ADS Worldwide has received an order from a company in Cyprus for 60 Mole loudspeakers for installation in a theme park. ADS' Mole loudspeaker has several advantages in an installation of this type since it can be installed in the ground, being easily camouflaged by shrubs and plants. The unit has been designed to provide a wide frequency range through 360 degrees and in open areas is ideal in that it can be located near to those people required to listen to either background music or public announcements.

Four new directors at large and two new officers have joined the leadership of the United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT). William J Byrnes, who was elected in 1999, assumed the office of president on July 1st after serving a year as president-elect. Byrnes, an award-winning lighting designer, is associate dean at the Florida State University School of Theatre, has served as a member of USITT's executive committee since 1987, most recently as vice-president for marketing and development. He is the author of Management and the Arts, a comprehensive textbook on arts administration, now in its second edition.

The Oxford Sound Company has recently completed the installation of a voice-reinforcement system at the prestigious Keble College, one of Oxford's high seats of academia. The installation was in the main dining refectory used as a conference facility accommodating up to 200 people, making the use of voice reinforcement essential. "The refectory is a giant reverb chamber with a reverberation time in excess of three seconds," explained Andrew Riley of the Oxford Sound Company. "So we had to specify speakers with a predictable off-axis polar response and position them to achieve an even sound coverage for all of the seated areas." Three pairs of speakers were used, all fed via appropriate delays and equalisers.

As part of its current restructuring programme, Trantec Systems has further strengthened its sales force with the appointment of Allan Gallacher as regional sales manager for the North of England, Scotland and Ireland. Allan brings considerable experience at the MI end of the market; he was lately shop manager at Micro Music in Liverpool, and prior to that worked at Dawson's in Warrington for six years.

Martin Audio's new three-way THX-approved sound reinforcement systems have been specified and installed in no fewer than 14 auditoria (including the main THX room and the three Gold Class VIP suites, served by their own bar and foyer) at Warner Village's massive Star City 30-screen multiplex - situated beneath Birmingham's Spaghetti Junction at Nechells. The multiplex is the largest in Europe and its 24 general-run mainstream houses, are complemented by six distinct screening rooms. Martin Audio Screen 5s have been used in triamp mode in the THX suite while in the other larger rooms the same enclosures are run biamped. Screen 4s have been sued in other smaller auditoria - again in LCR configurations stacked with Screen Sub 1 low frequency enclosures.

Martin Cassey has joined NXT. Cassey studied Engineering before going on to work with a number of companies including TAG McLaren Audio, Rover Group and British Aerospace. He joins NXT as general manager in the technology transfer department which has a 25-strong team of scientific and engineering specialists.

Apogee has introduced a new range of CA amplifiers for touring, permanent installations, rental applications and commercial sound. Built around the same rugged chassis as the DA-Series amplifiers, these new CA amps use the latest in power MOSFET technology. Four models are available and all are only two rack spaces high, and feature rear panel level controls to avoid tampering or inadvertent adjustment. The front-end circuitry features an advanced clip eliminator to reduce distortion. Speaker protection is provided by means of an ultra-fast crowbar circuit. All models are equipped with dual, adjustable speed fans for quite, efficient cooling and feature internally configurable AC mains for 120 VAC or 240 VAC. Power inlet is an IEC approved removable connector; cordsets may be specified for US, Euro or UK standards.

Paradigm Audio Visual has introduced a new screen with exceptionally high image contrast for control rooms and other similar environments. The dnp Black Bead Screen, like other double element screens in the dnp range, utilises a Fresnel element to capture and redirect the projected light. Uniquely, however, the Black Bead screen incorporates a single layer of tiny glass beads set within a thin film of black material. A maximum area of each bead is exposed at the rear of the screen, facing the projector - with only a small surface area exposed on the viewing side. This configuration not only maximises the actual image contrast, but it also enhances the perceived contrast - because the screen appears black when nothing is being projected. The Black Bead screen offers wide horizontal and vertical viewing angles, virtually infinite resolution, but at a relatively low gain.
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Swedish manufacturer Lab Gruppen, one of the world's leading developers of DSP and amplification technology, is to join the TGI Group of companies, which includes Tannoy, Martin Audio and Goodmans/GLL. Lab Gruppen has over 20 years of experience in manufacturing and distributing high-quality amplifiers and has been a pioneer of switch-mode power supplies and lightweight amplifiers. It has recently added DSP technology to its design and product base. Over the past few years the company has embarked on a successful expansion programme, and it is to consolidate this growth that Lab Gruppen has sold its interests to TGI plc. TGI plc is involved in the design and manufacture of loudspeakers for many different markets including live touring, commercial and leisure installations, recording studios, consumer hi-fi and the OEM automotive trade (in this last category they supply car manufacturers

Nexo PS Series loudspeakers were used again at this year's three-week long Chichester Festivities. Surrey-based sound company Audioplan used six PS-15s, four PS10s and four of the new Nexo PS-8s for the distributed sound system in Chichester's 1000-year-old Cathedral. In the three years that Audioplan has been providing the sound, a variety of artistes from French jazz pianist Jacques Lousier to Johnny Dankworth and Cleo Lane and Jools Holland have all graced the stage, and all have used the Nexo system.

The Zetor Bar and restaurant is one of Helsinki's most distinctively-themed venues. Designed by Malto Valtonen (of Finnish band the Leningrad Cowboys), Zetor uses farm equipment for furniture - including tractors for tables, and old buckets and cheese-graters for lampshades. Since Zetor was first established in 1992, its unique style has guaranteed its place as one of the most popular nightclubs in Helsinki. When the time came to install a new sound system recently, restaurant manager Sakari Ellila put a number of systems to the test, but opted for Turbosound's punchy sound, good reputation and price-to-quality ratio. Finnish Turbosound distributor Noretron Audio designed and installed the PA specification, based around the Turbosound TCS and Impact series. Three TCS-59 mid/high cabinets, with two TCS-118 sub-bass units, powered by LabGruppen LAB 1600 and LAB 2000 amplifiers were placed

London's first ever floating opera will take place on the River Thames in late July. Split across two dates - 26 and 27 July - the two performances of Fleeting Opera: Birthright will run first at Battersea Park and then on the following evening at the Albert Embankment. The water-borne initiative, which will see opera singers, musicians and dancers perform from a barge while being towed up the River Thames (which should prove enough of an attraction in its own right), is a collaboration between the Royal Opera House and the Couper Collection for the String of Pearls Millennium Festival.

ARRI Lighting has introduced the new Arrisun 5 Event lighting system - created to save set-up time and costs when large numbers of daylight Pars are required. Facetted cold-light glass reflectors and spill light baffles optimise the new lamphead. ARRI has also introduced the EB 575 Event-Six electronic ballast pack, designed for 19" rack-mounting. Each contains six 575W electronic ballasts, with output for six lampheads via a single multicore cable.

Sony has launched a cost-effective loudspeaker management system which allows install, theatrical, live and studio engineers to 'set and forget' crossover, EQ, dynamics and level settings for PA and sound reinforcement systems. The new SRP-F300 is a true 24-bit 96kHz all-digital design that provides sophisticated control over complex multi-speaker set-ups via an intuitive PC interface. The 1U 19" rack-mounting unit offers both analogue XLR and AES/EBU (32-96kHz) format input connectors to accept signals directly from the monitor outputs of an analogue or digital mixing console, with a mix of both formats possible.

Bronx, New York-based City Theatrical has been named in the second annual Inner City 100 listing by Inc. Magazine and the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC), in recognition of the innovative lighting accessories manufacturer as one of the USA's top urban entrepreneurs. The list honours fast-growing companies located in urban cores outside the central business districts of America's cities. City Theatrical was placed 43rd on the list, with a sales growth rate of 296% and a compound growth rate of 41%.

Public address and voice alarm specialist Federal Signal has announced the launch of the Millbank Ultima II XK series of integrated amplifiers - the first Millbank product launched by Federal Signal since its acquisition of the brand name last year. Aimed at a wide range of environments from factories and warehouses to pubs and clubs, the Ultima II includes a range of features not normally available at this price range. The Ultima II mixer amplifiers have six inputs - five of them Universal, allowing the simple configuration of the signal priorities associated with each input. Each offers a balanced input, with a trim control to allow a wide range of signal sources from microphone to line level to be used.

Stagetec has released version D05 software for the Compulite Spark 4D, Micron 4D and Ovation 4D consoles. The software is a result of an ongoing development and includes a whole host of new features including better manual control of chases, facility to assign macros and pages directly to memories and a system protect function plus many more. The software can be downloaded from the Compulite section of Stagetec's website.

ESTA has announced that the draft standard BSR E1.6, Entertainment Technology - Powered Rigging Systems is available for public review until October 10, 2000. The draft standard establishes safety requirements for the design, manufacture, installation and use of motorised rigging systems in theatres, theme parks, studios and other places of public assembly and performance. The document does not address manually-powered systems or lifting equipment used in the construction of these spaces. Copies of the document are available from the ESTA website.

Tune in to Carlton ITV tonight . . . Cameron Mackintosh's The Witches of Eastwick, which opened at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane on Tuesday is to be the subject of a television documentary intended to go out at 11.30 this evening. Entitled Dance with the Devil - The Making of The Witches of Eastwick the programme offers a behind-the-scenes look at the preparations for the world premiere of Cameron Mackintosh's new musical comedy, starring Ian McShane. Mary Nightingale interviews both the stars and creative team working on the production. If you can't stay in tonight or your video's broken, you can also read all about it in the August issue of L&SI.

Fabric, the leading London club, has swapped its Spirit Digital 328 mixer for a 324 Live. The desk, which can be used as required in any of the club's three rooms, serves as a front-of-house or monitoring console for the many live acts that perform at the club, as well as being available for the more adventurous DJs. Production manager Dave Parry said: "We need a digital desk because we're going to start a lot of internet broadcasting in the near future. The sound will be going straight down the line so a digital signal will be very handy." He continued: "We've had the 328 for six months and everyone that used it was very complementary. If we hadn't been happy with it, we wouldn't have bought the 324." House engineer Roberto Pieroni added: "As we only used the 328 for live work it made sense to switch to the 324 Live."

Star Hire (Event Services) supplied two mobile stages to the Love Parade, the UK's biggest dance event this summer, attended by 250,000 people and held at Leeds' Roundhay Park. Production company Logistik turned to Star Hire for their staging requirements. Logistik's Dirk Mishendahl had worked with Star Hire previously, and knew what he wanted for the Love Parade. He said: "Star Hire's mobile stages were ideal for this event. Their speedy set-up saved us time and money, and caused minimum disruption to the local park. These stages also give us a great working environment for our artists and production crew."

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