Italy / UK - Proel International has launched a brand new website, packed with useful information for both end-users and retailers. Featured on the site are all Proel International’s products, from recent introductions such as the Alto signal processing and amplification range, through J&D guitars and basses, to well established brands like Proel itself (with its huge choice of sound and lighting products), FBT PA equipment, Qube PA, B&C loudspeakers, Tamburo drums, Discotech lighting, and the entire JTS range of high quality microphones and headphones.
The site includes links for every product in the fast-growing Proel catalogue (including the company’s gigantic selection of leads and accessories) as well as a database listing key dealers in the UK, so that customers can easily find the Proel stockist closest to them. Retailers can use the site to contact their Proe
UK - Flintshire-based Apple Sound has recently supplied Rolls-Royce’s manufacturing plant with a sophisticated TTS 30 TourGuide system from beyerdynamic. Situated in the heart of the English countryside in West Sussex, the facility is based within the historic Goodwood Estate and within easy reach of the circuit that Rolls-Royce now use as a test track.
The original design concept for the facility - which needed to reflect the quality of the Rolls-Royce marque, but also welcome those expected to visit the site - was implemented by architects Nicholas Grimshaw and partners - creators of the acclaimed Eden Project in Cornwall. Apple Sound has considerable experience of TourGuide systems, having been involved in both their sales and hire for over 10 years. Working closely with Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Annett Asztalos, Apple TourGuide product manager, John Scott, helped specify
Denmark - Mach Speaker Systems is restructuring for growth under a new management team and renewed focus on the club and installation audio markets. As part of the restructuring, Mach Speaker Systems will become a separate division within Martin Professional with all activities, including R&D and sales management, to be united at the Mach manufacturing facility in Frederikshavn, Denmark. The change will take effect as of April 1st.
Søren Kjær has been named managing director of Mach Speaker Systems and Anders Kryger as sales director. Søren moves to Mach from a position as managing director of Martin Security Smoke (his position has been filled by Henrik Sørensen - more on that tomorrow), a producer and distributor of computer-controlled equipment for smoke protection and fully owned subsidiary of Martin Professional. Anders moves to Mach from a position as Martin’s Ex
UK - Six months ago Northern Ireland-based installation company Light and Sound FX (LSFX) was commissioned to carry out a complete technical makeover of Lush nightclub in Portrush. The brief was simple: to design and install a new state-of-the-art sound system.
Darren Gardener of LSFX explains: "When we met with Col Hamilton, the resident DJ at Lush, he was adamant that the sound had to be on a par, if not better, than the big UK mainland and US clubs." To achieve this, Gardener looked at all the main audio players, in the end recommending an EAW Avalon system. The Avalon system is one of the most specified club systems in America, so Col Hamilton contacted an American DJ friend to ask if Lush should invest in an Avalon system. The answer came back loud and clear that it was the ‘system of choice’ for serious clubs stateside and that Lush was making the ri
UK - Now in its 26th year, the PLASA Show, which draws to Earls Court in September, thousands of UK and international visitors interested in lighting and sound from entertainment and installation industries, promises to be brighter, fresher and more creative than ever before.
The look and atmosphere of the show is being revitalised for 2003: a project manager has been appointed to implement the feature areas which include a central networking area, situated in the hub of the show. Other highlights include Architectural Audio & Visual - a new show sector which recognizes the growth of architectural lighting, contract audio and vision industry into this market. Products, case studies, new ideas and creative design solutions will all be showcased, aiming to inspire both architects, specifiers, installers and end users.
The New Technology Gallery, situated at the front of the ha
UK - Hayden Laboratories Ltd - exclusive UK distributor for Denon pro audio products - has announced the launch of the Denon DN-C635 CD player.
The machine is a user-researched update to the industry standard DN-C630 CD player, offering numerous enhanced features. It is suitable for multi-purpose applications, particularly in the broadcast (major broadcasters continue to commit to using Denon playback equipment), theatre, AV install, live sound, museum, attractions and exhibitions sectors, and also for DJs and recording studio.
Key features of the new system are CD/CDR/CDR-W; MP3 playback, CD text support, RS232/422 serial port, 25-pin GPI parallel port and ‘auto power up’ in Play Repeat modes. This latter feature will be invaluable for museums & attractions shows, exhibition stands and transmitter sites. The DNC-635 is also a great installation device, due to it
UK - Reflex Systems Ltd, specialists in the design, installation and maintenance of audio, CCTV video and access control solutions to the Hotel and Leisure industries, is celebrating its 15th anniversary. The company works with a growing number of UK and European customers, many of which are leading blue chip organizations, providing security and site management solutions.
Reflex is experienced across the whole leisure sector, and is responsible for meeting the requirements of a diverse range of clients. Its customers include Luminar, THI Leisure, Boots WellBeing, Ramada Jarvis, Thistle, Queens Moat Houses, Handpicked Hotels, World of Golf, Butlins, and countless other brands from the smallest independents to the largest players. Reflex's installations are located in many of the country's leading bars, restaurants, nightclubs, hotels, sports and leisure facilities, and the compa
USA - American Audio has released the CDS-1 single CD player aimed at bedroom and entry-level DJs. The CDS-1 is equipped with many top features used by professional DJs: it offers Fader Q Start (the ability to crossfade to a pre-programmed cue point on a CD when used with a Q-start compatible American Audio mixer), and also includes Instant Start, Loop In/Out, 8x Oversampling and Anti-Skip Protection.
In addition to entry-level users, the CDS-1 is ideal for working professional DJs who want a back-up set-up to take on the road. In addition to selling the CDS-1 as a single unit, American Audio has packaged a complete system, the CDS-1/System, which comprises two CDS-1 CD Players, an XDM-200 DJ mixer and a custom road case. The XDM-200 mixer included in the system was designed specifically for use with the CDS-1. The mixer has 2 channels - one for each CD player - with 2 lines, 2
Japan - TOA Corporation has released the VX-2000 system - a high-quality broadcast and public address system designed to satisfy all requirements for general purpose and emergency broadcasts, across a wide range of environments. Configurable for simple, as well as the most complex of installations, the VX-2000 system components include System Manager; Surveillance Frame; Power Amplifiers; Power Supply; Emergency Power Supply; Fireman's Microphone and a user-specified number of Remote Microphones.
Fully compliant with BS5853 pt8 EN60849/IEC60849 standards to allow use in the most demanding environments, the VX-2000 outstanding features include sophisticated failure detection measures that constantly check components and speaker lines for any faults or abnormalities which are brought to the notice of concerned personnel via visual and audio indications.
UK - A Yamaha aficionado who spans the entire 30-year history of PM series consoles this month became the first customer for the ground-breaking new PM5000. EFX Audio’s John Ramsay has confirmed an order with Shepperton-based dealers, Marquee Audio, for the largest, 52-channel (48 mono + 4 stereo) PM 5000 desk.
Marquee’s Glen Smith, who flew to the Frankfurt Musikmesse with directors Spencer Brooks and Andy Huffer to finalize the deal, told us: "John has been through all the Yamaha boards. He loves the PM4000 - which he also bought from Marquee - and he told us if the PM5000 gave him all that and more, then he’d be interested."
John Ramsay can remember right back to the inaugural PM200 when he was mixing local bands in his native Scotland. "We had monitors along the front of the stage apron with ‘YAMAHA’ spelt across the wedges, and
UK - Turbosound has supplied multiple TCS and THL systems to sound and lighting contractor Innovation, for installation at the Blu Bam Bu - a new beach-theme club in the city of Newcastle. Boasting one of the liveliest nightlife scenes in Europe, Newcastle's Bigg Market area is home to many bars, pubs, clubs and restaurants, and Blu Bam Bu is the area's newest venue, with a sophisticated approach that is reflected across all its facets - interior design, lighting and sound.
Innovation, based in Sunderland, designed and installed the new club's sound and lighting systems, using Turbosound TCS and THL models throughout the venue. The club's impressive street-level entrance takes you into a ground floor bar area, leading to a VIP lounge, with eight TCS-59 units and four TCS-118 subs in the bar, plus a combination of TCS-10 enclosures and TCS-108 subs in the lounge. A large void on
USA - This spring the M.I.N.D. Institute will open the doors to its new home on the UC Davis Medical Centre campus in Sacramento, California. M.I.N.D is a centre that takes a collaborative approach in its study and treatment of a number of challenging neurodevelopment disorders among children. The new 135,000sq.ft complex includes two buildings - a research facility and an outpatient clinic, library and resource centre.
To aid its research efforts, the Institute’s new buildings incorporate a number of observation and conference rooms - 20 in total. These rooms are used for a variety of purposes, including evaluating new students, the effectiveness of new procedures or new treatments and for family or patient conferences. Each room has a self-contained sound system, designed in such a way that it allows for future input and output expansion, and independent operation. Eac
UK - Colin Pattenden, managing director of CP Sound, the Staines-based audio and lighting design and installation company, makes a guest appearance on the popular BBC2 quiz show ‘Never Mind The Buzzcocks’ next Monday 17 March.
Colin appears in The Identity Parade round of the show, hosted by Mark Lamarr, during which the audience is shown clips of famous performers anything between 10 and 30 years ago. The teams - who've not seen the clips - have to pick the correct band member from a line up of 5 people - one genuine, and four actors.
Colin was bass player and founder member of the legendary rock band Manfred Mann's Earth Band, back in 1969. During this time, he toured the world several times, playing to audiences of 35,000 plus. Manfred's Mann's Earth Band's classic ‘Blinded by The Light’, reached the top of the UK and US charts. The band enjoyed glo
Germany - Berlin-based production company Complete Audio has become the first to purchase Martin Audio’s new compact line array (W8LC). The company’s managing director, André Rauhaut, placed the order for 12 W8LC enclosures (including rigging frames and amplification) with Martin Audio’s German distributor, Atlantic Audio, during the recent ProLight+Sound exhibition in Frankfurt, where the system was unveiled.
Complete Audio are no strangers to Martin Wavefront technology. Their rental inventory already includes 20 Wavefront W8C top boxes, 8 Wavefront W8CS subs, 20 Wavefront WSX subs, 8 LE12JB floor monitors and 10 LE700A floor monitors - all powered by Martin Audio/Lab Gruppen amplification.
Explaining the reasons for the purchase, Rauhaut said: "We needed to invest in a line array, as many of our competitors in Berlin already have one and we needed to
UK - Leisuretec Distribution Ltd has announced the appointment of Peter Owen as UK sales manager. Owen joins Leisuretec after six years at Arbiter Pro Audio, where he was responsible for developing sales of JBL Professional loudspeakers and dbx signal processing product ranges in the UK.
Leisuretec managing director Nick Spalding is confident that Peter’s decision to head up the sales team at Leisuretec will prove to be a great move for Owen, the company and in turn the company’s extensive customer base. "Peter always impressed me whilst at Arbiter with his willingness to go the extra mile, making sure our customers received the products they needed, when they needed them. He was also singularly responsible for encouraging Leisuretec to invest in a large stockholding of both the JBL and dbx product ranges, resulting in significant increases of turnover of both l
UK - The Institute of Sound & Communications Engineers (ISCE) is sponsoring an industry-wide invitation workshop on 31 March in Watford, with the aim of setting up a certification body to combat what is seen as the current trend of falling installation standards. Representatives from across the public address, voice alarm, sound, fire and insurance industries are being invited to attend.
Further details of the workshop are available from Cathy Makenzie on 0151 639 5211 or via e-mail at the address below.
USA - Symphony Hall, home to the Boston Symphony Orchestra for more than one hundred years, recently upgraded its house audio capabilities with, among other things, a new L-Acoustics loudspeaker system. Steve Colby of New Hampshire-based Evening Audio Consultants was selected to head up the retrofit. To assist him on the project, Colby, a senior sound engineer for the Boston Pops as well as a frequent engineer and consultant for the Boston Symphony, chose to assemble a group of seasoned professionals, including both Mark Brosnan and John ‘Klon’ Koehler of Greenfield, Massachusetts' Klondike Sound.
Suspended above the proscenium, the new system features a central cluster of seven L-Acoustics V-Dosc enclosures with a pair of dV-Dosc small-format/downfill array elements hung beneath. Both the V-Dosc and dV-Dosc array elements incorporate a patented Dosc waveguide to fac
Japan - Yamaha's new ACU16-C amplifier control unit and NHB32-C network hub and bridge facilitate the design and creation of very large, sophisticated and complex audio systems. Up to 64 channels of digital audio can be streamed using a simple wiring scheme. Both units are conceived as audio network interfaces, which provide easy and hassle free access to a Cobranet.audio network.
The new NHB32-C Network Hub and Bridge is equipped with four AES/EBU terminals for connectivity between digital audio devices via the Cobranet, whilst the ACU16-C Amplifier Control Unit operates as an output device that can be used in combination with Yamaha¹s new PC9500N or PC4800N power amplifiers. The ACU16-C allows both control and monitoring of the PC-N series amplifiers and features high quality DA converters delivering high quality analog output to the PC-N series.
Spain / Belgium - D.A.S. sound reinforcement systems were in use recently at the Davis Cup eliminatory tournament between Spain and Belgium. Held at the ‘Olympic Tennis’ sports complex in Seville, the event drew a crowd of over 5,000 tennis fans.
Seville-based Klarson, run by Sergio Clarasó Estebe was in charge of installing the sound systems at the event. D.A.S. DS-12 12" two-way systems were used to provide coverage in the three large bleachers and lobby areas. Installed in the press conference rooms were the ultra-compact DS-8 full-range systems that use an 8" low frequency transducer with a 1.5" voice coil.Klarson specializes in the rental of sound, lighting and audio-video equipment for all types of live events, including sports events. Segio Clarasó, proprietor of the company comments regarding the sound of D.A.S. products: "I depend on th
UK - As fast as digital technology within the broadcast industry develops, Quentor matches it with the design and development of its range of innovative transit case and storage products.
The company’s Q-Fix flight cases are constructed from high quality weight-saving aluminium honeycomb panels, giving a good strength to weight advantage. They also utilize a new, patented, construction system offering high strength and quality assembly.
The cases are ideal for applications within the broadcasting, entertainment and AV industries, including as they do flight-trunks and racks, together with more specialized cases for aerials, cameras, lighting and other broadcasting equipment. Q-Fix Cases are offered in a range of standard sizes or may be custom-built in almost any size, style and colour. Quentor also specializes in precision cut custom foam inserts tailored to suit any p
France - Auvitran SARL - Audio Video Transcoding - is a new technology company recently formed through a spin-off of ex-Digigram SA employees, Yves Ansade, Wlodek Sielski and Jeremie Weber. All three were involved in both research and design, as well as commercial development, at Digigram.
Auvitran will design and manufacture audio, video networking and computer-based solutions and products. Having recently signed a full IP licence with Digigram for its EtherSound technology, Auvitran will focus on this technology over the coming months, as Yves Ansade, who will be the managing director for Auvitran, explains. "Having been heavily involved in EtherSound’s development whilst with Digigram, we were keen to exploit this technology through adding value with our own EtherSound-based products, as well as offering services to other companies in our industry who may wish to l
UK - Saturday 8 March saw Manchester’s production community uniting to show their support for peace, on the occasion of the ‘Don’t Attack Iraq’ event organized by Manchester Coalition Against the War. Consisting of separate marches from the North and South of the city, together with one from Salford, the event culminated with some 12,000 people converging on a rain-soaked Albert Square to hear a packed programme of speakers, plus acoustic performances from Elbow and Josephine Oniyama.
The event was managed by Jon Drape Event & Production Management, with production management and trucking provided by Andy Stratford at Walk the Plank. With a budget of just £50 to cover fuel, Jon and Andy appealed to Manchester’s production supply companies to come up with the goods, a call that was met with overwhelming support.
UK - Raycom has completed the design and installation of an elaborate radio system for the new Corinthian Television facility in Chiswick Park London. As the leading supplier of professional wireless solutions, Raycom custom designed a robust frequency plan which allowed the use of a complex mix of radio equipment.
The supplied system included four Raycom RTB3211 talkback base stations. One base station is shared between Studios 1 and 2, a second is in the Green Room covering all the downstairs areas outside the studios, the third is located on the roof performance area and the fourth unit is used for the outside performance area. The latter two base stations used ‘down-firing’ antennas to contain the coverage of the radio signals.
Raycom also supplied and programmed 21 Icom IC-F22 UHF radios with belt packs, headsets, cases and chargers and other ancillary equipme
UK - Former Audio-Technica sales manager Rod Geary has joined forces with Chris Collings of Aspen Media to create Gearline Marketing, a professional sales management company working in the entertainment technology and commercial installation markets which provides face-to-face contact with a dealer or contractor on behalf of manufacturers or distributors.
Geary explained the reasoning behind the new venture: "Having studied the success of commission-based manufacturers’ representatives in the United States, I believe that with our integrated approach - the right team and the right lines - our model will be very successful in the UK. The salaries, cars, overnight stays, pensions and all the other associated costs make a single line sales team very expensive to maintain. Out-sourcing sales to Gearline Marketing cuts the supply channel costs for manufacturers and distrib