Germany - Philips Lighting is celebrating its Entertainment division's most successful Prolight+Sound show to date. With a record number of on stand visitors, the Entertainment team is crediting Prolight+Sound's new concept and location in the Eastern section of the Messe for the boost.

"We really saw a noticeable increase in visitors to our stand from previous years," says Philips Entertainment general Manager Grant Bales-Smith. "The show's new set-up, along with our completely new stand concept, worked well to highlight to visitors our fresh and original approach."

Philips Lighting opted to theme its stand 'inspired by light', with a large video screen displaying stunning imagery of natural light. Lighting designer Mark Wynn-Edwards created a range of looks that worked with the video to fully immerse visitors in the experience and demonstrate how Philips understands and

UK - Midas has announced the launch of the Midas M8000, an ultra-high performance 192 kHz, eight-channel A/D converter with "unprecedented audio and sonic performance".

Andy Trott, SVP, Enterprise & Entertainment Division states, "For over four decades, Madas has been the undisputed leader in audio and sound performance, especially known for its award-winning microphone preamplifiers and best sounding mixing consoles.

"Our Manchester Innovation team spent over three years and close to 1 US$m to develop what we believe is the world's best-sounding A/D converter. Based on advanced multi-bit delta-sigma architecture and a revolutionary high-speed TDM interface, the converter's performance delivers close to 120 dB of dynamic range with sampling rates up to 216 kHz."

Andy continues, "We are especially proud of the M8000's incredible audio performance, which industry standar

Germany - Track systems specialist Triple E is celebrating its successful launch of ModTruss in Europe at Prolight + Sound, Frankfurt.

The Triple E team constructed an iimpressive stand at the Messe Frankfurt for the event, showcasing the versatility of the ModTruss product line, which lends itself to endless configurations using standard accessories, ensuring ideas that once took extensive custom design and fabrication are constructed easily and fast.

Triple E launched the US-designed ModTruss in the UK in June 2015, immediately winning 'Engineering Product of the Year' at the ABTT Theatre Show in London.

"This year's Prolight + Sound marked a milestone in the history - and future - of Triple E as we undertook the biggest launch for our company yet - ModTruss, Europe-wide," says Triple E's managing director, David Edelstein. "We've put in a lot of hard work to bring t

China / Germany - PR Lighting's new hybrid BWS (Beam Wash Spot) hybrid attracted much interest at the recent GET Show in Guangzhou and Frankfurt Prolight+Sound, two of the global production industry's major shop windows.

The Chinese manufacturer has wasted no time in capitalising on these lightshow extravaganzas, and has followed up last year's XR 330 BWS release with the new XR 440 BWS, which is now shipping.

This new range of high-output moving heads integrates three features in one unit, and adopts PR patented technology.

The XR 440 BWS houses a powerful Osram Sirius HRI 440W lamp, and features include an advanced colour index with CYM linear colour mixing system, with macro; colour wheel with 12 colours and CTO plus open; bi-directional rainbow effect at variable speeds; step/linear colour change.

There is a fixed gobo wheel with 13 fixed gobos plus open, bi-di

Germany - The Shure KSM8 Dualdyne Vocal Microphone introduced this January was awarded the pipa award in the category Live Microphone / IEM. The ceremony took place during the 2016 Prolight+Sound / Musikmesse in Frankfurt on 7 April.

Ron Hautzinger, product manager pro & retail at Shure Europe says, "With the KSM8, Shure set out to develop a microphone that turns the world of dynamic microphones upside down. Offering a brand-new patented cartridge design with two diaphragms, the KSM8 has virtually no proximity effect and a flat off-axis attenuation for superior rejection of unwanted sound sources. We are honoured to receive the pipa and would like to thank all voters."

(Jim Evans)

Germany - Laserworld Showeditor FREE was presented at prolight+sound 2016 for the first time. It is a free ILDA laser show control software, that incorporates the utmost features of the Laserworld Showeditor full version except the direct output to a hardware interface. It can be used for creating logos, text, animations and aerial effects and exporting them to the standard *.ild file format. This file format is compatible to all ILDA standard SD-card playback systems for show laser lights, so the Laserworld Showeditor FREE can be used with SD-card lasers of almost any brand.

Laser show playback systems are useful for many different applications: DJs may not want to directly control their laser with a computer during their set, as they obviously need to concentrate on that. So they often decide to have an automated show playing or control the lasers via DMX, together with the

UK - RCF UK will present several of the innovations that lit up the company's international stand at Frankfurt Prolight+Sound recently, when they arrive at this year's PLASA Focus (Leeds Royal Armouries Museum, 10-11 May).

Occupying stand #N-D20 the showcase will include the following:

HDL6-A: The new mini-format entry to the composite D-Line line array series, this active 2-way powered system is partnered by the HDL6-AS sub. Housing double 6.5" bass drivers the HDL6-A is run in combination with 1.75" compression driver with a 2" voice coil on a 10° x 100° waveguide. The HDL 6-AS is a 12" bass reflex enclosure, designed to be flown with the full range system.

HDL50-A: At the other end of the spectrum, this large-format, three-way active line array module is the flagship of the D-Line range and contains 2 x 12" bass drivers, 4 x 6.5" mid-range and 2 x 3" compres

UK - StarTech.com has announced three new dual-monitor mounting products that offer advanced options for a flexible, ergonomic-friendly workstation. The Dual Monitor Stand (SKU: ARMBARDUO), the Side-by-Side Monitor Mount (ARMSLIMDUO) and the Stackable Dual Monitor Mount (SKU: ARMDUAL30) make up the new trio of products.

All three of the dual-monitor mounts offer cost-effective ways to create an ergonomic work space. Each of the monitor mounts are built with sturdy materials, and can securely hold two monitors in place with varying degrees of adjustability.

"Our newest dual-monitor mounts offer users three different options for creating a comfortable work space," said Jordan Hamm, product manager at StarTech.com. "They provide a durable and dependable way for users to adjust the position of their monitors, without wasting valuable desk space."

The new trio of monitor mo

UK - Following what has been an extremely busy and exciting year for White Light, the complete production solution specialist will be returning to PLASA Focus Leeds at the Royal Armouries Museum from 10-11 May. With over 130 different exhibitors working across audio, lighting, video and rigging, along with presentations, technical demonstrations and panel discussions, this year's PLASA Focus Leeds promises to be the biggest one yet.

Since its previous visit to PLASA Focus Leeds, WL has grown exponentially. Alongside expanding its audio department along with acquiring video technology company Shock Solutions, the company has worked on a whole host of projects, including the Rugby World Cup, the NME Awards, London Fashion Week and many more. For all of these projects, WL drew on its unparalleled inventory of entertainment technology;

USA - The new Maverick series of powerful moving fixtures from Chauvet Professional generated worldwide buzz when it was shown at Prolight+Sound in early April. Now the company has announced that the first product in the series to be available will be the Maverick MK2 Spot. The new LED spot is already making waves in the marketplace, according to Chauvet.

"The response to the Maverick MK2 Spot has been overwhelming," said Albert Chauvet, CEO of Chauvet. "We aimed this product at the lighting professional and rental house who want a very bright tour-ready affordable spot that can be used at an arena one night and a 500-person venue the next. Our research told us that this part of the market was being overlooked. Based on the incredible interest in the Maverick MK2 Spot, it looks like that research was absolutely on target."

Powered by a 440-watt LED engine, the Maverick MK2

UK - Elation Professional invites lighting professionals to Stand N-D32 at PLASA Focus Leeds for an up-close look at an impressive line-up of new lighting solutions that includes three all-new product series.

On display May 10-11 at the Royal Armouries in Leeds will be Elation's new Fuze Series, a dynamic range of LED wash luminaires with single-lens RGBW COB LEDs for a wide choice of colours and extremely homogenized field of light. Available in moving head or IP65-rated PAR versions, all Fuze Series fixtures (Fuze PAR Z60, Fuze PAR Z120, Fuze Wash Z120, Fuze Wash Z350) house a wide 5-50-degree zoom.

Also showing will be the DTW Series, a new variable white LED series of products designed specifically for the broadcast and video market. DTW Series fixtures are color temperature adjustable and can emulate the "dim to warm" look of conventional tungsten / halogen fixtures.

Germany - Lasers are becoming more and more popular and especially mobile DJs and smaller nightclubs often request a product that is easy to operate, is capable of projecting tunnel effects, layers and some basic shapes and figures, and most importantly can write custom messages as running text. And of course the laser should be RGB and white light for being able to make the projection fit in with the lighting design.

This is quite demanding, but the new Laserworld EL-500RGB KeyTEX offers all these features. Besides being a normal laser system that can be run stand-alone, in sound-to-light mode or controlled by DMX, it also comes with a remote control plus a keyboard for entering text, animating it and doing colour changes. The Laserworld EL-500RGB KeyTEX is the successor of the Laserworld ES-400RGB, as it has all the features seen previously in the ES-400RGB - but adds much m

UK - Professional wireless audio specialists, Raycom, are now stocking "the world's first digital covert in ear audio monitor" aimed at the broadcast and film market.

The Roger Earpiece system from Swiss based Phonak Communications offers virtually invisible, intelligible audio, as part of a perfectly simple solution for delivery of director's feed and prompting. Leveraging their expertise in designing miniature hearing devices, Roger Earpiece is shaped to sit comfortably inside the ear canal. Thanks to its fully integrated receiver and battery, there is no need for cables or belt packs, making Roger Earpiece the most discreet in-ear receiver available today, says the company.

The Roger Earpiece system uses Phonak's proprietary technology in the license-free 2.4GHz band, with adaptive frequency hopping to deliver interference free clear audio with a bandwidth of 100Hz-7kHz

UK - Following a successful Prolight+Sound in Frankfurt, ETC is heading to Leeds for the annual PLASA Focus event, taking place at the Royal Armouries, 10-11 May. The company will present a selection of its newest innovations and most popular products on stand N-C06.

The latest additions to the budget-friendly ColorSource family will be making their UK debut at the show. The just-launched ColorSource consoles deliver hands-on control for modern, small-scale venues. Each console offers plug-and-play setup, an integrated touchscreen, and the ability to run effects, mix LED colours, control moving lights and play back cues. The consoles are available in two sizes, 20 and 40, with optional audiovisual capability.

ETC's popular ColorSource Spot and PAR fixtures are newly available in Deep Blue versions. These affordable fixtures use an array that offers richer, more saturated b

UK - Following its successful launch in the US in 2015, Marq Lighting, a new player in the entertainment lighting sector, hasannounced the global rollout of its diverse range of innovative professional lighting products.

Marq Lighting is an independent brand owned by music industry heavyweight inMusic. inMusic has a long-standing reputation designing, engineering, manufacturing and marketing twelve different brands of music recording and performance equipment and software from influential lines including Numark, Denon DJ, Akai Professional, M-Audio and Alto Professional.

Marq was born from a long-established pedigree of innovative in-house music/DJ design and engineering, where the needs and requirements of artists and performers are understood and experienced first-hand. This experience offers a unique perspective that directly benefits the design and specification of the

USA - Elation Professional has added to its family of LED strobes with the new Protron 3K Color, a high-power LED strobe light featuring 240 x CREE XLamp 3W RGBW LEDs and 40,000 lumens of power for an explosion of colour. The Protron 3K Colour not only packs a powerful punch of coloured light - and without thermal issues - it provides a much better ROI compared to conventional 3K Xenon strobes on the market, says the company.

Utilizing special optics and new LED driver technology, the Protron 3K Color includes built-in strobe effect macros like burst, pulse and lightning for different effects possibilities and can even operate full on without causing thermal-out issues (output at full max 10 seconds) thanks to regulated silent cooling fans that keep the strobe from overheating.

The Protron 3K Color uses much less power than Xenon strobes (peak power output is 800W) and is

UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) are showcasing the latest product highlights from their extensive brand portfolio at the PLASA Focus Leeds 2016 Show - Royal Armouries, Leeds, UK, stand N-E02, 10-11 May.

A leading one-stop provider of professional equipment to the entertainment industry, AC-ET will be showcasing a selection of the very latest lighting, audio, rigging, video, and film & TV solutions available from their vast portfolio of over 200 leading brands and five specialist sales divisions.

The stand will feature the very latest premium performance entertainment & broadcast LED solutions from Chroma-Q. Designed and built to exacting standards in North America, the award-winning range has been adopted by many leading designers and specifiers for some of today's most demanding and prestigious lighting applications.

Highlights include the innovative new

UK/USA - Focusrite has announced the launch of the Red 4Pre, the pinnacle of Focusrite's interface range. The 58-in/64-out Thunderbolt Red 4Pre interface combines four of Focusrite's specially-developed digitally-controlled mic preamps, plus high-headroom instrument inputs, with dual Pro Tools HD DigiLink and Dante network audio connectivity.

Featuring Focusrite's most advanced low-noise conversion and beautiful yet robust design, the Red 4Pre interface is the perfect balance of form and function, delivering the sound quality and versatility engineers and producers around the world expect from Focusrite.

Four of Focusrite's new, specially-developed Red Evolution preamps lie at the heart of the Red 4Pre, featuring clear, honest audio performance with -129 dB EIN and 63dB of gain. Software control allows recall of settings and stereo linking, plus configuration of HPF, polar

UK - Taking a short break from pre-season planning for the busy summer ahead, Pearce Hire will return for a fourth consecutive time to the PLASA Focus regional event in Leeds next week.

PLASA Focus: Leeds is a well-established date on the industry trade show calendar, and senior personnel from Pearce Hire will be on hand at the show to meet existing and new clients who are visiting the show. The two-day show provides ample opportunity for the team to discuss event production needs, on any scale and at any venue or site (greenfield, urban or otherwise) and how Pearce Hire can provide turnkey solutions for power, lighting, audio and staging requirements.

Pearce Hire has become a regular exhibitor at PLASA Focus and will once more be promoting their production services and rental business. With an increase in events and a growing portfolio of new customers, Pearce Hire is in

UK - Zero 88 will be exhibiting at Plasa Focus Leeds - Stand N-B12 - with several exciting new products and releases.

Following its successful launch last year, FLX8 now joins the FLX family of lighting consoles as the latest eight-universe version of the PLASA Innovation Award winning FLX product line.

FLX and FLX8 will be shown with demonstrators highlighting the latest software release - ZerOS 7.9 - and the online universe upgrade program for FLX.

This continues the planned FLX programme of feature and capability enhancements ... all continuing to making FLX an even more powerful, durable, portable and extendable lighting control console package.

ZerOS 7.9 also brings significant advancements to the whole ZerOS console line-up, as we combine the software's feature set across consoles.

Sitting alongside the FLX will be the new ZerOS Wing, allowing the expansi

Germany - Two, Four and Seven Watt RGB, 45kpps@8° and a browser interface for system configuration - these are the key features of the new tarm Series.

Since tarm joined the Laserworld Group beginning of 2016, a lot of development has happened, especially in cooperation with Ray Technologies. This rersulted in the presentation of a brand new product line at this year's prolight+sound. Tarm managed to create a product setup that perfectly fits the company group's portfolio and replaces the RTI ATTO and RTI FEMTO systems.

"When engaged in product development, we managed to use many synergy effects within our company group. This lead to a price level for the new tarm Series that is far below the one of the ATTO and FEMTO and even challenges the Pure Micro units," says Norbert Stangl, CMO of the Laserworld Group.

All tarm units have very fast scanner in common, running

UK - Proel will exhibit at the annual PLASA Focus trade show at the Royal Armouries in Leeds this week.

The hot product from Proel's professional loudspeaker brand Axiom is the AX800A compact powered line array that generated serious interest at Prolight + Sound in Frankfurt recently.

Based around two transmission line back-loaded 8-inch LF drivers and a 1.4-inch high frequency compression driver, the AX800A is an suitable candidate for small and medium PA rental duties, both indoor and outdoor, thanks to its moulded enclosure and stylish design

The AX800A features a Class D amplifier module and delivers 132dB max SPL over a horizontal coverage angle of 100°. It is designed for use in a 4:1 ratio with the SW1800A dual 18-inch powered subwoofer, while a range of rigging hardware enables the assembly of flown line array hangs or easily transported ground supported sy

Spain - D.A.S. has announced the launch of the powered UX-218A. The new subwoofer joins the UX Series range of low frequency systems available in both powered and passive versions. The UX-218A incorporates the latest low frequency transducer designed and manufactured by D.A.S. in Valencia.

The UX-218A makes use of two of the newly developed 18UXN4 transducers. The loudspeakers incorporate features such as a 4" sandwich split winding voice coil, a remarkable 52 mm peak-to-peak excursion, and a powerful FEA optimized neodymium magnet assembly. Thanks to the double silicon spider, the 18UXN4 controls the moving mass with high linearity. An aluminium demodulating ring benefits lower distortion and the effective ventilation of the voice coil gap provides for a high thermal rating, and reduced power compression. The speaker has an AES power handling capacity of 1,100 W.

The ampl

USA - Just a few years ago, using a five-watt, full-colour laser system was reserved for only large production companies with budgets big enough for large laser lighting rigs. Today, as laser technology has advanced and X-Laser's product development has evolved, a true five-watt RGB laser system exists at a price point that makes stunning laser beam and graphics displays accessible to more clients than ever, says the company. The Skywriter HPX Tour offers a solid build and high-quality laser sources to make it an option for both permanent installs and high-mileage touring acts.

"Our Skywriter HPX has been popular with clients who want an all-around, high-power laser system, and the HPX Tour brings that to a new level," said Adam Raugh, president of X-Laser USA. "We wanted to push the limits of dollars per watt, and we think the HPX Tour will become a standout performer in the

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