Proquip Gearhouse Ltd recently supplied video equipment and crew for Jaguar's millennium celebrations and promotion days held in December at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham. The event, which attracted dealers and suppliers from all over the country, featured a single 8x8 and two 4x4 Toshiba videowalls for the display areas. In addition, several rigs of Sony playback equipment and monitiors for tertiary displays were supplied by Gearhouse Birmingham.

VLPS London has started off the New Year supplying equipment to a string of high profile motor industry events across Europe. For Volvo's launch of the new V70 in Brussels, lighting designer Glyn Peregrine used ETC Source Fours, Minuette and Cantata fresnels an Arri desk and Avolites dimmers; in Seville, Ford launched the new Transit, with lighting designed by Mike Sobotnicki, incorporating 12 VL5Arc and 16 VL6B luminaires, along with ETC Source Fours and Par 64s, all controlled via a Wholehog II. Other projects for Ford included the company's exhibition stands at the Brussels Motor Show (lighting design by Andy Offin) and the Amsterdam Motor Show (lighting design by Ross Corbett).

QSC Audio has appointed Naperville, Illinois-based Spoiled By Technology (SBT) as its new sales representative for its northern Illinois/Eastern Wisconsin territory. QSC's sales and marketing director Peter Kalmen said: "SBT's strong sense of customer support and service fits perfectly with QSC's customer-driven sales philosophy."

Cliff Electronic Components has developed a new range of jack sockets with innovative features. The S1 mini Stack jack receives both mono and stereo quarter-inch jacks, with patented Nickel-Silver alloy self-cleaning contacts for superior performance. The narrow body of dual stacked versions offers high board packing densities (2:1). The S1V (vertical mount) sockets also offer optional chassis grounding versions, grounding chassis to plug and PCB. Life expectancy is a minimum of 10,000+ operations.

Sennheiser is showing a number of new products at AES Paris. The Digital 1090 is a fully digital wireless microphone system which claims crystal clear audio transmission, due to its FSK modulated digital audio signals at 900MHz and the absence of a compander system. The Digital 1090 is particularly suited to complex instruments such as guitars, where extra LF response and HF transients are produced. Sennheiser is also showing the MKH 800 studio condenser microphone, which offers 50kHz HF recording capability - unique in a switchable polar pattern condenser microphone, say Sennheiser.
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ETC Halcyon Silent

High End Systems Halcyon Silent builds on ETC’s legacy of fanless automated fixtures by incorporating features from the highly sought-after Halcyon family. Halcyon Silent perfectly balances silent operation with brilliant output of 18,400 lumens and high-impact features. 

For more information visit us at www.etcconnect.com

Arup Acoustics, the specialist group within Arup offering consultancy on all areas of acoustics, noise, vibration and audio visual design, is establishing a new office in Manchester. The company has already handled a number of high profile projects in Manchester, including the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester Airport and the International Convention Centre, and will use the new base to offer its growing number of clients in the North of England a more efficient service. Richard Greer, Nick Antonio and Jo Webb will make up the acoustics team in Manchester.

London-based Lighting Technology has announced major developments in its reporting and organisational structure including the promotion of senior personnel within the Group. Garry Nelsson is now group sales and marketing director and Bruce Kirk Group projects director. They have between them ultimate responsibility for the total sales of the Group. Reporting to Nelsson, Ron Knell now takes on the role of export sales manager, Dave Short becomes sales office manager and Rob Williamson field sales manager. Andy Dodd is now Manchester branch manager, enabling Graham Bassett to join the sales force and handle the task of developing the North East of England for LTG products, following the acquisition of Sound Electronics. This branch will officially be known as Lighting Technology Newcastle from 1st March.Strategic restructuring of Lighting Technology Projects has resulted in the creation of
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Create new traditions – Cameo P6 - High Output Full-Spectrum Ellipsoidal

Cameo's P6 is a future-proof LED profiler with a powerful 600 W RGBACL engine and 16,000 lumens. It’s an energy-efficient replacement for 2.5 kW halogen profile lights in theatres and venues. With excellent light quality and natural colour rendering, it fits perfectly in theatres, musicals, TV studios, congresses, and live events.

With an LED life of 50,000 hours and low power use, the P6 cuts energy costs and supports the EU’s ‘Green Deal’ goals for climate neutrality by 2050. It also meets updated eco-design rules for lighting.

www.cameolight.com/p6profile

Since its inception 25 years ago, Suffolk-based Gofer has expanded from a power distribution company to being a complete event service company. As a result, it has recently moved to new premises, increasing its capacity three-fold, with 12,500sq.m of warehousing and 1.5 acres of land to house its equipment, plus a canvas covered swimming pool and jacuzzi for those times when stress relief is required. Re-structuring within the company has also taken place - Gofer is now divided into three autonomous divisions: lighting, sound and power distribution. Each department has its own highly experienced team, with directors Dave Miller and Rob Quin at the helm.

Sensorcom has launched a range of in-ear products including Micro-Monitors, incorporating new Sony drivers, and Pico Monitors, which fit into the ear canal when a discreet acoustic device is required. Sensorcom has also introduced a new mould for use with bud style ear drivers - the Sqidgy Range. Made from and ultra-soft Platinum-cured silicon, the Sqidgy moulds combine ultimate comfort with durability and are available in a wide range of colours.

Gearhouse LED Screens was recently contracted to supply the main display screen for the London Boat Show at Earls Court. The company supplied a 5m by 5m OptiScreen system to the show for the second year running, which was used to display sponsors' messages and advertising. Gearhouse has now built over 600sq.m of OptiScreen panels since the system was launched in the autumn of 1998.

Six of BSS Audio's new FDS-366 Omnidrive Compact Plus system controllers are running the new Thunder Ridge sound system at The End in London. The five-way X2000 - a custom-designed replacement for the original system installed four years ago - required precision tuning to cater for the venue's acoustics. The four units will each control one five-way stack in the main Vaults system, while active monitor systems will be run from the remaining channels. All will be data linked via RS 485 multi-drop, allowing BSS Soundbench set-up and monitoring anywhere within the venue. The Lounge system, which will again be run five-way, will be controlled by two more Compact Plus units (one per stack), plus active monitoring on spare channels. This system, along with the adjoining AKA rig, will be linked via RS 485.

Turbosound has appointed Altrincham-based Concert Systems as its exclusive distributor for the North of England, basing the choice on the company's professional facilities and approach to pro audio sales. Concert Systems has made a considerable investment in Turbosound product, which will be featured in their warehouse demonstration area, as well as being available for on-site appraisal. This includes the new TCS Contractor Series and self-powered QLight TQ-440SP, for which Concert Systems' MD Paul Tandy sees enormous potential in the AV industry.

Screenco supplied a 5x15 module wide-screen format digital LED screen to presentation services company Motivforce for the J. Rothschild Assurance annual company meeting at London's Barbican Theatre in January. Special guest of honour at the event was actor Christopher Reeve. This was the first time that the client had used an LED screen for a keynote presentation. In order to accommodate the 14.5m wide screen, the Barbican Theatre's ceiling was modified by Unusual Rigging. Video cameras were supplied by Screenco's sister Avesco company, Creative Technology, and Screenco supplied the video production hardware. Giles Conte was Screenco's project manager, working with vision mixer Chris Keating and screen technicians Bill Dixon, Andy Joyse and Tim Parry.

Following the recent appointments of Tim Harrison and Natasha Dawson to the sales department, Fuzion has further increased its sales force with the addition of Mick Butler. Butler will be responsible for sales in the north of England and Scotland, with a view to expanding into the southern territories in the near future. With many years' experience in live pro audio, most recently running the PA sales department at a leading MI retailer, Butler is well placed to take on Fuzion's MI accounts, as well as helping to develop both new and existing contracting business.

Publisher Highbury House has made moves to purchase rival Nexus, publishers of Live!, DJ magazine and Disco International. The Nexus titles will add to an already substantial Highbury portfolio of around 40 magazines ranging from technical publications such as Camcorder User through to home interest titles such as Women's Health. The Group also publishes a further 50 under contract. The acquisition of Nexus will be the latest in a string of investments for Highbury: in March 99 it formed a joint venture with Internet Advertising to publish magazines on the internet, three months later it bought Wyvern Crest, a database marketing company, for £3.7m and in September 99 it acquired WV, publisher of consumer magazines, for £7m.

Triple E supplied and installed its track systems for the Christmas and New Year window display schemes at Harrods in London. Designed for theatre and television applications, the tracks have found a new use in retail display, courtesy of Harrods' design team. For the display, 24 S-shaped curtains of Swarovski crystal - each with a 3m drop and weighing 25kg - were hung from the tracks to create a sparkling screen around dresses from designer Julien Macdonald. The team from Nigel Morgan Lighting used ETC Source Four Pars (50 degree) and Mad Lighting's IMPs (Image Marketing Projectors) with colour-changers and custom gobos. Further items from the Swarovski crystal range were also displayed on fibre optic 'atom tables' made and installed by Dan Tippetts and Nick Farmer of Farmer Studios. The latest display, which uses aluminium frames constructed from the UniCyc system, runs until 26 Februa

The recently-expanded sound hire company Orbital has announced three further appointments at its London headquarters. Chris Briggs has left Arbiter pro Audio to join Orbital's technical support department, working alongside Tim Sherratt and John Shemming. At the same time, Kelly Sim joins the accounts department from the John Lewis Partnership, and Tania Archibald adds to the administration and logistics support team.

Following a major refurbishment programme in 1998/9, the Grand Theatre, Blackpool, has recently upgraded its technical systems to include over 90 Selecon luminaires. The theatre has taken possession of new lighting equipment for the main house and foyer areas. Lighting Technology Group (Manchester) supplied the Selecon kit comprising 24 special front-of-house profiles in a gold and cream finish to match the decor in the foyer, 30 high performance Fresnels, six 2.5k Arena fresnels, five 4-way cyc lights and 30 Aurora units. In addition to the Selecon kit, Lighting Technology supplied 15 James Thomas Engineering lighting bars, each with six Thomas Par 64 lanterns and an additional 40 colour-changer Par cans. All luminaires were supplied with the new Trigger Clamp from Doughty Engineering. The theatre also purchased an Avolites console and dimming for the venue.

Cinema specialist Sound Associates has, for the first time, specified an EAW cinema system for installation in a new Odeon multiplex. Asked to specify a system for Odeon's latest £4.5 million 'millennium' eight-screen cinema in Epsom, the Surrey-based company decided to break with tradition and audition EAW's CB series. As a result, Sound Associates has installed three CB523 bi-amplified three way speaker systems into the four large screen cinemas, and CB259 bi-amplified two-way systems into the others - each stacked with SX184C subs. This combination has been found to offer clear left, centre and right sound distribution across the whole room. All the components were supplied by Sound Dept, EAW's exclusive UK distributor. Boasting a capacity of 2,176, the all-format cinema offers Dolby digital and DTS digital sound throughout with two auditoria designated as feature cinemas.

AC Lighting has appointed Sebastian Williams to its team of technical support. Williams recently gained a degree in Theatre Design, part of which included his final paper on computerised lighting design, from the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. Before joining AC Lighting, he worked on a number of projects, including running a series of trade shows for Virgin Cola.

After years of alternating between being supplier and client to each other, Triple E and Blackout, best known as suppliers of track and drapes respectively, have announced a merger of the two companies. The announcement, by the two managing directors David Edelstein and Steve Tuck, was made from a joint stand at the SIEL exhibition in Paris. Trading as Blackout Triple E with immediate effect, the new company offers a complete in-house design and manufacturing service for custom drapes and hardware, as well as a hire service for track, drapes and rigging. Current investment plans include dramatically expanding the rigging division with the addition of 80 CM Lodestar chain hoists.

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