSP plus an 8-way matrix, it's possible to link up to 16 amps via RS485 and control laptop, with 16 resident programmable presets onboard. At 27.5kg, this is a highly flexible amp for complex installations.

>With improvements and additions coming on a monthly basis to users of Stardraw, to list them all would be problematic. The new online symbol libraries feature allows users to build their own 'favourites' library, making the enormous and growing range of adopted symbols far more manageable, whilst retaining easy access to updates. Another new addition gaining much attention at the show was automatic cable labelling. It sounds simple, but think about all the spadework it saves with complex wiring layouts. Also, Shure and Middle Atlantic Products now endorse Stardraw Weblink, the program that allows manufacturers to embed custom data within the symbols that represent their products in Stardraw design and document applications.

>As well as launching the company's brand new website, the Shure Distribution UK stand featured another wide array of new products, including the ConferenceOne discussion system for the corporate and rental market. From QSC Audio, the ISIS WideLine line-array was being demonstrated, with the AcousticDesign AD-C52 and AD-C52S ceiling loudspeakers on show. The Presonus Eureka mic preamp made its European debut, featuring compressor, parametric EQ and switchable staging. Also in signal processing, three new ranges of Phonic audio equipment took a bow: the A (analogue), T (tube) and i (digital) series, including pre-amp, EQ and effects units. Phonic's new P series monitors are available in four different versions, each either active or passive. Finally, three Aviom digital audio snake products made their European debuts - input/output modules and a system bridge.

>LightProcessor showed its Zip desks as well as new models in its Dimension range of installation dimmers, available as D610 (6 x 10A) wall-mount, truss-mount or portable versions, plus the D1210 (12 x 10A) and D1810 (18 x 10A) commercial versions. LightProcessor's other popular products include the Paradime digital dimmer - a six-channel dimming module and the DMX-tools range - of DMX signal processing products, including the DMuX, store, Merge and Buffer - the latter available in both truss and 19" rack-mounting version.

>The PIGI S700 (4kW) HMI projector was launched by E//T//C Audiovisuel, the well-known large format image projection and multi-channel video projection specialist. The S700 is part of the new generation of PIGI projectors and is a compact unit equipped with internal dimmer, dichroic colour mixing and correction filters. The company's project portfolio is impressive: recent work includes this year's Cannes Film Festival, and the very dramatic illumination of Buckingham Palace during the Queen's Golden Jubilee weekend last year which must have been seen worldwide. Managing director John Ross Ashton, enjoying a busy PLASA Show, said the PIGI slide projectors are starting to be used in theatrical applications and can currently be seen on Anything Goes in the West End.

>Stepping into Abstract AVR's marquee, where colour exploded from the floors and walls, was an impressive assault on the senses. From the new Ledion range, the modular LED dance floor was attracting attention. The new VRX Powerled 1.8m bar creates fascinating light patterns using high powered, super-bright LED technology.

>A company new to the PLASA Show, but with origins deep in the roots of pro audio, KV2 Audio showed two new PA systems - the ES and the EX ranges. The EX10 is a two-way active speaker comprising a 1.75" compression driver onto an 80° x 100° horn with a 10" for bass. Capable of working full range down to 65Hz, the EX10 can be augmented with the EX2.2, a self-powered 2 x 12" sub that can also drive a pair of EX10s.

KV2's ES system comprises the ES 1.0 a three-way high pack loaded with 1.75" with a tighter 90° by 40° horn, a 6" horn-loaded mid-driver with identical pattern, and 12" mid/bass driver. Three subs are available - ES1.5, ES1.8 and the ES2.5 being loaded single 15", single 18" and twin 15" respectively, and designed for different application demands. KV2 also designs and builds all its own amps and processing, the EPAK 2500 provid

>Further developments to the Matrix sine wave dimming system, were shown on the I.E.S. stand. Client requests have led to I.E.S. increasing its range of products and specifications of the system. A double processor unit per cabinet is now a standard option and with Ethernet data connections for dimmers proving popular, I.E.S. launched interfaces equipped for ANC (Advanced Network Control) and RDM (Remote Device Management). Recent installations for the company include 1,600 channels at Het Muziektheater, home of Amsterdam Opera.

>The Stadium Hazer from Le Maitre is a new concept in the cost-effective manufacture and delivery of vast volumes of non-toxic haze, without the problems of oily deposits. The patented delivery system is designed for easy maintenance and is programmed to self-clean on start-up and shut-down. The delivery arm can be angled through 120° and has a variable speed booster fan to project the haze to where it's required. Le Maitre's Rick Wilson said the pyrotechnics demonstrations, run on the Top Deck, were well attended - as always!

>Addressing the mid/low-end speaker market, Acustica Beyma introduced a whole new range of 10"-18" drivers, the main improvements being more power handling from use of flat-wire voice coils and stronger basket design. Beyma also presented four new compression drivers in 2" and 1.5" versions, utilizing titanium domes and neodymium magnets.

>Lots of new products from High End Systems. Highest in profile was the Catalyst DL1 digital lighting engine, winning the PLASA Award in the AV category. The DL1 sees the boundaries between lighting and digital video blur, with moving images deliverable via the moving head fixture and V3 of the Catalyst software. Also on stand was ColorCommand, a fixed incandescent washlight with CMY colour mixing, while ColorMerge is designed as an alternative to gel scrollers for ETC Source Four luminaires and uses CMY dichroic glass mixing. For the club market, Trackspot 2 is a moving mirror fixture with 12-position colour and effects wheels. On the control front, version 1.3 of Flying Pig Systems' Wholehog III software was on show, as was Wholehog PC. Designed to give users the facilities of a Wholehog II console within a Windows-compatible PC, the Wholehog PC software is free. Complementary hardware

>In addition to the audio lines mentioned earlier, MilTec also distributes Italian lighting manufacturer Fal which has has taken the logical step and achieved IP65 for its Ground Colour and Mini-Painter architectural fixtures.

>A new architectural dimming system, Anylight from Anytronics comprises an interface card housed in standard wall-mount dimmer packs, that uses standard DMX to communicate with up to 50 outstations (Anytronics provides a range of five outstation panels with varying degrees of presets, single toggles and simple up/down buttons). Outstations can be connected star or daisy chain-style, getting power and comms from the interface card via a two-wire connection in parallel. Simple to set up, the Anytronics system provides a relatively sophisticated level of control without resort to a PC and programming.

>Star of the ETC stand, and the first product launch of the PLASA Show (the press conference took place before the doors had even opened), was the Source Four Revolution, the new moving head version of the renowned profile. Using the same optics as the Source Four Zoom, but with increased light output, Revolution has been designed to operate extremely quietly for the theatre market. The base unit offers 570º pan, 270º tilt, beam-edge change, zoom, internal media frame and on-board dimming. An in-built colour scroller is provided, plus a new lamp base which features a quick-exchange incandescent light source. Two bays are provided for optional modules which give additional functions, including an 18-leaf iris, colour wheel, rotating gobo and shutter modules.

>From the Sennheiser stand came two new audio systems from D.A.S. Audio. Inevitably, the CA28 and CA215 combo is a line array. Highly compact, the system is based on DAS's own 2 x 8" drivers with a DAS1.5" compression driver on a 6° by 90° SERPIS plane wave generator for the highs. The accompanying2 x 15" Sub integrates onto the D.A.S. flying hardware. Delivery from a four-box coupled system, 80Hz-20kHz is claimed at 143dB peak SPL, while the sub delivers 147dB down to 37Hz. The new D.A.S. Dynamic Series is a three-way system comprising DS-115/Sub-18F passive, or add an 'A' suffix for the active models. Stand-alone or pole mounted, these are light, easy to use and would suit small installs or touring applications.

Also on the same stand was a new digital EQ unit from Rane, the DEQ60 and 60L ('L' denoting long-scale faders). Designed for live tours, this regular looking

>Formed as a result of a buy-out of the Penn lighting and trussing business from Penn Fabrication, Metalworx is the European manufacturer of the original Penn trussing. The company featured coloured Par cans on the stand in addition to triangular, box and circular truss. The company also offers a complete custom manufacturing service.

>Jack Exell, general mnager of Cerebrum Lighting was well pleased with the show, adding that the stand had been kept busy by high quality visitors. For the first time Cerebrum was showing the full Xenonspot range of Xenon followspots, in collaboration with Japanese manufacturer San-ei Electric Co. The range is available in 1, 2, 3, and 4kW models.

>Audio-Technica was giving a European launch to the AEW4000 and 5000 Artist Elite wireless microphone systems and T1000 body pack transmitter; AE5400 and 3300 condenser mics; AE4100 and 6100 dynamic mics and a prototype DA860 wireless distribution amplifier. Also new was a number of microphones in the Engineered Sound series.

A-T was also showing the latest from Sabine, which it distributes in the UK. Centre stage was Sabine's SWM7000 Series 2.4GHz true mobility wireless microphone systems, incorporating the patent-pending 'Smart Spectrum' technology which allows up to 70 simultaneous wireless systems to operate with maximum fidelity. The receivers have built-in Targeted Input Processing, including the FBX feedback exterminator, a compressor/limiter, an adaptive de-esser and parametric filters. New on-board DSP allows the selection of a number of dynamic or condenser mic elements. Up

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