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UK - PLASA 2004 opened its doors on Sunday 12th September to enthusiastic crowds, with a full show, hundreds of exciting products and a real buzz across the show floor. Both visitors and exhibitors are commenting that the excitement is back and the industry future looks bright.

The Product Excellence Awards at the PLASA show have been a popular feature of the event for many years, highlighting the significance of the show as a focus for new developments for the industry. To reinforce this role, the awards have undergone an important change for 2004 with the focus being much more on genuine innovation and have been relaunched as the PLASA Awards for Innovation. The previous assessment criteria, which segmented the nominations into sectors, has been removed so that products were not judged within category lines, but on the grounds of their innovation alone. The judges looked for

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UK - Among TC Electronics' products on show is the EQ Station system, its latest offering aimed specifically at the live sound market.

At the heart of the system is the EQ Station itself, with a user interface rich in intuitive controls and a full-colour backlit QVGA TFT graphic display designed for visibility even in direct sunlight. Accompanying it are the MotoFader Remote which provides a familiar graphic EQ-style EQ fader panel for instant, hands-on remote control of the EQ Station's digital bands, and the PC/Mac Editor that runs on industry standard networks including the latest low-cost wireless systems - making it possible to EQ a house or monitor system from anywhere in the venue, including on stage.

Under the hood are separate display views for graphic, parametric and dynamic EQ; individual frequency, bandwidth and gain encoders; store / recall of settings with 250 us

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UK - Appropriately for a product designed to reduce the unwanted effects of noise pollution from installed audio systems, the new Basscreator from XLNT Advanced Technologies made a suitably quiet international debut on MTi Danmark's stand (F67) at PLASA. MTi announced at the show that it is to become a distributor for Basscreator and displayed the unit at short notice.

The product, which can also be used to enhance bass output from small loudspeakers, is the creation of XLNT Advanced Technologies, the Dutch DSP research and development company that was also responsible for one of PLASA 2004's biggest hits, the Innovation Award-winning CyberHoist / InMotion 3D Motion Control System.

Basscreator is a 1U rackmount noise control device based on the principle of the missing fundamental. It gives acousticians and other audio experts a tool for situations where noise emission from mu

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Denmark - DPA Microphones has introduced the HMA5000 two-channel high-voltage microphone amplifier, which builds on the strengths of the well-established HMA4000. One of the main advantages of using a high-voltage mic amplifier rather than a 48V phantom powered version, is that it provides an extended dynamic headroom - by 10dB - say DPA. Another benefit is that the signal path in the HMA5000 is transformerless, allowing a frequency range from 10Hz to 100kHz (-1dB).

The DPA HMA5000 can be used to power DPA's high-voltage microphones including the 4003 and 4004 omnidirectional mics, the 4012 cardioid and 4016 wide cardioid, and the 4041-S omnidirectional solid state and 4041-T omnidirectional tube mics. By using the HTP4000 adaptor, the HMA5000 can also be used with ordinary 48V phantom powered microphones. "Together with one of our high-voltage microphones, the HMA5000 pro

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UK - Digigram, owner and supplier of the patented EtherSound technology, announced at PLASA 2004 that it has released an extended EtherSound specification along with its first implementation to all EtherSound licensees. In addition the company discussed the addition of a new 'entry level agreement' and 'authorized EtherSound implementor' partner program to the EtherSound licensing scheme.

This extension to the EtherSound specification enables bi-directional audio distribution over the same cable, as well as higher sample rate conversions at 88.2, 96, or 192kHz. The EtherSound licensees, which currently include NetCira by Fostex, Nexo, Bouyer, InnovaSON, and Auvitran, will autonomously determine their individual product plan to implement the new features into their products. Many existing EtherSound products are compliant with the new technology and can be upgraded in the field b

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UK - The DMC/Technics World DJ Championships, held at the Carling Hammersmith Apollo (4-5 September 2004, London), represented one of the first UK projects to feature the new Aspect series of high-efficiency loudspeakers. Broadcast by the BBC's 1Xtra radio channel, the DMC/Technics World DJ Championships is the culmination of international heats that have taken place thought this year, across Africa, the Americas, Asia Pacific and Europe.

Turbosound provided sound reinforcement in association with UK rental company Britannia Row Productions, deploying 19 Aspect loudspeakers, with nine in a central cluster, and five per side in the main front-of-house system, complemented by an additional twelve TSW-721 low-frequency enclosures per side. The entire system was powered by just three amplifier racks - each able to drive six mid-highs and twelve Aspect subs. Turbosound's wedge monito

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UK - Celestion yesterday announced Nigel Wood as the company's newly appointed Professional Products general manager. Wood is an accomplished senior commercial manager in the engineering sector with a global background in OEM sales and marketing, third party distribution and operations and will report directly to CEO Frank DiGirolamo.

Before joining Celestion, Wood served as technical and marketing manager at Icore International, a market-leading specialist engineering company, offering aerospace and industrial technical products to major OEMs. Here he was responsible for corporate engineering activities as well as being accountable for one of three internal industrial business units. Prior to this, Wood had built his career as a senior manager at two global engineering organisations, with an impressive track record introducing creative solutions to maximise efficiency and incr

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UK - Pure Distribution, a division of Stirling Audio, has been successful introducing Audix microphones to new artists around the UK, since taking on the distribution earlier this year. The Finn Brothers are the latest fans, using a selection of the products on their current tour. New Zealand born Neil and Tim Finn spent nearly a decade as one half of Crowded House, and made it big in Britain and the US in the early 90s with the multi-illion selling album Woodface.

Audix has supplied a selection of microphones for use on their worldwide tour, for which the duo play a range of musical instruments, from keyboards to ukuleles. Both brothers use OM-6 dynamic vocal microphones, the CX-111 studio condenser mic is put to good use on their guitars, while a variety of Audix drum and percussion mics can be found across the stage. Their current tour has taken them around the US and

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UK - KV2 Audio introduced the new EX 12 active full-range speaker system at the recent PLASA show in London. In development for the last two years, KV2's goal was to create a speaker that would "redefine the 12" two-way category", as the company's Marcelo Vercelli explains: "The EX 12 is a high precision, high performance speaker aimed at installed sound contractors, rental companies, churches, and the AV industry, who need a product that will deliver absolute clarity and resolution along with throw and wide coverage."

The components have been especially developed - for the bass/low-mid a 12" Transcoil design where the use of a secondary coil on the speaker's magnetic pole piece eliminates voice coil inductance, resulting in a much improved transient response, increased dynamic range and significantly lower distortion, say the company.

The compr

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USA - Since 1981, Florida-based Full Sail Real World Education has offered instruction in sound reinforcement and concert lighting, developing a full program in 1998 and adding the 13-month Show Production & Touring Associate of Science Degree Program. Their overall goal is "to provide students with the knowledge to enter the live event industry with the practical and technical tools required to succeed in many career paths."

Specifically, they say the Show Production Degree program is dedicated to technical theory, engineering skills and design concepts within several key areas of the entertainment industry, of which audio is a significant part. Full Sail has recently added a DiGiCo D5 Live digital mixing console to its impressive roster of sound equipment to allow students access to the most up-to-date products during their training for the world of live events.

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UK - August saw the end of the summer festival season as crowds of revellers gathered from all over the UK for the annual V and Carling festivals. Both V and the Carling festivals have become established highlights of the UK summer event circuit and are renowned for their parallel shows over the same weekend.

In its ninth year V attracted its biggest crowd of over 130,000 music fans to the host sites; Hylands Park Chelmsford and Weston Park Staffordshire. Over 40 bands performed at the festivals with big name acts The Strokes and Muse headlining the main stages. Other main acts included The Pixies, The Charlatans, Dido and Pink.

SSE Hire supplied the audio equipment for both the V Main and NME stages at both sites. The main stages utilized identical Nexo Geo T systems with Alpha delay towers. The FOH mix was via two Midas Heritage 3000s working on a flip-flop system with one e

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UK - The latest extension to Bulgin's Buccaneer range of waterproof Ethernet connectors is an 'overmoulded' version of the pre-wired patchcords. Bulgin's Ethernet Buccaneer provides environmental sealing to IP68. Combining industry standard RJ45 connectors with the proven Buccaneer characteristics, this connector system provides a secure, reliable and practical solution to harsh industrial environments.

The body of the new 'overmoulded' patchcords is moulded directly over the pre-wired connector onto the cable. This type of construction can offer distinct advantages; the body forms a seal around the cable so no separate cable gland is needed, the cable is secured so no retaining cage is required and, as the termination is sealed, the connector is completely tamper proof.

A Polyurethane (PUR) cable jacket has been chosen for the cable. This presents very good mechanical propert

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UK - A slew of news was on offer from French digital audio networking specialists Digigram. EtherSound, its patented real-time Ethernet-based audio networking technology, now provides bi-directional capability over a single cable as well as adding higher sample rate conversions at 88.2, 96 or 192 kHz. The EtherSound licensees, which currently include NetCira by Fostex, Nexo, Bouyer, InnovaSON and Auvitran, will announce their plans to implement the new features independently, says Digigram.

The company has added an Entry Level Agreement to its EtherSound licensing scheme; the move is aimed at enabling pro audio manufacturers to bring EtherSound-compliant products quickly to market with minimal development investment. Meanwhile, Auvitran has been appointed as the first Authorised EtherSound Implementor.

New product includes the ES220 and ES220-L Ethernet Audio bridges, joining

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UK - Allen & Heath hosted an anniversary party during PLASA on the walkway of London's Tower Bridge to celebrate 35 years in the pro audio business. Around 70 guests from its network of overseas distributors and the press attended a dinner with special guest speakers from the original management team - Andrew Sterling and Ivor Taylor - who joined the company in 1969.

Allen & Heath's managing director, Glenn Rogers, commented: "For anyone in the manufacturing industry to survive 35 years and to still be continually expanding is a phenomenal success. Allen & Heath has an extraordinarily innovative past and we are heading towards a bright and exciting future. Here's to the next 35 years!"

The evening also acknowledged the individual achievements of Allen & Heath's international partners, with the presentation of the annual distributor awards. Pro Audio Marketing in Germ

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UK - London's Regent Street was transformed to host a spectacular international festival at the beginning of September in support of BBC's charity Children In Need. Attractions included musical and theatrical performances, exhibitions, dance and a Victorian fairground. The entire street was closed for the day to make room for the festivities.

The day was officially opened by four-time Olympic gold medal winner Matthew Pinsent followed by a performance by popular classical band Amici Forever. Other acts included Asian pop group Punjabi Hit Squad, Inspiration choir and Peter Andre. Many shops on Regent Street also opened their doors to host in-store concerts by up-and-coming musicians. SSE Hire provided audio services for the live music element of the day, using a combination of Nexo Geo T and Nexo Alpha speakers at the BBC/Bovis Sound Stage. More Nexo Alpha was supplied for the Z

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China/Spain - As well as the Olympics, another sporting event that created high interest in China this summer was the International Full Contact Kick-Boxing championship, which pitted China against Japan's best and received nationwide television coverage. Kick-Boxing, one of the martial arts sport disciplines, has thousands of followers throughout Asia and is extremely popular around the world. The D.A.S. distributor in China, Concord Trading Co. Ltd., was the official sponsor of the event in which the Chinese fighters won by five rounds.

Due to the large size of the venue and the number of people attending, a wide variety of systems were used to provide adequate coverage for everyone. The main PA was made up of ground stacked Aero 28 line array systems. Concord also installed eight CA-28 mid-hi packs and four CA-215 subwoofers for the event. Around the ring the systems comprise

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UK - Shure Distribution UK, the exclusive distributor of Shure, QSC Audio, Phonic and Sound Devices, showed new products from each of its represented manufacturers at the PLASA Show. Shure showed its new SLX Wireless Systems, ideally suited to installed sound applications and working bands, delivering superior audio quality in an easy-to-use and quickly configurable package. Offering Shure's patented Audio Reference Companding technology, along with an innovative set-up featuring automatic synchronization, SLX supports up to 12 compatible systems per frequency band (country dependent), say the company.

From Phonic was the new MU range of compact mixers, fully-featured and competitively priced, and ideal for a variety of applications. Also on show, the new RoadGear range from Phonic, which is a fully integrated mobile sound solution. Housed in a stylish, durable, moulded case th

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UK - Voice alarm loudspeaker specialist Penton, exhibiting at the PLASA Show's Architectural Audio & Visual on the Upper Deck for the first time, showed off three new products.The PMC4/T and PMC4/TC are high impact ABS plastic enclosures, treated with UV inhibitors and sealed against water ingress. Inside are an 80mm diameter mid-range treated coned loudspeaker and a 4W / 100V line transformer. The speaker has wide-angle dispersion of 180° and a frequency response of 220Hz-12kHz.

The Sentry6 / RTC is a vandal-proof loudspeaker in a cast aluminium cabinet, containing a 140mm diameter dual coned loudspeaker and a 6W / 100V line transformer. Further protection is afforded by a steel front chassis and epoxy powder-coated grille. Specifications include wide-angle dispersion of 140° at 1kHz, extended frequency response of 200Hz-18kHz and 92dB at1m sensitivity.

The PWC6/T and PWC

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UK - Last week's PLASA 2004 event was the platform for Belgian manufacturer Apex to launch Intelli-X - a new digital speaker-management processor which complements the successful Apex Intelli-Q Real-time System Optimizer. The Intelli-X features four analogue and digital inputs and eight analogue outputs, and houses a large amount of DSP power. Every input has a user-settable delay, a 30-band graphic EQ, a 10-band full parametric EQ and two shelving EQs. The 4x8 matrix has no routing limitations and so can be freely configured to suit all professional needs, say the company. Every output has a user-settable delay, high- and low- pass filters including Butterworth, Bessel and Linkwitz-riley types at all available slopes, two shelving EQs, an 8-band full parametric EQ, a fully-adjustable limiter and phase reversal. All these processes are simultaneously available all the time, there

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UK - One of the UK's hottest restaurants and nightspots, Tiger Tiger, has opened its newest location in the Scottish city of Aberdeen. Offering a high-end environment for lunches, happy hours and late night dancing, the club has other locations in London, Leeds, Manchester, Portsmouth, Glasgow.

Club owners, London-base Urbium plc, is also the proprietors of several other leading venues in the UK, including Oxygen, Wax Bar, Warwick, Motion and the Zoo, and has established a reputation for creating environments with exquisite visuals and leading edge sound.

The Aberdeen Tiger Tiger boasts several distinct areas over three floors, including the Tiger Bar, Club, Restaurant, Club Lounge, Lounge Bar and Oriental Bar, each with its own unique vibe and soundtrack. Systems integrators Green-i Ltd. designed the signal routing and remote integration, based on the model it created last ye

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UK - Mackie is used this year's PLASA show to preview its new family of live sound consoles - the Onyx 80 Series. Like the successful Mackie Onyx small-format analog mixers introduced earlier this year, the Onyx 80 Series consoles feature all-new analog circuitry, a full compliment of Mackie's flagship Onyx microphone preamps, and the renowned "British Voiced" four-band Perkins EQ.

The Onyx 80 Series consoles will be offered in four sizes: the 24-channel Onyx 2480, 32-channel Onyx 3280, 40-channel Onyx 4080, and 48-channel Onyx 4880. All four models incorporate features that any hardcore live engineer will appreciate including eight aux sends with stereo link function for up to four IEM mixes; an aux/group flip function; an 10x2 matrix; four mute groups; eight stereo aux inputs; and an optional rack-mountable redundant power supply. The master section and channel stri

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UK - At the PLASA Show last week, Midas announced the appointment of Shuttlesound as the UK distributor for all Midas products with effect from 1 October. Shuttlesound already handles all Klark Teknik product as well as Midas Venice; taking on the rest of the Midas range, therefore, is seen as a natural move that will enable UK customers to obtain all Midas and KT products from a single source.

Sales and marketing director for Midas and KT, David Cooper, commented on the decision: "By moving distribution to Shuttlesound, we're effectively doubling our resource base for Midas service and technical support. In other words, in addition to everything we already offer the customer out of Kidderminster, we can now offer the same facilities from Shuttlesound's London base," says Cooper. "That is to say a huge demo facility, stock of emergency spares and a fully trained

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UK - The PLASA Show was the launchpad for the latest offering from French company InnovaSON, the compact and lightweight Sy48. "The Sy48 has been tailored to meet the needs of those looking for a mid-priced digital live mixing console without wishing to compromise on power or flexibility," commented Nick Cook, sales and marketing director at InnovaSON. "It also has the benefit of being designed by a company with 10 years' experience of producing digital live boards, and over 400 consoles on the road around the world. We've combined functions and features from our large format Sy80 with new ones added in response to user feedback and packaged them in a compact and lightweight surface to create what we believe is the digital live mixing console the mid market has been waiting for."

The Sy48 incorporates major features from the large-format Sy80 digital mixing

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UK - Having made its inaugural appearance on the Prize Stage at the PLASA Show, the first DiGiCo D1 Live left Earls Court immediately after the show to go out with Concert Sound for Katie Melua's European tour. Matt Manasse, Melua's FOH engineer, was on hand during PLASA, helping to demonstrate the D1. "Obviously there's not been much time for me to work with the console prior to this," he said. "But as with the D5 Live, it's an incredibly intuitive interface, so I'm already confident in my ability to go out there and use it. I think it's going to be a great asset on the Melua tour."

"DiGiCo is a very agile company," adds Concert Sound's Tim Boyle. "David Webster really pulled out all the stops to get us the console in time for this tour. They're constantly reacting to what the market wants and needs and I think they've come up trumps again wi

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