Robe - LEADERBOARD - Feb 2025

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The A22 into London came to a standstill on the evening of 12 March when Ann Summers celebrated the opening of its brand new headquarters. RGA Production and Design produced the launch party and worked with Fourth Phase to light up the surrounding sky with stunning effects, searchlights, fireworks and projection.

As local dignitaries and celebrities arrived at the two-acre site, they were greeted by 40-feet high projected images of models from the latest Ann Summers lingerie catalogue. Added to this the whole building was floodlit in the company’s corporate colours. Fourth Phase supplied two Pani BP6 Gold projectors with PIGI digital slide changers for the images and Studio Duo City Colors up-lit the exterior walls. These were complemented by Martin Mac 500s projecting corporate lo

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Celestion's CXi range has won praise for its role in 'Evita' at the Theatre Royal Glasgow, one of its first excursions into mainstream theatre. The production, in February, was the Scottish amateur premiere, staged by the Orpheus Club, one of Scotland's oldest amateur operatic societies.

Audio was specified and provided by Glasgow sound rental company, BSF. "The Theatre Royal has been hiring Celestion from us on a trial basis with a view to purchasing the system," explained Alan Beatty of BSF. "For 'Evita', they asked us to provide a system of the highest quality which would be invisible to the audience." This provided a challenge for the BSF team. The Theatre Royal has listed building status, which prevents any alterations to its interior: the sound engineers were not allowed to hang or fly equipment, or even to touch the walls, the PA system had to fit in with the

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It’s been water, water everywhere recently for D J Willrich Ltd (DJW), as the Hampshire-based AV and multi-media specialists have recently completed work on the saltwater Bournemouth Oceanarium in Dorset and the freshwater Lakeside Aquarium at Newby Bridge on the shores of Lake Windermere.

Working within a deadline of just three weeks, DJW installed in the Bournemouth Oceanarium three Sony plasma displays, three touch screen quiz-based interactives and, with the help of strobe lighting and Bose speakers, the sound of a rainforest thunderstorm that automatically comes to life every 20 minutes.

Visitors to the Lake District are obviously used to it raining more frequently there since DJW’s thunderstorm sound simulation at the Lakeside Aquarium proved to be so popular that it now runs every three minutes! In addition to this, DJW has also installed two Sony plasma displays,

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Back in 2000, funding proposals for a £10.4m all-seater stadium at Bournemouth AFC’s Dean Court HQ were drawn up as part of a 15-year business plan. With help from Bournemouth Borough Council, supplemented by a record £3m package from the Football Stadia Improvement Fund, the Club were well on their way to reaching the scaled-down first phase of the targeted £5.5m-£6.5m. The shortfall of around £2m was made up by Cherries supporters and thus the first phase of the new Fitness First Stadium, with the construction of three new stands - and rotation through 90° of the playing surface - was unveiled earlier this season.

With Barr Construction undertaking the building construction, it was left to turnstile and gate specialists, Swift Tate Security Technology Ltd, to offer a turnkey solution by specifying a fully-featured public address/voice alarm system. And with 23 years&rsquo

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Peterborough-based Pearce Hire has invested in a new L-Acoustics speaker system, Camco amplifiers and a range of processing equipment, to increase the quality and flexibility of its PA package for clients.

The first outing for the system came in February at the Corn Exchange, Cambridge, where a conventional stereo configuration PA was installed by Pearce Hire’s crew for a Courtney Pine concert. This was followed by the New College Nottingham annual awards ceremony hosted at the Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham, where the L-Acoustics system was flown for the first time. Pearce Hire supplied the full sound and lighting spec for the awards, and liaised closely with set designers and video screen suppliers, Hawk AV.

MD Shaun Pearce said: "The new system has superb acoustic reproduction that belies its physical size. This awards show has highlighted its ability to handle speech

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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

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In less than six months since acquiring Italian lighting giants, Coemar SpA, Florida-based Coemar USA (formerly Tracoman) has radically streamlined production, marketing and distribution to make the company more competitive and efficient in its traditional markets.

Chief executive Gerard Cohen confirmed that while expansion of Coemar’s production facilities in Belarus will enable the company to bring commercial luminaires to market faster and more cost-competitively, the handover of administrative responsibility will provide more creative freedom for the company’s inventor, Bruno Dedoro, as head of Coemar’s R&D and production operations. "Over the past two decades, Coemar has designed groundbreaking products such as the Robot, NAT and CF series of luminaires, and this will continue. At the same time we are looking at ways of improving the global distribution netw

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Blink TV, the big screen entertainment specialists, go into the spring touring period with the three biggest UK tours - Pop Idol, Westlife and Kylie - on their roster. Each of the tours is a heavy user of video with sophisticated combinations of digital cameras, LED screens and projection systems, and, in each case, Blink is responsible for co-ordinating the supply of the video hardware and producing the programming to run on the screens pre-show.

(Ruth Rossington)

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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

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Erikson Pro has been named the new exclusive Compulite distributor for Canada. "Compulite gives users the tools that allow them to unleash their creative powers," commented Erikson Pro general manager, Christian Bouchard. "We are excited at the opportunity to develop the potential of this comprehensive line of products, which fills a vast range of lighting control needs. The distribution agreement is effective immediately.

(Lee Baldock)

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ETC has further expanded its pan-European service, with the appointment of David Gray as field project manager for the Southern Region. Currently ETC's project manager, servicing major ETC projects on a global basis, Gray will commence in his new role on April 1st, 2002.

Based in Rome, David will be working with Fulvio Cotogni, ETC's manager for Southern Europe, providing on-site project support. Together, they will offer a complete service to the region, which includes the Middle East and Africa, complementing other similar ETC teams in Europe. Having worked for ETC since 1997, David has grown to be respected member of the industry. He joined ETC to develop the projects department and, together with Jeremy Roberts, has played an important role in establishing ETC as a major player in the global cruise and entertainment markets. During his four years at ETC, he has managed numerous lar

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BSS Audio has released a new processor for the expanding install market, aimed particularly at integrated system solutions. The ProSys PS-8810 is a fixed-path digital processor, with eight inputs and ten outputs that each has a dedicated processing path which includes EQ filters, gates, compressors, auto-mixers and delays, as well as other processing objects.

With its fixed-path design, system installers need only configure the routing matrix and decide which of the processing objects will be utilized. Once these are established, the set-ups may be stored as presets and recalled via the PC, contact closure or the 8810’s own internal events scheduler. All functions of the PS-8810 are set-up and controlled from a PC running IQ-WIN software, the control suite that can control a variety of types of audio equipment.

The real strength of this new DSP, however, is that it is the firs

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The Barbican London’s landmark performing arts venue has a new technical production facility - it is now the only live venue in the UK currently offering a permanent broadcast facility. The Barbican BBC digital broadcast system is a joint venture between the BBC and the Barbican. The aim is to produce high quality, cost-effective broadcast material embracing a rich diversity of performance genres. This will feed the new digital channels and also ensure the Barbican keeps pace with cutting edge production technologies.

The new facility also greatly enhances the Barbican as a venue for corporate events and conference industries. Very easy transmission between the Barbican’s numerous different auditoria and spaces, and instant live relay of images from auditorium to screen, are just two advantages. Others include a vastly improved video show relay.

Simon Prior, the Barbican

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On March 14th Virgin Megastore's flagship store on Oxford Street in London hosted the UK launch of the long-awaited Xbox from Microsoft, billed as "the most powerful games console on earth". The store opened at midnight to throngs of industry personalities, media and public eager to be first in line for the new console, as well as a goodly smattering of celebrities. Presenters for the evening's entertainment included Jonathon Ross, comedian Johnny Vegas, and of course Virgin boss Richard Branson. White Label UK was the production company in charge of the event, and they turned to Systems Etc. to handle the audio requirements.

Systems etc. operations director Ricky Ramsay opted for six stacks of Nexo Alpha E distributed around the room, each stack comprising one Alpha EM mid-hi cabinet and two Alpha B1-18 bass bins. "The event took place on the lower ground floor which is

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Late February, Summit Steel abandoned the typically dull, British weather and took off for Cannes in the South of France. The company was called in by Adam Proto, producer for Turquoise Blue, to rig a party at the Radisson SAS Montfleury Hotel, for Lucent Technologies’ guests, as part of the 3GSM World Congress. Summit’s principal task was to rig large, white, gauze sails between the palm trees around the pool which were to be used as projection screens.

Since there was no flying equipment from roof trusses on this job, this proved to be open air rigging with a difference. "It made a change from climbing roof beams," explained Summit’s Jon Bray. "We actually used the pool-side Palm trees to rig the sails, fixing guy wires and using diverters in the palms to ensure we did not cause any damage. The end result looked great. The sails created an outside aud

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Following a vote earlier in March in favour of strike action, members of BECTU (which represents backstage, ticketing and box office staff) are now back round the table with the Society of London Theatres (SOLT) to discuss an improved pay offer for members.

In an industrial action ballot which closed on March 19, more than 96% of BECTU members working at London's West End theatres voted to strike in support of the union's campaign to banish low pay. BECTU delayed publishing the ballot result while SOLT made last-minute efforts to improve the pay offer that members had rejected. After more than two days of closed-door negotiations, the employers tabled a new package, backdated to February 11. At a mass meeting on March 22, members voted to run a secret ballot on the new proposals, without any recommendation to accept or reject.

The two-stage pay offer includes an average 6% increase

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Northampton-based SA Sound Services, in partnership with Adrian Humphris at Oak Audio Visual, has recently completed a significant AV installation for Tearfund, a UK-based Christian charity providing aid and relief to many of the world's poorest and dispossessed. At the core of the installation are a number of ElectroVoice Xi loudspeakers.

The installation was part of a complete refurbishment of the facilities at Tearfund's four-storey Teddington headquarters. According to Tearfund's facilities manager Mike Webb it was important that the system be powerful, versatile and discreet as the room is used for a variety of applications, including live music. SA Sound Services' Steve Ashley explained why he opted for EV Xi 1082s, which are designed as under-balcony fills. "Given that the system had to handle more than just speech reinforcement, I was looking for a professional speaker tha

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Our pictures shows Borrowed Time - the latest work by David Cotterell, an artist shortlisted for Beck’s Futures 2002, the UK’s largest arts prize. His nominated entry features a film of a train emerging from a tunnel.

As it draws near, the gallery fills with a cloud of smoke onto which an image of the steam train is projected to create a ghostly apparition. Reminiscent of the Lumière brothers, the train rushes towards the viewer before fading to black. The smoke effects are being produced using Cirrus Low-smoke machines supplied by The Effects Company.

The smoke is unusual in that it is a mixture of Liquid CO2 and a standard glycol-based smoke fluid. Synchronizing and controlling all the elements of the installation is a Pulsar Masterpiece 108 control system, specially adapted for the purpose by the company’s Andy Graves, who also built a custom interface to work

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Rental company Gearhouse Broadcast has significantly expanded its Sennheiser wireless microphone inventory with an order for 5000 and 3000 Series UHF RF systems, valued at more than £250,000. The rapidly expanding, London headquartered hire company supplies international broadcasters covering major outdoor events such as the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics and the ATP Tennis Masters Series, as well as studio-based production series for leading UK broadcast companies.

The new order adds to Gearhouse Broadcast’s already considerable stock of Sennheiser wireless equipment and comprises SK 5012 ultra-miniature and SK 3063 miniature belt pack transmitters, SKM 5000 handheld transmitters, plus 8-channel and 3-channel EM 1046 modular receiver rack systems. New to Gearhouse Broadcast’s stock is the Sennheiser SK 5012-U, the ‘world’s smallest belt pack transmitter&rsquo

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I-Vision supplied and co-ordinated the equipment for an eye-catching exterior architectural lighting scheme for the re-opening of the Walker Arts Gallery in Liverpool. The show was designed and produced by Liverpool City Council’s Cultural Events Officer and lighting designer Lee Forde.

The Gallery re-opened after a £4.3 million refurbishment, part of National Museums & Galleries on Merseyside’s (NMGM) first major capital project for the 21st century. The Victorian building façade which features central steps and an extruded section, is flanked by Grecian-style columns, and flat sections either side. The columns and two statues either side of the steps, were lit using 300W profile fixtures, and the flat, end sections of the building’s fascia were bathed in blue light from powerful Coemar Panorama 1800W cyc fixtures. Tight 4-way finger-beam fans of ‘Aircraft La

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CDAI, a specialty engineering firm focusing on presentation and performing arts technology, has added Matthew Cornwell as an acoustics and testing services specialist. His responsibilities will include acoustics and testing services in support of CDAI's corporate and education clients, as well as their performing arts and multi-purpose audiovisual project designs.

With an avid interest in architectural acoustics, Cornwell has worked in a number of acoustic engineering internships, including Goodyear Tire and Rubber in Akron, Ohio, where he performed acoustic testing and analysis work.

(Ruth Rossington)

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Stage Electrics’ business development manager Matt Lloyd has been chosen to take part in The Clipper 2002 Round the World Yacht Race, which covers over 35,000 miles of gruelling ocean racing. It’s an 11-month sabbatical, commencing in October, that will take him to 16 stop-overs around the world. The crew will consist of 14 ‘amateur’ crew members, both men and women, accompanied by one professional skipper.

There are eight yachts competing, each sponsored by an individual city - Liverpool, Bristol, Glasgow, London, Jersey, Hong Kong and Cape Town. The Bristol Clipper which Matt is crewing won the Clipper 2000 Race, so she will be defending her title in this year’s race. David Whitehead, owner of Stage Electrics is fully supportive: "Matt has worked for Stage Electrics for over ten years and this is a fantastic opportunity for him. I am very supportive

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PLASA has negotiated significant discounts on the cost of exhibiting at PALA (Pro Audio & Light Asia). The Association has also obtained UK government funding for this event and eligible UK companies can make further savings on costs.

The PALA show features exhibitors covering pro audio, lighting, club, broadcast and music. Exhibitors can expect to meet potential buyers including agents, dealers, distributors and end-users from across Asia. Hong Kong is considered to be the gateway for trade to China, and with PALA being held here for the first time, more visitors are expected to attend from Taiwan, Korea, China and Japan, in addition to regular visitors from India, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.

The DTI’s SESA (Support for Exhibitions & Seminars Abroad) funding will re-imburse eligible UK companies 60% of stand, construction and freight costs, u

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Astera - Large MPU - June 2025
Sennheiser - MPU - June 2025

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