UK - The Spice 1210, which will be on show at this year's PLASA Show, is the latest rack mounting dimmer from Zero 88and has been designed to be easy to use, reliable and affordable. It is available either Harting or Socapex connectors and has a mains incoming cable with CEE17 32A connector. The units feature the intuitive user interface from the Chilli installation range to allow for ease of use in setting up and operating the dimmer. The spice range provides a host of sophisticated features suitable for professional applications, including 12 channels, 12 memories and three chases; dimmer curves - Normal, Linear, Switch or Square; channel voltage compensation calculated for each phase; dimmer lock-out function; voltage and frequency displays; supply frequency - 45 to 70Hz auto-sen

USA - Apogee Sound International has announced the installation of a custom-rigged Apogee ALA-3 line array loudspeaker system in the new Cherry Logan Emerson Concert Hall at the Donna and Marvin Schwartz Center for Performing Arts at Emory University in Atlanta. The main centre-cluster Apogee loudspeaker system, as designed by Richard Laidman of Kirkegaard Associates, features custom rigging constructed by Apogee to be ultra-compact, to enable it to retract into a very tight space in the ceiling of the 825-seat concert hall. "Apogee was extremely helpful in creating the rigging system to fit the available space," said Laidman.

When needed, the cluster is lowered from the attic space by an electric hoist system. The loudspeaker cables are reeled and unreeled, eliminating the need for the typical large and unsightly cable-catching tub. For unamplified performances, the

Greece - Situated in Markopoulo, some 40km from the gates of Athens, the new Olympic Equestrian Center is setting new standards of excellence in the riding world in terms of modernity, amenities and spectator comfort. The centre in fact comprises four different stadiums: the three outdoor stadia for dressage, show jumping and horse racing and a fourth general purpose stadium indoors. This is one of a total of 26 venues that have been, or are being, built for the Olympic Games scheduled for Athens in 2004.

The vast dimensions of the equestrian arenas posed logical and technical problems, not least in terms of sound reinforcement. Omikron Control SA was entrusted with the task of installing a sound system capable of solving the problems, and chose to rely upon products from Electro-Voice. The new DSP-controlled Precision Series amplifiers of the RL series form the heart of the ins

UK - PLASA 2003 will see the UK launch of the E Series switchmode amplifiers. The first two models, E25 (1250W/channel into 4 ohms) and E15 (750W/channel into 4 ohms), both in 2U chassis, will be on display at PLASA 2003. With a stunning new-look front panel, these lightweight amps have been designed specifically for the touring market and to the same high standards of reliability and sound quality for which MC2 Audio products have gained a world-wide reputation.

The series will be expanded with a bigger amp (2000+W/channel into 4 ohms), also in a 2U chassis, later this year. All MC2 Audio products are covered by a five-year warranty.

MC2 Audio can be found on stand EE42.

(Lee Baldock)

USA - Vari-Lite has bolstered its product marketing and technical support team, appointing George Masek to the newly created role of technical product manager. The move gives Vari-Lite a veteran with more than 20 years as an entertainment lighting professional and puts him in a critical technical support/product marketing role.

"Vari-Lite has always prided itself in being a lighting company, and not just a company that makes lights," said Steve Carson, general manager of Vari-Lite parent company Genlyte Controls. "When we created the technical product manager position, it was important that we bring in someone who recognizes the 'show must go on' mentality of the entertainment industry. George understands the needs of true lighting professionals because he spent years on the road as one of them."

Masek will be based out of the company's Dallas headquarters.

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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

UK - Following its move to a new facility in the main Bosch HQ in Denham, Bosch Security Systems has just opened an enhanced new integrated demonstration centre for its CCTV, Fire and Intrusion, PA and Congress products. The demonstration centre allows the company's growing product and systems range to be demonstrated at a single location, either as separate products and linked together as integrated systems.

"For the first time, our installers, consultants and customers can see our full range of products and how they can be inter-linked to form complete integrated systems for alarms, announcements, evacuation and building management - all in a single well-equipped location," said MD Joe McCann at the official opening. ""More and more installers and customers are interested in integrating remote surveillance and fire/intrusion detection along with evacuation

UK - At the PLASA Show this year, Czech Republic-based manufacturer of moving lights, Robe Show Lighting, will introduce its ColorSpot 1200 AT - designed as an ultimate creative tool for large theatre, TV, live shows and events, and for installations of all types. Robe will be also highlighting the new ColorMix 240 AT, which is aimed primarily at theatres, TV studios, stage lighting and interior architectural lighting applications. Also new is the DMX Control 480, the latest multi-purpose Robe lighting controller.

There will also be several other new product launches, and the company's comprehensive range of Robe moving heads and scanners will all be available for demonstration and viewing.

Robe Show Lighting can be found on stand F110.

(Lee Baldock)

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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

France - Professional audio technologies developer and manufacturer, RCF (a Mackie Designs brand), has recently been involved in an extensive audio installation at the famous Charles De Gaulle International airport in Paris. The company supplied a range of equipment to fit a public address system in the airport's new Terminal two building and Terminal two car park.

700 RCF SP400s and 300 RCF SP300 speakers were installed in Terminal two's passenger lounge, whilst for the Terminal two car park, 360 RCF loudspeakers, mounted in metallic cases, were specified. Three racks of equipment were also installed in the technical room of Terminal two: the first rack consisted of an RCF CP3100 control unit, an RCF MB3200 mainframe, an RCF RD2008 digital cassette recorder/ player for announcements, an RCF DX810 digital audio mixer/ signal processor, three RCF PS3400 power suppliers plus a spa

UK - Lightfactor Sales, the UK distributor for SGM, High End Systems, LDR, Xilver, Morpheus, Apogee Sound, LightProcessor and Parsafe 2 will have a wide range of products on show at PLASA this year. These include is the Xilver Droplet fixture, a compact lightsource utilizing high power LED technology, and the XP10 from EKS. A revolution in digital DJing, the XP10 is the first real plug'n'play system for playing digital audio streams. Also on show will be the SGM Giotto 400 Spot and Wash fixtures, as well as the DMX Flash 1.5 HP strobe.

From Italian theatrical lantern manufacturer LDR is the Soffio CDM-T series of luminaires, the Gobo Wizard and Canto followspots. New from LightProcessor are the Dimension series of digital dimmers, and the 'Zip' range of small control desks. American audio manufacturer Apogee Sound will shows its APL powered series of speakers, the AFI fixed inst

UK - In July 2003, Essex-based Clarity in Sound Light & Vision Ltd became Leisuretec Distribution's 100,000th customer since the Company's inception in 1990. Clarity purchased a Trantec radio mic system, used as part of a complete sound system for a swimming gala event at a leisure centre in Hertfordshire.

Clarity specializes in supply and installation of audio, lighting and visual equipment to theatres, schools, churches and leisure centres. Stuart Graham, managing director of Clarity said: "We offer superb technical support and product knowledge to our customers, built upon knowledge gained from spending the last 25 years working in the leisure and entertainment industry, including a period spent working at Leisuretec Distribution as technical sales manager."

Leisuretec's managing director Nick Spalding commented: "It was pure coincidence that our 100,000th cu

UK - Sennheiser UK has announced a significant extension - to 10 years - of the warranty period on all wired models from its Evolution microphone series. The increase, from the industry standard one year guarantee, is applicable to microphones sold in the UK since March 1st, 2003 and underscores the reliability that the Evolution series has demonstrated since its introduction in 1998.

John Steven, director of marketing for Sennheiser UK, comments: "The Evolution wired mic series has proven more successful than ever we hoped. Given careful design, stringent manufacturing techniques and high standards of quality control, we seldom hear complaints and rarely see returns. It makes perfect sense to us to underpin the sales success of the series with a full 10-year warranty. With the quality of these products, we don't expect to be seeing many more returns within a 10-year perio

UK - Steve Warren - the well-known sales director of Avolites Ltd - made a rare live appearance as RADlite digital media server operator for last week's Hadley vs Cox gig at Shepherd's Bush Empire. He was hired for the show by lighting designer Dave Gibbon.

Warren is more usually seen at trade shows and on sales missions around the world, flying the flag for the Avolites sales team. He comments: "It's great to get hands-on with actual show operation. I have to admit I was nervous before the show, as this is the first time I've been hired professionally as a RADlite operator, but once it got going, I got into my stride."

Hadley vs Cox was an epic - and unique - show devised by 1980s superstars Tony Hadley of Spandau Ballet and Pete Cox of Go West, featuring all the hits and more from the era of New Romantic and Electronica. The two artists have worked together on many

UK - Bould Lighting Technology will introduce a new range of dimming systems at this year's PLASA Show. Bould is a specialist in distributed dimming, one of the most cost-effective ways to equip a venue, and a good solution for modern multi-purpose venues that require versatile lighting.

The company's BATPAC distributed dimming system sends and receives DMX512 via radio transmission, allowing the remote control of up to 85 BATPAC 6-channel dimmers simultaneously. Each BATPAC has six 10-amp switchable dimming channels and is designed as a clamp-to-bar or bolt-on dimming solution ideal for internally-wired bars with multi-pin connectors.

Bould Lighting Technology can be found on stand KK68.

(Ruth Rossington)

USA - Musical legend Bryan Ferry is taking an array of Audio-Technica microphones across the water for a short stateside tour with Roxy Music, with AT4054s on vocal duty, AT4050s on electric guitars and overheads and AT4047s covering the acoustic guitars.

Taking a short break before full production rehearsals begin, the tour's monitor engineer, Steve May, explained why the trademark characteristics of the A-T range appealed to the sound crew. "I know it sounds like a standard press release quote, but A-T's mics genuinely sound great and are very reliable. As a live act those are the two main things that you look for in your mics, so it's no surprise that there is a strong A-T presence on the channel list for this tour and for Bryan's solo gigs. The band also use a number of Audio-Technica mics in the studio, so having a similar line-up out on the road enables us to achieve

UK - Lighting designer Will Charles was the first television lighting designer to use all 12 of Richard Martin Lighting's hire stock of the new Clay Paky Stage Profile Plus SV, when he specified them for the second series of quiz show Judgemental. Charles was keen to create a visual identification with the first series of Judgemental, and to achieve this he sought the help of Projected Image, who developed some colour gobos from a jpeg image of a crowded scene, which were then used in the Stage Profile Plus SVs. The image was utilized as a predominant backdrop for close-up and mid-shots.

Will Charles, who was assisted by moving light operator David Bishop, explained his choice of lighting - which also included Vari*Lite VL1000TS, Pulsar ChromaBank and Clay Paky Stage Color 300 fixtures - and gave his opinion on the performance of the Stage Profile Plus SV: "The Stage Profil

UK - At the 2003 PLASA Show Look Solutions, the company behind the Tiny Fogger - the world's smallest smoke machine - will launch their latest product: the PowerTiny. "There's been a gap in the smoke machine market for a while: for a machine bigger than the popular TinyFogger, with greater output - yet still compact in size and with off-mains operation," says Roger Hennigan of White Light, Look Solutions' UK distributor. "That's exactly what PowerTiny will deliver."

With an appearance familiar from the TinyCompact smoke machine - which effectively added a handle to the TinyFogger - the PowerTiny offers much to appeal to theatrical smoke users. The 400W machine runs from a 12V battery, yet is only around 223 x 100 x 210mm in size and 5.2kg in weight, including battery and ergonomic handle. Heat-up time is virtually instantaneous at just one second. The supplie

UK - CT Screenco returned to the Ross Theatre bandstand at Edinburgh's Princes Street Gardens to fulfil a vast array of technical requirements at this year's Edinburgh Festival - billed as 'The UK's biggest free arts event of the year'. Their contract with Sean Rourke's Arts For Life is one of Screenco's most unusual, since a lot of their work is done 'on the fly' as they come into contact with a vast array of cultural content. Screenco also integrates broadcast students and volunteers into the team, who are sent out with ENG equipment to gather news, which is then edited in real time and relayed live to the 4 x 415mm LED daylight display.

The three weeks of he Festival Fringe are enough to keep Screenco's representative Jon Baverstock on his toes around the clock. The highlight of this year was undoubtedly the scheduled appearance of Joan Baez, Emmylou Harris, Chrissie Hynde, B

UK - Hawthorn Theatrical selected Allen & Heath mixers for use throughout the 5th annual Sprite Urban Games, held from 25-27 July 2003 on Clapham Common in South West London, UK. This increasingly popular free sports festival, revolving around BMX, skateboard, breakdancing and music, saw several improvements this year including a larger B-Boy arena and enhanced Freestyle Motorcross (FMX) jump, as well as an impressive line-up of underground London DJs from the likes of Botchit & Skarper, Catskills, Marine Parade, FAT and the Funkin'Pussy crew.

Hawthorn provided all the audio equipment for the event, selecting Allen & Heath mixers in all the arenas. A Xone:02 scratch mixer was installed on the main stage, running through a GL2200 live sound console at front-of-house. Two Xone:02 mixers were set up for battle mixing on the B-Boy arena, run through a GL2 console. There were also Xo

UK - Cambridge Folk Festival, now in its 39th year, presented an eclectic mix of roots and folk music to a sell out audience of 10,000 avid music fans this August. Many of those fans were also musicians, with impromptu jam sessions running late into the night. The bands on stage ranged from The Sawdoctors, the Eliza Carthy Band, Robert Randolph and the Family Band.

Canegreen designed and installed three separate PA systems for each of the stages, all featuring a range of Meyer speaker cabinets, Lab Gruppen amps and state-of-the-art control systems. Pete Hughes was Canegreen's project manager for the festival, he explained: "We selected the equipment and designed the systems to suit the dynamics and style of music played over the weekend and we have received a lot of praise from the audience about the sound, which is always great."

Production manager Ken Rankin explai

Israel - Sontronics, Soundcraft's Israeli distributor, has supplied a Series 10s broadcast console for a special event that took place recently in the ancient biblical town of Nazareth in Galilee. The occasion was the inauguration of a new cultural centre and radio broadcast studio, set up as a joint Jewish/Arabic cultural initiative designed to foster understanding and co-operation. "This is the first of its kind in this troubled part of the world," explains Sontronics managing director, Sonny Shmueli.

The Series 10s broadcast console, supplied along with microphones, headphones and studio monitors, is designed for use in local and community radio stations. It is simple to use for the novice, but its fully modular design renders it versatile enough to integrate into professional broadcast environments. Frames with 12, 20 or 28 channels are available, selected from Mon

UK - Glasgow-based PA rental company Sound Acoustics has purchased a NEXO GEO S Tangent Array system from Fuzion plc, one of the first companies in Scotland to do so. Sound Acoustics' director Tommy Gorman describes walking into a GEO demo at Fuzion, and leaving with 16 boxes. That very week, the system went out on a three-month tour, and Sound Acoustics rapidly placed another purchase order.

"We've doubled the size of it subsequent to that first order, and what we have now is a rig that can handle George Benson at the Glasgow Jazz Festival, but can also be broken down into three decent conference systems. GEO is so small, so compact and bijou, and it does exactly what it says on the tin - immediately!"

The GEO S boxes have since notched up a variety of events from a touring theatre production, to a live BBC music programme, to a heavy metal festival in the Shetland

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