UK - PLASA's recent AGM and Members Lunch drew over 170 members and guests to Kings Place Concert Hall in London for a day focusing on developments since PLASA merged with ESTA and the wider issues of product copying, radio spectrum and Technical Standards.

The AGM featured presentations from PLASA's Acting Chair Ed Pagett, Treasurer Martin Hawthorn and CEO Matthew Griffiths, covering the early stages of the merger and operational and financial reviews of the past 12 months. In the year since the merger was first voted for by members, PLASA has restructured its membership, run new-style elections, introduced a more representative Governance structure with Regional Boards and an international Governing Body and launched new services and research projects.

Whilst the merger was a key focus of the day, it was not the only subject under discussion and in a lively Q&A session follo

Italy/USA - Outline has announced significant expansions to its corporate operations for 2011. The company has named Tom Bensen as senior vice president and managing director for its US subsidiary, Outline North America, LLC, and has hired Chris Hinds as European sales manager. It is expected that the experience both Bensen and Hinds bring to the company will positively impact market acceptance of Outline's new GTO Line Array speakers and iMode Intelligent Digital Loudspeaker Control Platform, says the company.

"We are verypleased to have found two exceptional people to move our company forward both in Europe and the US," says Giorgio Biffi, Outline CEO. "Tom Bensen has always represented manufacturers that are on the cutting edge of technology. Tom brings with him support for expanded sales of Outline products, very strong relationships, and a fully developed rep

Germany - Sennheiser electronic GmbH published its financial statement for the business year 2010 yesterday. The audio specialist has increased turnover to 468.2m Euros, compared to 389.9m Euros last year. This corresponds to an increase of 20.1% and is the largest turnover in the company's history.

Profit increased from 3.8m Euros (in 2009) to 22.6mEuros. Volker Bartels, spokesperson of Sennheiser's Executive Management Board, stated that "All product groups and all markets have contributed to this positive result." He added, "One of the important factors which contributed to this result was the revival of the professional side of our business and the highly positive growth at the end of the year, particularly in the consumer segment. Now we have to stabilise this dynamic growth and further expand our business."

The largest part of the company's turnover c

USA - To provide a comprehensive system for distributing of the audio signals and establishing a comms infrastructure at this year's Tony Awards the production companies Firehouse Productions and Audio Intercom Services provided a versatile solution. The system comprised RockNet digital audio network including Studer Vista 5 console integration, Artist digital matrix intercom and Performer digital partyline from Riedel Communications.

The 65th Tony Awards at the Beacon Theatre were broadcast live on CBS television. One of the major challenges of this year's ceremony was the new location as the event was moved from the Radio City Hall to the much smaller Beacon Theatre. This meant that the equipment that usually would have been installed next to the stage, now needed to be installed in trucks and tents outside the venue resulting in a more complex setup.

For providing the live

USA - PLASA Events, an operating division of PLASA - the lead international membership body for those who supply technologies and services to the event, entertainment and installation industries has announced its first regional event in North America. PLASA Focus: Austin 2012 will be held 22-23 February, 2012 at the Renaissance Austin, Texas.

Modeled after the highly successful PLASA Focus: Leeds (UK), which recently broke previous attendance records in its third year, Focus: Austin will bring together members of the entertainment technology community to do business and network in a relaxed and friendly setting.

The two-day show will be reasonably priced for exhibitors and free to registered visitors. A unique hard wall booth package-including furniture, power and lighting-will level the playing field and give exhibitors a simple and affordable exhibiting experience. The show'

UK - The John Hornby Skewes & Co Event 2011 is being hailed as a resounding success. A record number of attendees from the pro-audio, rental and PA sectors turn out to see, hear and test out new product, watch artists play, mingle with a number of industry stalwarts, and go home with extra profits, says the company.

Attendance at Event 2011 was up by 20% on last year, and it really showed, as the two marquees, the demonstration theatres and outside areas were bustling throughout.

Visitors were entertained by live music across two stages delivered through HK Audio Elements PA with musicians including Bob Henrit, Bad Company's Dave 'Bucket' Colwell, Thomas Blug, John Verity, Jamie Mallender, Paul Rogers Band guitarist Paul Guerin, and virtuoso blues guitarists/ chanteuses Chantel McGregor and Clare Free. JHS very own Gav Coulson hosted the JHS Rock All-stars, as MC, MD, bass pla

Germany - Events & exhibitions specialists, L&S GmbH & Co have invested in EAW's new KF740 three-way line array system.

Based near Ibbenbüren in northern Germany, the company extended its already large EAW fleet by adding 16 of the KF740 full range enclosures, containing four 10in woofers in dual phase-aligned pairs, along with eight matched dual 21in SB-2001 subs - and eight MicroWedge MW15 stage monitors. The deal was concluded at the recent Prolight+Sound expo in Frankfurt and the order fulfilled by Trius GmbH & Co, EAW's German distributors.

L&S MD Tobias Berghaus comments, "Having used many other line array systems in the past we are familiar with the market - and it was simply that the EAW / Trius combination offered the best price/performance ratio. Since Trius are based just 15 minutes away we know we can rely on them for fast back-up response."

The timing

Finland - L-Acoustics' Finnish distributor and system integrator Starlike has installed a Kiva WST line source system into the Helsinki Music Hall.

The main users of the hall will be the Radio Symphony Orchestra (YLE/The Finnish Broadcasting Company), the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and the Sibelius Academy. The 1700-seat hall is also in demand for other types of music; for example, Finnish cello rock band Apocalyptica have been booked to play the venue later this year.

"The objective was to maintain even SPL and smooth tonal balance for all sections," says Starlike's Pauli Molnár. "This led to the choice of speakers with similar physical properties: consistent tonal balance and technology. An L-Acoustics line source system was deemed to be the ideal choice, as the modularity of its curvature ensures excellent homogeneity of coverage, even tonal balance and

Croatia - Rental company Cash Sound has invested in a DiGiCo SD9. Based in Split, the country's second largest city, Cash Sound services a wide range of live events, including concerts by Croatia's biggest artists and international stars.

"The SD9 is big enough to cope with most of the shows we work on and we wanted to offer a different option to other rental companies in our region," says Cash Sound owner Sasan 'Ciro' Cirkovic.

Supplied by DiGiCo's Slovenian distributor MK Light Sound, the console is Cash Sound's first DiGiCo product and will be used on broadcast projects as well as for live shows.

"We have had the opportunity to look at other manufacturers digital consoles via acts that have performed in Croatia and key benefits for us were that the SD9 has a really good sound and is a stable platform," Ciro continues.

"In our opinion, compared t

UAE - Melody House, distributors of HK Audio speaker systems hasrecently supplied the Dubai branch of the School of Audio Engineering (SAE) with a new HK Audio L.U.C.A.S. Smart system.

Considered as the smallest PA system in the family of HK Audio, the L.U.C.A.S. Smart consists of two satellites with a 6.5" speaker and a 1" dome tweeter, both of which are powered by a 250-watt RMS digital power amp integrated with a 10" subwoofer. Although the system is relatively small, it is engineered to throw a generously wide, uniform pattern.

"The LUCAS Smart system is a compact, portable yet powerful system which makes it a very convenient system for all sorts of portable applications," commented Dino Drimakis, business development manager at Melody House. "Eeducational institutions like the SAE will find that they have made the right investment as it is no

UK - Clare Maguire, recently completed a tour of the UK carrying a dual Allen & Heath iLive digital mixing system to manage FOH and monitors.

Partly rented from PA company, SRD Group, the system comprised an iLive-80 Control Surface and an iDR0 miniRack at FOH, digitally split from an iDR-48 MixRack and an iLive-R72 Control Surface at monitor position.

"I think it's a great sounding desk with so much headroom. I mix pretty loud and I tried really hard to run the outputs into distortion but I failed," reports FOH engineer, Chris Fillery. "The parametric EQ is great and musical. I also enjoy the choice of compressor types, it's nice to have elements which help you add a bit of character to the mix. The FX are excellent - the reverbs sound really good and the ADT and sub bass synthesis are well thought out."

Chris Fillery used the iLive-80 control surface wi

Taiwan / Germany - Linfair Engineering has been appointed as the sole distributor for Kling & Freitag in Taiwan. Linfair started by Linfair Chang in 1958, is an international company providing professional audio equipment, design, installation, and maintenance expertise to the Taiwan market.

The products of Kling & Freitag will be represented by Linfair's sales manager Paul Chang who comments, "We are delighted to represent Kling & Freitag in the Taiwanese market. We feel that the superior quality fits well with our range of products and look forward to grow it in Taiwan."

Linfair has already lined up a couple of interesting projects, which will be planned with speakers from the German manufacturer. (Jim Evans)

UK / Sweden - Studiomaster has announced the appointment of SC Sound A/S as its exclusive distributor in Sweden. The appointment is the latest development in the ongoing expansion of the company's international distributor network, following its acquisition by the Soundking Group.

The Danish owned import and wholesale company was appointed Studiomaster distributor in Denmark in 2009. It's success for the brand in that territory has led to its appointment in Sweden where it also operates. The new agreement was signed by SC Sound CEO Lars Bruun Jensen and Studiomaster International Sales Manager K.M. Malik, at this year's Prolight+Sound exhibition.

Commenting for Studiomaster, Malik stated: "Partnering with SC Sound in Denmark has been a great success for Studiomaster. We have seen tremendous growth in our business in year one and two, and year three is on course for a furt

UK - The Backstage Academy is launching a new foundation degree in Live Events Production in partnership with the University of Bolton.

The one-year foundation degree, which is the only one of its kind in the UK, focuses on the artistic, creative and practical use of technology for live events.

According to Creative & Cultural Skills, the Sector Skills Council for creative and cultural industries, by 2017 there will be a need for 30,000 skilled backstage and offstage technical theatre staff to support live events. The Backstage Academy is aiming to train students who can help meet this demand.

Students will gain hands-on experience at the Backstage Academy thanks to its base at the LS-Live Studios in South Kirkby, Wakefield. LS-Live is one of the largest purpose-built rehearsal facilities in Europe and has hosted some of the world's biggest music stars, including Lady Gaga,

UK - The foyer and bar area immediately of the Brighton Dome has become an integral part of the entertainment complex following the installation of a PA system. It's just received its first trial, being used repeatedly for events during the Brighton Festival from 7-29 May.

"We designed the system installation in house," explained production manager Kevin 'Kenny' Taylor. "We have three venues here, the Pavillion Theatre, Corn Exchange, and the Dome concert hall; and effectively we're a d&b audiotechnik house having our own selection of C4s, C7s and some MAX cabinets. For the Foyer the d&b E-Series looked ideal and so it has proved."

Occupying the Concert Hall frontage, the foyer bar is a wide but shallow room, 25m across, 10m deep, with a 12m ceiling height. "The roof is glass, hence the light airy feel," said Taylor, "and has quite a bouncy f

UK - Wigwam Acoustics has taken delivery of five new Midas VeniceF 'digilogue' consoles with FireWire interface for the festival season.

One of the VeniceFs has been supplied to Coldplay, providing audio splits for recording throughout their summer festival run. Two of the consoles are being used at the Hampton Court Festival and a further two at the Isle of Wight, both in June. After using the VeniceF for Bryan Adams' solo performance at the Hampton Court Festival, the artist's FOH engineer Jody Perpick, a long time Midas user, said, "I was very happy with the sound and features of this small console; it's nice to know you don't have to take out an XL4 to mix only a couple of inputs."

"We bought the VeniceF's as they offer great sonic quality, affordable prices and great packaging, as well as providing flexibility for our dry hire customers," says Wigwam's

USA - The ESTA Foundation has announced its 2011 Behind the Scenes Holiday Cards, created by an impressive line-up of all-star designers - Andrew Hefter, Seth Jackson, Derek McLane, and Jim Youmans.

Seth Jackson has designed tours for two decades for Don Henley, Jason Mraz, Hilary Duff, Melissa Etheridge, American Idols Live, Barry Manilow, Carrie Underwood, and Toby Keith, to name a few. He's also a two-time Parnelli Award winner, and has received the Illuminating Engineering Society?s Award of Distinction.

Derek McLane is one of today's most sought after designers, with designs seen on Broadway in this year's How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and Anything Goes revivals on Broadway. His design for 33 Variations won him a Tony Award, and his Ragtime and Pajama Game revivals each earned Tony nominations.

Jim Youmans has design

UK / Spain - Lab.gruppen, Tannoy and Lake have announced that Victor Perez has been appointed national sales manager for touring and installed sound products with full responsibility for sales and support in the Spanish market and distributor support in Portugal.

Perez joins TC Group International (TCGI) - the sales organisation of the brands' parent company TC Group - after a long and varied career in pro-audio, having worked with some of the leading distributors and companies in the industry. In 1989, he worked with national manufacturer Audio Stars, before moving to EARPRO as area sales manager in the mid-90s. He then became electroacoustics systems designer and audio consultant at Pyramid Audio, sister service company to EARPRO.

Most recently, Perez has helped build the Lab.gruppen, Lake and Tannoy brands in Spain through long-time regional distributor Pro3.

"I am e

UAE - Roland Professional distributors in the region, Nicolas Kyvernitis Electronics Enterprises has recently supplied Backline Rentals with a Roland Digital Snake. The Dubai based rental firm which provides light and sound services currently uses a digital mixing console from Soundcraft. The purchase includes the S-1608 Stage Unit, the S-0816 Front of House Unit, the S-4000R Remote and a 100m reel of Cat 5 cable.

"Backline Rentals have had their digital console for a while and although digital consoles are convenient, the lack of a digital snake can sometimes hamper the overall production of the show," commented Moswain Antao, Roland video specialist.

"With the new system, Backline can ensure their signal quality is protected and the best part is that the snake can be used with any console, analogue or digital. So truly an investment with long term returns.&quo

Spain - The Palacio de los Deportes Jose Maria Martin Carpena stadium in Malaga has undergone an audio transformation thanks to the installation of four AXYS Intellivox DS1608 digitally steerable, self powered, loudspeaker arrays.

The Palacio de los Deportes is one of the reference fields of Spanish basketball. It is the home of Unicaja Málaga Team (League Champion in 2006, Cup Champion in 2005 and 3rd in Euroliga in 2007).

The stadium owners decided that whilst expanding the stadium to more than 11,000 seats, which is an audience area of over 5,500m2, they would resolve the historic issue of poor intelligibility (0.44 STI) with the PA system.

Genuix Audio's technical team supported by Duran Audio Iberia, opted for a centralised sound system, one focussed around the score board. Using four AXYS DS1608 which not only have the ability to offer over 98dB (continuous) evenly ac

Germany / UK - Markus Portworsnick and Jürgen Bachthaler have joined TC Group International (TCGI), responsible for representing the brands in the installed sound and touring sound markets within Germany.

Markus Portworsnick has joined as DE market national sales manager for install products, while Jürgen Bachthaler has been appointed DE market national sales manager for touring products.

Portworsnick comes to TCGI from Dekom Mietcenter in Hamburg, where he was department manager for corporate AV systems and events rentals. He has also been a managing partner at Medientechnik Engelhardt in Hannover. He comments: "This position gives me the opportunity to work with some of the most highly regarded and respected products from some of the leading brands in pro audio."

Doug Green, VP for international sales - install, says: "Markus is the person to push us forwa

UK - Canford provided a world-wide preview of the new RTS BTR-240 Wireless Intercom System at this year's ABTT Show in London. Canford will be the exclusive UK outlet for the new system which is expected to start shipping in October 2011.

The BTR-240 system operates in the licence-free 2.4GHz frequency band and delivers full-duplex operation for up to 8 beltpacks with an almost unlimited number of half-duplex beltpacks. The system offers two separate audio channels allowing users to communicate on either or both channels. Talk and listen and listen-only modes are selectable on individual or both channels.

The BTR-240 wireless intercom system is suitable for stand-alone operation or can be directly interfaced to wired systems including RTS, Tecpro and Clearcom.

TR-240 beltpacks can be configured in one of three operating modes: wireless, wired or master wireless. In wireless

UK - Wavelength Entertainments has invested in four TT08-A, four TT25-A and four TTS28-A subs from RCF's Touring and Theatre range.

Based in the village of Eversley near Reading, Wavelength service productions throughout the UK (and into Europe) - and thus transportation becomes a major factor. The weight and economy advantages of an active, matched system, with all the processing onboard, was too good to resist, according to Tom Chennells.

The Wavelength MD has been an RCF customer for nearly two years, having been introduced to the brand through the retail shop in which he has an interest, RSD Music. The company already runs RCF 905ASs and ART 722As - and on smaller corporate jobs know they can use their 905 active 15" bass bins with TT08 tops.

The decision to back the brand followed the recent merger of Wavelength Entertainments with Yes Events Ltd. "This produc

World - Elton John is once again out on the road, supported by his full band and, this time, additional musicians. His links with Yamaha go much further than his piano, with the company's mixing consoles a long-term fixture on his live shows.

The Rocket Man's 2011 touring schedule is taking in the UK, Europe, Asia, Canada and the US, before settling in Las Vegas for a month-long residency, after which it's off to Russia, the Ukraine, Australia, New Zealand and Asia again.

The shows feature Elton's five-piece backing band plus backing vocalists. In addition, a pair of cellists - Luka Sulic and Stjepan Hauser - have been added for the current run of dates and percussionist Ray Cooper joins the ensemble for the Vegas shows.

One thing that has not changed from previous tours is the Yamaha mixing consoles at the front of house and monitor positions, a PM5000 and PM1D, manned by M

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