China - Turbosound's Chinese distributor Phoenix Audio & Lighting Technology has supplied equipment to three very different establishments in two Chinese cities.

The Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications and Nanjing Agricultural University are two of the region's major seats of learning. Phoenix Audio has supplied a wide range of TCS and TXD series loudspeakers in three locations for installation by Ao-bang Audio And Lighting Engineering.

In the theatre of Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Ao-bang installed a system comprising TXD-081 and TXD-151 full range cabinets, TXD-218 subs and TXD-12M wedge monitors.

Meanwhile at Nanjing Agricultural University, the company installed six TXD-151 in the Academic Hall and, in the university's Multi-function Hall, a range of TXD and TCS Compact loudspeakers, with control by Turbosound LMS-D24 processors.

UK - South West London's Capital Sound has introduced a KV2 Audio EX system into its hire inventory for use at ongoing corporate retail events, such as those within London's Armani stores, and to satisfy Capital's CSE work entertaining the British Armed Forces overseas.

The system was initially demonstrated by LMC Audio, who subsequently made the sale. LMC's Steve King commented: "The KV2 Audio brand is a genuinely exciting one and our belief in the product range is validated by every demonstration and sale. Many respected sound hire companies like Capital are blown over by the sheer value, power and quality of the products."

The EX system, comprised of two EX10 two-way, full range active cabinets, two EX12s incorporating the revolutionary 3-inch NVPD large format compression driver, and two double 12" EX2.2 active subwoofers, fulfils a diverse requirement from

USA - Harman Professional has announced the promotion of Scott Robbins from senior vice-president of sales, Crown Audio to group-wide vice-president of sales with the specific mandate to work with brand-level sales executives to strengthen existing sales operations and to grow Harman Professional's sales presence in emerging markets. Today's announcement was made by Michael MacDonald, , to whom Robbins reports.

"Scott Robbins is a tremendous asset to Harman Professional and a resource to our distribution partners and customers alike," said Michael MacDonald, Harman Professional's executive vice-president of marketing and sales. "In his new position, his experience, energy and intelligence will benefit all of our brands and not just Crown Audio whom he has served so well and grown so effectively. I look forward to working with Scott to grow the Harman business in e

Switzerland - A major new seminar facility in the Swiss town of Thun has been equipped with an ILA Installation line array system from QSC Audio.

The manufacturer's territorial distributors, SDS Music Factory, supplied hangs comprising four ILA2082-i per side with a pair of ModularDesign MD-S215 (2 x 15") subwoofers to meet the main hall specification of project designers and installers, DIONIX.

The venue itself offers a total of seven seminar rooms, with the largest providing even coverage for up to 700 seats. Since the shape of this space is oval, it presented a special challenge for the sound system designers, who not only needed to achieve even coverage, but set EQ patterns appropriate for concerts and worship.

DIONIX and SDS managed to meet these criteria, achieving optimum speech intelligibility and a wide dynamic range.

Christian Frei, project engineer of DIONI

Germany - A total of 62 L-acoustics Kiva cabinets and 16 Kilo low frequency units have been used for a production of Karlheinz Stockhausen's Gruppen - a piece for three orchestras - performed during the Musikfest Berlin in late September. The epic piece was staged four times as part of the festival finale by the Berliner Philharmonika with conductors Sir Simon Rattle, Daniel Harding and Michael Boder, in a 1930s aircraft hangar at Tempelhof Airport in Berlin.

Gruppen was written for 109 players divided into three orchestral units, each with its own conductor, deployed in a horseshoe shape to the left, front and right of the audience. The spatial separation was designed to keep simultaneously played, musically separate passages distinct from one another, but in some passages a single musical process passes from one orchestra to another. This setup required three dis

UK - The ceremony for the handover of the torch Olympic from Beijing to London (2012) was reinforced by Britannia Row's Butterfly systems. Visa London 2012 Party was transmitted live by the BBC with a Beijing-London link-up.

Along The Mall, the road running from Buckingham Palace to Trafalgar Square, several scaffolding towers were set up with a total of 100 Outline Butterfly CDH 483 Hi-Pack enclosures installed.

The main stage, the hub of the event, hosted a spread of acts including Will Young, James Morrison, The Feeling, McFly, Scouting for Girls, Il Divo, Katherine Jenkins, Sophie Ellis Bextor, Heather Small and the cast of the musical We Will Rock You. Here, the sound was entrusted to 44 Butterfly Hi-Packs and 16 SubTech 218.

In St. James Park, there were 24 more Hi-Packs and 4 SubTech 218. The entire set-up was digitally controlled by Dolby Lake processors and p

UK - A new three-floor, 32,737sq.ft, 2,600 capacity venue, named matter, is part of the successful O2 Arena Complex in London's Docklands. The new all-concrete, heavily soundproofed building is the brainchild of fabric owners, Keith Reilly and Cameron Leslie, and represents a multimillion pound investment.

Their brief to Most Technical's Dave Parry was to take the use of entertainment technology to a new level.

This he has done by a bespoke integration of sound, lighting and video, with the mainstay of the sound system being a Martin Audio W8L Longbow line array, which incorporates Timax Outboard Processing; this allows the sound to be mapped in three dimensions and be manipulated around the entire space by the operators. Another core element is Djenerate's new BodyKinetic interactive dance floor system with some 75,000W of sound pumped through the floor, which is underfitted

UK - Sennheiser's two new condenser microphones, the MKH 8020 and MKH 8040, were given their maiden outings this summer in the company of respected front of house engineer Dave Wooster.

The first mission for the new mics was a sequence of shows with reggae and hip hop-influenced singer-songwriter Jamie T and his band.

"The first two shows with Jamie T were small warm-up gigs in August at very small venues in London and Southend," says Wooster. "Both venues proved to be great tests for the rejection characteristics of the 8040s which I used on the hi-hats and the snare drum. I also used a pair of 8020s to capture the cymbals, close miking the underside of the two crash cymbals.

"The next two shows were at the V-Festivals, playing in large marquees. At both shows the mics really proved what they could do going through a very substantial PA system, producing

UK - Midas reports strong demand demand for its new PRO6 Live Audio System, the company's second networked digital audio system, which employs technologies developed from the XL8 in a compact package.

Among the first clients to place orders for the PRO6 are Irish rental companies MG Audio and Murt Whelan Sound and Lighting, who have each purchased a PRO6 system from local distributor Sound Communications. The companies are located on the east and southwest of the country respectively, and work closely together on a number of festivals and larger events. Both companies feel their PRO6 purchases will further enhance this arrangement.

Whelan's console inventory is exclusively Midas, offering Veronas, Siennas and Venices for rental. "I've been a Midas user for eight years and have been looking at upgrading to a higher spec console for some time, so it seemed a seamless transi

USA - A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens' epic story of Revolution-era Paris and London, has been brought to life in musical form for the Broadway stage by Jill Santoriello; a Midas XL8 mixing console from New York-based theatre sound design specialists Sound Associates is making its Broadway debut with the show.

Having completed its debut run in Florida at the end of 2007, and having had a stellar preview run on Broadway in August this year, A Tale of Two Cities ...the musical moved to its new home at the Al Hirschfield Theatre, where it opened on 18 September with Warren Carlyle directing. Sound Associates' Carl Casella and Domonic Sack are sound designers for the show; Wallace Flores (Sound Associates) is associate sound designer. Ty Lackey is mixing the production.

Sound Associates' Wallace Flores has been part of the XL8's development since the beginning, working

USA - At this week's AES Convention in San Francisco, Renkus-Heinz unveiled the Versys VLX3 line array which is optimised for large and medium scale live sound reinforcement applications from touring and other rental tasks to fixed installation in arenas, stadiums, large houses of worship and the like.

VLX3 is expressly designed for use with external processing and amplification, as well as being fully optimised for the latest generation of multichannel amplifiers that provide integrated digital loudspeaker control, processing and monitoring.

The essentials are a comparatively lightweight (190 lbs / 86.2 kg) marine birch ply cabinet that delivers over 133dB SPL; integral flying hardware; a truck pack-friendly cabinet design; high versatility, suitable for applications ranging from corporate and regional acts and tours to full sized arenas; and fast, accurate flying and aiming

UK - Modern in-store radio is instant, flexible, convenient and, according to PEL Music and Media, it works: it helps increase high street sales. PEL Music and Media, owner of the 'Mediainstore' radio system, has been conducting trials with some of the major high street department stores and the results are extremely positive.

What's different about the modern breed of in-store radio is its exceptional flexibility and immediacy. 'Mediainstore', for example, uses the latest foolproof audio scheduling technology, enabling it to transmit radio programmes to every location that is set up to receive the service.

Content can be stored digitally, allowing for regular updates by ADSL, Broadband or CD, making the system far less vulnerable from equipment failure than other broadcast methods, and also making it extremely fast in the case of ADSL and Broadband.

Because of this incredib

UK - Uckfield-based Scarecrow Bio-acoustic Systems, the leading international innovator in bird dispersal technology, has announced the appointment of two new board members; Tom Diamond as gropu commercial director and Lee Pannett as operations director.

These key appointments have been made at a time when Scarecrow is experiencing significant business growth and achieving recognition for technical excellence from leading authorities worldwide. Developing and launching Ultima, its next generation technology, in February 2007 was a major turning point for the company, not only in terms of raising the company's visability in the sectors in which it operates, but also confirming its position as a market leader.

Both Tom Diamond and Lee Pannett have been driving forces behind the company's recent success. Tom joined as group commercial manager in 2006 and will now have greater inv

UK - When the University of Dundee embarked on building a major new teaching facility, it was a key requirement to include induction loop systems. Now, 31 teaching rooms, staff rooms and lecture theatres in the new facility have Ampetronic loops installed.

Consultants White Young Green looked at all the available induction loop options and were impressed by the quality of Ampetronic's approach and products, leading to Arbroath-based Streamtec installing Ampetronic systems in the new teaching block's four main lecture theatres, driven by two Ampetronic ILD1000 loop amplifiers each.

"The lecture theatres provided some challenges," says Streamtec's Ian McMillan. "The biggest (280 seats) is located directly above two smaller 180 seat theatres, so containing spill was very important. We worked very closely with Ampetronic to ensure that the design worked flawlessly.

UK - Point Source Productions has added a number of Pathway Pathport DMX Manager Plus! to its hire stock specifically with its corporate clients in mind.

This 4-Port Ethernet Node has been designed as a means of expanding the DMX capabilities of shows using channel-hungry modern technology - where DMX universes get used up within a very short space of time.

Pathway Pathport DMX Manager Plus! is a 1U box with the ability to act as a DMX splitter or merger in addition to its function as a four-port Ethernet node. Each of its four ports is individually configurable as an input or output and has both male and female five- pin XLRs.

An integral Ethernet switch and two Ethernet ports give direct link-through, while the unit can be configured to include DMX universe routing, channel soft-patching and automatic port priority switching via its front panel or external software.

Path

UK - Style By Solares managing director, Wren Solares contracted TAO Group to design and produce L'Oreal Redken's Tribe '08 Hairdressing Awards, held at Battersea Evolution during London's Fashion Week this September.

Presented by TV's Alex Zane of Popworld, Tribe '08 is L'Oreal's annual awards for the UK's top hairdressers and was attended by over 1,200 hairdressers from around the country.

This year the aim was to achieve a more rock 'n' roll feel. TAO's Andy Cotton designed a production that included two 4mx 3m rear projection screens with Barco SLMR12 projectors, interspersed with 240 panels of stealth screen, supplied and operated by High Resolutions' Peter Canning.

The stage was installed as a three-stage system with a 12m x 10m main stage and a 9m central catwalk protruding into the audience arena. A connecting DJ stage was set at 18 inches higher and occupied

France - Digigram has announced the launch of its online directory of 'Network Audio Gurus' at www.ethersound.com/guru. The directory is designed to offer website visitors instant access to the right kind of expertise for their projects. The directory is free to register and open to all consultants, system designers and contractors with network audio experience who wish to promote their services via the pages of EtherSound. Interested parties can create their own profile and describe their field of expertise.

According to Digigram's marketing communications manager, Remi Oudinot, this is an opportunity for all network audio experts to increase their visibility within the market place. "We get over 6,000 visitors per month to ethersound.com," he explained. "Many of those will be looking at the site to see how they can incorporate EtherSound technology into their pr

Spain - The Music and Fashion Sea Adventure is the brainchild of The Wellenreiter, an ambitious team of music and business experts, who, in conjunction with AIDA cruises, have put together the ultimate clubbers dream: eleven decks of paradise for the sun-seeking clubber on board the luxury liner AIDAcara out of Palma, Majorca.

In addition to the pools, bars, restaurants, wellness centres and driving range that form part of the AIDAcara cruising experience, the Music and Fashion Sea Adventure saw an additional five tons of sound and lighting equipment installed over three stages by Live Audio of Braunshweig, Germany. LiveAudio specified Crest Audio-driven Martin Audio systems throughout.

Crest Audio Pro 8200 and Pro 9200 powered Martin Audio mini line arrays transformed the pool deck into a powerful main dancefloor for 800 clubbers, where heavyweight DJs such as M.A.N.D.Y., Moo

Australia - Gold-Coast-based Con-Sol has recently boosted its audio rental inventory with the purchase of a L-Acoustics' Kiva line source array system from Australian and New Zealand distributor Random Audio.

Con-Sol managing director, Bill Karaitiana said the company had been seeking a system with flexibility and versatility to suit the corporate market.

"We chose to go with the Kiva and Kilo LF extension system because of its incredibly high 'power to weight ratio' without compromising audio quality. We were also sold on the new LA4 amplifier with inbuilt amp and processing power - which takes away the opportunity for curious 'little fingers'.

"Our new Kiva system debuted at the Cairns Convention Centre with an event for one of our national clients. It was a great success and our client was over the moon with the clarity and quality of sound."

(Jim Evans)

Australia - ARX has announced the addition of the ARX DI Plus2 RC Stereo Direct Box to its DI Plus range of audio interfaces.

ARX's managing director Colin Park says: "Our recently released DI Plus has proved very popular with audio professionals around the world and the ARX design team has re-engineered this unit's circuitry into a compact two channel package resulting in our new DI Plus2 RC Direct Box, which is now in production at our Melbourne, Australia manufacturing facility.

"Like its single channel stable mate the DI Plus 2 RC is powered with an internal long life NiMH rechargeable battery that can be charged off either phantom power applied to either of the output XLR sockets or via the 12V DC input, removing battery 'throw away' as an environmental issue."

The DI Plus2 RC features low noise high impedance input buffers with switchable 20db Pad, and

UK - XTA processors have played a major part in this year's record-breaking summer festival season.

Audile and SSE Audio are two of the most prominent audio companies that used XTA equipment on many of the main festivals. Between them, they serviced stages at events including Reading and Leeds, both V2008 venues, the Isle of Wight Festival, Glastonbury, Download, Cropredy, Bestival, Camp Bestival, Creamfields, Global Gathering, Latitude, Oxegen, Gatecrasher Summer Sound System, Escape In The Park and Beach Break Live, along with brand new events like Summer In The Park and The Hop Farm Festival.

Audile's festival rigs comprise Funktion One self-powered Resolution 5s with F-221 subs (the latter featuring Funktion One/XTA A6 amp modules) and passive Resolution-5s/4s with F-218 subs, driven by MC2 amplifiers. Control for the systems is by XTA DP448s and GQ600s, with C2 compressor

UK - PEL Music & Media has installed a comprehensive professional sound system into the new Boffi kitchens and bathroom Showroom in Chelsea, London.

Opened in March 2008, the Boffi Chelsea showroom is the first Boffi owned showroom in the UK and has been designed by architect Piero Lissoni. It occupies 6,500 sq.ft and displays models of kitchens and bathrooms in an absolute minimalist style.

To aid the ambience in the new store, Boffi wanted a professional sound system and went to manufacturer Bose for a suitable solution. PEL Music & Media is a Bose Pro-Partner and was recommended by Bose for the system design and installation.

PEL based the design of the sound system around a Bose Professional System, featuring a multi zoned Bose FreeSpace 3 system driven by Cloud amplification, including an iPod docking station.

Showroom manager Steven Salt comments, "The system wo

UK - Sustainable events came a step closer to reality with the announcement of the UK's single largest self-funded programme on implementing the new British Standard, BS 8901 Sustainable Event Management.

The programme, which commenced earlier this year, involves every part of the industry sector, from event clients to organisers, and venues to suppliers and features large corporate companies through to small and medium-sized enterprises.

This programme is managed by the Sustainable Events Group (SEG) and is due to run through until the planned review of the new standard early in 2009. Experiences from the programme will feed directly into the BS 8901 revision process undertaken by the British Standards Institution.

"The programme gives the UK event industry a real chance to lead the world in the application of sustainability principles to their activities and events,&q

Germany - More than 50 DPA 4060 and 4061 miniature mics have been used for a production of Karlheinz Stockhausen's Gruppen - a piece for three orchestras - performed during the Berliner Festival in late September. The epic piece was performed four times as part of the festival finale by the Berliner Philharmonika with conductors Sir Simon Rattle, Daniel Harding and Michael Boder, in a 1930s aircraft hangar at Tempelhof Airport in Berlin.

Gruppen was written for 109 players divided into three orchestral units, each with its own conductor, deployed in a horseshoe shape to the left, front and right of the audience. The spatial separation was designed to keep simultaneously played, musically separate passages distinct from one another, but in some passages a single musical process passes from one orchestra to another. This setup required three discrete sound systems.

Latest Issue. . .