Architecta's wireless audio system uses digital transmission techniques to reproduce CD quality audio up to 260m away from the transmission source. The system uses corrective algorithms and channel hopping to prevent interference and clashes in the 2.4GHz band. The system has a 20Hz - 20kHz response, sampled at 16 bits, 48 kHz (96kHz and 24 bits is possible) and can accommodate up to 40 channels at rates of 1.5Mbps or 3.0Mbps.

Bryant Broadcast enjoyed a buoyant show. Making anything from 19" rack units to PD units, jack fields and cables assemblies, its highlighted products included the new ISOL8 range of mains conditioning units. 'The Grid SMS' is a PC-controlled sequential mains unit with filtration and remote interrogation.

Sound Leisure offers complete digital audio solutions for all areas of the leisure industry and custom builds systems to suit individual applications - ranging from simple digital juke boxes to state-of-the-art DJ control systems and interactive marketing units. The company can also supply customized screen solutions.

Celebrating its 35th anniversary, Allen & Heath showed the VF-1 analogue stereo filter and Xone:92 MIDI-equipped, 6-channel DJ mixer. The latest generation MixWizard console, the WZ3, was also receiving a lot of attention, while the company's Vicky Willson also hinted at "a big desk in development". Watch this space.

New from Cloud Electronics was the CX163, a two-zone stereo mixer with Mono utility output, which replaces its renowned CX133. The format is similar, with six line inputs, mic access and switching. Also new was the CX263 three-zone mixer, which offers one stereo zone and two mono zones.

Italian manufacturer Bespeco makes music accessories, audio and lighting equipment, cables and electrical instruments. Highlights included the new X9 8-channel audio mixer with eight compressors per channel, in-built EQ with middle and medium parametrics, gate function and a direct out insert line. It's aimed at working bands wanting their own small, all-in-one mixer.

Japan - D&M Professional's newly-launched DN-S1000 CD/MP3 player and DN-X100 mixer have been recognized with Good Design 2004 awards by the prestigious Japan Industrial Design Promotion Organization (JIDPO). Both the DN-S1000 - an entry-level MP3/CD tabletop device - and the complementary fully-featured DN-X100 Battle mixer - were designed by Kimura Akihito, from Denon Ltd's Global Marketing Division Design Group.

This year's Good Design Awards, which give manufacturers the opportunity to achieve a closer communication with their target markets and customers, were announced on 1 October. JIDPO was founded in 1969 and is the only organisation in Japan involved in the comprehensive promotion of design activities. These activities have included the implementation of a Design Year campaign, sponsorship of the Good Design Awards (the so-called G-Mark), and publication of the quarter

Aside from announcing the formation of new lighting distribution company Difuzion (see news this issue), Fuzion Plc featured many brands on its stand including Nexo and Camco. Brand new was the Radia Pro-Line range of architectural speakers, which offer equal sound anywhere in a room using planar technology: there are three speakers in the range - the Pro 1.0, the Pro 1.3 and the Pro 1.9. Finally from the Fuzion portfolio was the new Synergy series of amps from Australian Monitor.

The ever-cheerful Paul Hinkly of LMC Audio was looking content, saying "Business is good after a lean couple of years." No doubt his mood was improved by receiving an order for one of Soundcraft's new GB4 consoles, which debuted at PLASA. Other new product on display included the Soundcraft GB8 desk, Drawmer DSL424 2+2 compressor/gate and dbx ZonePro 640.

DiGiCo's new D1 digital audio mixing desk is based on its worthy forebear, the well-known D5. Being a smaller footprint desk - yet sporting 40 busses, 64 channel inputs (with expansion facilities up to 96) and all the familiar D5 high/low filters, 4-band EQ etc - this looks to be a product attractive to the theatre market and for smaller touring productions. It comes in three variants: 'DP' has 12 onboard graphics for possible dual FOH/Monitor role; 'DR' has two drive racks (onstage as a stage box and one local to the desk); and 'EX' is basically D5 specification, with optical snake etc, just physically smaller.

The ribbon driver has yet to gain wide acceptance, but maybe the new QR Series from Alcons Audio is just the thing to do it. Designed for use in churches and large halls, this line source system utilizes an 18" ribbon driver and three 6.5" LF drivers, offering 120° by 19° dispersion. Available in two forms, Q36 and Q18, the former is merely a vertical doubling of the Q18. This two-way system has a frequency range from 70Hz - 20kHz with an SPL peak of 150dB (QR18: 144 dB - presumably at 1m).

Proel was showing various new products, including its Next 8 and 15 speaker cabinets, the Axiom line array and the Edge series subs and stage monitors. New distributed products included the Alto AMX series mixers, powered PSH loudspeakers and digital loudspeaker management system, plus B&C loudspeakers and a wide range of JTS wired and wireless microphones.

PLASA witnessed the first sight of the latest Canford Audio catalogue, now assuming telephone book proportions. The main new products on show were the Omnimount & Fastback, sturdy and adaptable mounting systems for a range of audio and video products, as well as the company's very handy new robust and flexible Cat 5 cable.

Rationalizing its range of speakers, Logic System now offers the B.5 and B1, install subs with a 12" and 15", 400W and 500W respectively, both with a frequency range between 40-150Hz, designed to complement the LS range. The existing range already offered a twin 12" and 15" which remain, but all other subs have now been discontinued, greatly simplifying end-user purchase decisions, and equipment utilization. Logic's Ethos line array is based on 120° by 10° dispersion and is lightweight (27kg per cabinet). The system requires just three boxes minimum to achieve linear characteristics, while the flyware allows up to 18 boxes in line. Sub cabinets are designed to be flown at the top of an array, or ground-stacked.

USA - Allen & Heath will be introducing a new product inspired by the award winning Xone range of DJ mixers at the 117th AES Convention (Moscone Convention Center, San Francisco, 28 - 31 October 2004). A big hit when it was launched at the recent PLASA show in the UK, the new Xone VF-1 is a single rack space, universal analogue stereo filter intended for live and studio use that can interface with any mixer to create and manipulate sophisticated audio filtering.

Allen & Heath's third generation of MixWizard desk/rack mount consoles, introduced earlier this year, will also be seen at a U.S. AES Convention for the first time. The new WZ³12:2, WZ³14:4:2, and WZ³16:2 mixers utilize the latest technology to add new and improved features to the well established functionality and build quality of the MixWizard range.

Allen & Heath will be exhibiting on booth 919 at the 117th AES C

Turntable wizards and style-conscious DJs will love the new Technics SLD21200 turntable, a feature-packed attractive machine, with sample button, Q-Pad position buttons, rotating platter and many more. Effectively it's creating a turntable with a CD player, using the same platters as the industry standard Technics 1200.

UK / USA - West London Electric of Acton London - one of the UK's oldest commercial audio distribution companies - is to distribute the complete range of Audio Spotlight speakers, manufactured in the USA by Holosonic Research Labs Inc. Audio Spotlight Speakers utilize ultrasound to produce a highly directional loudspeaker: only those within the 'beam' of sound will hear the program source - those outside hear nothing. It is because of the high directivity of these speakers that they are especially suitable for use in libraries and other environments where the intrusion of sound in quiet places has prevented concepts such as 'talking book' areas or point-of-sale displays taking root. Now, with the ability to deploy discreet, focussed, audio systems, a whole new world of possibilities has been opened up, say WLE.

WLE's Marc Ryan says: "We are very excited about the uses of u

Launching its new RS range of installation speakers was Sound Directions. The RS is a flat box prototype with highly directional sound, currently installed at the Tate Modern for mixed media installation artist Bruce Nauman's fifth Unilever Series of commissions.

A new card from Auvitran designed to plug directly into the back of Yamaha digital consoles, giving full access to the Digigram-developed EtherSound network, was on display at the Marquee Audio stand. 16 channels per card (the network will support up to 64 channels bi-directionally) can be assigned within the software. Extremely fast - Marquee say under a millisecond - this makes feeding to/from multiple sources and destinations feasible in live applications. To demonstrate this low latency and high quality audio performance, Marquee provided multi-channel audio to five other stands around EC1 - Yamaha and InnovaSon on the Top Deck and Fuzion, Sennheiser and Stardraw downstairs - via Cat 5 cable. Marquee also had a prototype product from Garwood that finally solves the after-dinner speaker problem - a radio networked self-powered (rechargeable battery) speaker with a 360° throw. The siz

An abundance of new products on the Harman Group stand: from BSS comes Soundweb London, a CobraNet DSP matrix operating at 48 or 96kHz, with latency down to 1.333 millisecs. Configurable in/out channels, improved DSP efficiency (up to twice the ability of the old green Soundweb, thanks to improved algorithms) and plug-and-play TCP, DHCP and Auto IP. The software also allows integration with Crown PIP modules so you can address, monitor and control individual Crown amplifiers.

AKG presented the WMS 400 - a new wireless mic unit in a 1U package. It's fully compatible with the 4000 series but comes at a lower price point; features include the smallest belt pack in its class, and eight-hour operation from two AA batteries (re-charger unit available). No programming is done on the belt pack, just the rack unit; the only real compromise is the fixed mic heads (no interchangeable capsules) so

The new Nion (Network Input Output Node), part of the MediaMatrix tool kit, is Peavey's latest advance on the existing system. Effectively, Nion allows centralized or distributed processing. Available in two variants - n6 with six DSP engines and n3 with three - both are enclosed in 2U rack packs. The PVDJ DAI is the inevitable latest approach to the DJ programme source music interface, a hardware/software package that allows intuitive access to digital audio files, in arguably an even better form than the traditional disk spinning method. The DAI (Digital Audio Interface) allows real-time re-mixing from MP3, cda and wav files.

UK - After an 18-month break The Hives made their UK debut performance at the Carling Reading and Leeds festivals and have continued to travel the UK, putting on their notoriously dramatic live shows in promotion of their new album 'Tyrannosaurus Hives'. SSE Hire supplied the audio for the tour installing a Nexo Geo Tangent array system for the Brixton Academy show. After using the Nexo Geo T at the Carling summer festivals Dave Lamb (FOH) specified the system for the Brixton show. The system included 28 Geo T 4805 cabinets, 6 Geo T 2815 cabinets and 16 CD18 sub-bass cabinets driven by Camco amplification. Dave Lamb mixed on a Midas XL4 with a range of Yamaha and Lexicon effects and Mark Nicholls (monitors) used a Midas XL3 with Klark Teknik EQ and SSE MB4 stage monitors.

Fredrik Holmstedt, who handed over monitors for the UK tour to Mark Nicholls in order tofulfil the role of

Iceland - The island nation of Iceland enjoyed the show of a lifetime in July when Metallica inaugurated the new Egilshöllin indoor soccer stadium in ReykjavÌk. For the premier music show at the venue, local production company Exton-Kastljos ehf, in conjunction with UK rental company Sound Hire, provided a large Meyer Sound rig with 32 MILO high-power curvilinear array loudspeakers at its core.

In addition to the large MILO complement, Exton and Sound Hire between them also supplied 24 M3D-Sub directional subwoofers, 12 650-P high-power subwoofers, 12 MSL-4 horn-loaded long-throw loudspeakers (including eight for flown side fills), and eight UPA-1C compact wide coverage loudspeakers for front fill (the only conventionally-powered cabinets in the system), mounted below the stage lip. Four DS-4P horn-loaded mid-bass loudspeakers provided additional suspended side fill. Everythi

A stage monitor that is also suitable for distributed installs; the 115XT HiQ is the latest offering from L-Acoustics. A bi-amped two-way, with 15" and 1.4" drivers, the cabinet is capable of delivering 1800W peak on the low end and 500W peak for the HF. Dispersion is axi-symmetrical 50° (+/- 10°). Launched in June, these monitors are currently in use on the Phil Collins tour. Soundvision is a new 3D modelling product designed for use with all L'Acoustics products. As the name suggests, the software provides 3D modelling facilities for sound designers to assess product behaviour and coverage in known physical environments.

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