Robe - LEADERBOARD - Feb 2025
Doughty - Banner - from 6 June 2025

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UK - This year's PLASA show at Earls Court will see the introduction of a number of new and improved products from Strand Lighting - including additions to the company's dimmer range, a new tool for lighting designers and updates to its operating software.

The LD24 is a new version of the company's popular LD90 family of dimmers: its new design is aimed at cost-conscious facilities that need basic DMX control combined with a high quality digital dimmer. Strand's new SLD Sinewave dimmer will also be presented for the first time and on stand will be a working demonstration unit with a range of loads that will allow users to see the features of the new dimmer first-hand. These include true sinewave output for quiet lamps and accurate control; SST dimmer modules which can dim a wide r

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UK - Gemini 12X48, the first of a new range of products from Multiform Lighting since its merger with Light Engineering, is scheduled for release on the Light Engineering Multiform stand at PLASA.

This budget-priced desk features 12-channel 2-preset mode, 24 channel wide mode and 48 memories, including 20 chases. Easy to programme and edit cues, the desk is aimed primarily at the small theatre and educational markets, but its compact size and aesthetic design should make it an attractive choice for any small DMX-controlled installation.

Light Engineering Multiform is on stand F10.

(Ruth Rossington)

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USA - Crown International recently announced that it has received ISO 9001:2000 certification of its Quality Management System. Crown president Blake Augsburger commented: "Our Quality Management System was designed to keep us on track as we develop and market products and services that are of the highest quality, and that exceed our customer's expectations. We have made it a priority to put this system in place, and to manage our business with a focus on quality."

Crown originally achieved certification to the ISO 9002:1994 standard in 1999. This new version of the ISO quality standard places a greater emphasis on top management involvement in the Quality System, as well as a focus on continual improvement. The company's Quality Management System will be re-examined every six months to ensure on-going compliance with the standard.

(Ruth Rossington)

Doughty - Banner - from 6 June 2025

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UK - A.C. Lighting has announced a new staff appointment at the company's headquarters in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. Philip Norfolk joins as product manager for the rapidly expanding portfolio of products for which A.C. Lighting holds exclusive UK or worldwide distribution. In this new role, Norfolk will be dividing his time between the road and the company's headquarters in High Wycombe.

Norfolk has spent his entire working life in the entertainment lighting industry and joins the company from Martin Professional, where he held the role of UK stage studio and events segment manager. Prior to this, Norfolk worked in Chicago for Tech Lighting as sales training manager and specification sales manager, having also spent 13 years at the Lighting Technology Group where he moved from equipment sales up to the role of key account manager.

Phill Capstick, sales director at A.C. Li

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Germany - Eurogress Aachen, a purpose-built conference, theatre, exhibition and concert centre in the German town of Aachen, has recently replaced many of the luminaires in two of its theatres using stage lighting from New Zealand-based performance lighting manufacturer, Selecon.

The venue has up to 22 conference rooms, theatres and exhibition areas, the largest capable of accommodating 1,700 people, the smallest a mere 10, with a variety of different sized rooms to fit most requirements. Through its dealer Lucifer GmbH, Hagen-based Selecon partner RST Distribution GmbH supplied 34 Selecon Pacific 12-28°s, 20 Pacific 23-50°s, 30 Arena High Performance fresnel GY16s and 20 Arena PC GY16s.

"This was a significant order by a major player in the multi-purpose conference and corporate hire sector," said Christian Pies of RST Distribution. "I've no doubt that this i

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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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UK - Lightfactor Sales launches its distributorship of EKS' revolutionary XP10 audio pad at PLASA 2003. The XP10 is one of the first real 'plug and play' system for playing digital audio streams - making it a reality for DJs to carry all their playing equipment - including music - around in the average sized briefcase.

When connected to a PC, the XP10 provides direct control over file playback and has the ability to 'scratch' the digital audio stream via its 4.5" touch-sensitive vinyl emulation wheel. Just like vinyl and the very latest CD players, tracks can be stopped with the fingers and the wheel can be used for cueing.

The XP10's device controller is near-pocket sized and weights under 400g, but boasts features found in larger, heavier DJ equipment. Audio quality is 'hi-fi' in texture, with a signal-to-noise ratio of 105 dB or more, say EKS.

XP10 connects to a PC

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UK - Martin Professional comes to this year's PLASA exhibition with the Magnum and Jem brand smoke machines encompassing everything from compact DJ foggers to heavy fog generators. Magnum is a range of high quality, high value fog effect generators for today's DJ and late night venue operator while Jem is a professional range of high quality haze, smoke and heavy fog machines designed for the stage, studio and event markets. Both ranges offer users the latest in high quality fog generation.

Martin Magnum 550 is a portable yet powerful smoke machine providing the DJ with a light-enhancing atmosphere. It houses a 600W ECO-Mass Vaporizing System for economical and even distribution of haze. It has a fast heat-up time and extended operation and comes supplied with remote control and a high quality overheat protection.

The Magnum 2000 delivers high smoke output, advanced microproc

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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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USA - Robe America has appointed Michael Carattini as Eastern US sales manager. A well-known and highly regarded industry figure, Carattini has held key sales and marketing positions with lighting companies in both Italy and North America.

In his new position, Carattini will be responsible for working with Robe America dealers east of the Mississippi, as well as in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana and Canada. Formed in late 2002, Robe America is the exclusive North American distributor of Robe lighting products. The 'new' company is backed by the extensive experience its founders have acquired over the years in lighting design, development, service and marketing.

"I'm very impressed with Robe America management in the US and the Czech Republic," said Carattini. "They have an in-depth understanding of the lighting industry, and I believe in what they're doin

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Switzerland - The 37th Montreux Jazz Festival closed its doors at the end of July with a suitably rousing ZZ Top concert in the Stravinski Hall, the main auditorium in the Congress Centre perched on the Lake Geneva waterfront. It was the culmination of 17 days of music and performance that featured acts from across the musical spectrum performing on a variety of stages, both inside and out.

The Festival drew some top names with 2003 headliners including Radiohead, Yes, Bonnie Raitt, Jethro Tull, Cypress Hill, Morcheeba, Craig David, Herbert Gronemeyer, Stereophonics, George Benson and The Pretenders - plus just about every musical genre you might care to mention.

The production elements of this ambitious schedule were managed by technical co-ordinator Andre Vouilloz, while audio aspects were in the hands of Patrick Vogelsang, MD of Meyer's Swiss distributor Niveau2 and the fes

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UK - Chris Hunt has been promoted to managing director for High End Systems (HES) Europe and Flying Pig Systems (FPS), both housed in the same London, UK office. Hunt was formerly director of operations for both entities. In this role, Hunt will maintain responsibility for all operations, inventory, accounting and finance, reporting directly to HES chief financial officer Peter Duff.

Says Duff: "Chris has organized our international operations and managed a major systems conversion in the UK office during the past year. It is natural that this opportunity would present itself to elevate Chris to another level, providing much input and direction to the operational functions of our European headquarters."

Hunt joins the existing European management team of FPS Founder Nick 'Beaky' Archdale, who manages the development side of the organization; and John Wiseman, Executi

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UK - Germany-based Smoke Factory has always been known for innovation and user-friendly features with its fog products: from output control via 0-10V or via DMX, the use of standard DMX-cables as control cables, or the flightcase design for reliable touring, most international exhibitions have witnessed a new feature from the creative minds in Hannover, Germany.

One of the most revolutionary concepts Smoke Factory presented a decade ago at the PLASA Show in London was Scotty - the first truly battery-operated fog machine. Since then, Scotty has been sold all over the world and has been used in all kinds of environments, from theme parks to photographic shoots and from special events through to school theatres.

Now, the new Scotty II - to be shown for the first time at PLASA 2003 - will have a major new feature over 'old' Scotty which had one small disadvantage - the relatively

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UK - Mach is launching a passive version of its M-Flex series of professional, moulded loudspeakers, at PLASA this year. The company is also launching an active version of the M-Flex Sub. This gives the company a complete line of high-powered performance speakers. Features include excellent voice clarity, DSP control with digital limiters for optimal protection, on board mixing facilities, two Line input plus microphone, ultra simple plug and play for fast setup, punchy low end, uniformed, wide dispersion and active linking for wide coverage. The cabinets are compact and lightweight in design with intelligent bracketing for easy cluster arrangements.The new SP12 stage monitor is a unique, low profile monitor. Already finding its way into stage applications this summer, the SP12 is also ideal for TV and theatre environments. Featuring high SPL and power handling, it provides high g

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UK / USA - Barbizon Europe has been appointed as a distributor for Matthews Studio Equipment Inc of Burbank, California, USA. With offices and warehouse located just north of London, Barbizon Europe will provide an immediate resource for a wide range of Matthews' products. This complements Barbizon's already extensive range of fixtures and expendables for the entertainment lighting industry.

For over 33 years, Matthews Studio Equipment has served the international motion picture, television, photography and theatrical production industries with specialized hardware and lighting modification devices: the company supplied production equipment to over 53 countries in 2002. Matthews' grip equipment has won two Academy Awards for Technical Achievement and a 2001 NAB Superior Technology Award.

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - Television lighting director Mike Le Fevre is facing the interesting challenge of lighting two worlds - virtual reality and actual reality - in a new BBC3-commissioned television series, FightBox.

The programme, a collaboration between website specialist Bomb and television production company Ricochet Digital, mixes virtual (VR) and actual reality (AR) characters and locations in an entertaining mix of gladiatorial contest and digital imagination.

Although the television series part of the project is being developed at BBC Television Centre Studio 1 in Wood Lane, West London, the concept spans three multi-media elements. The first is a website that selects contestants for the show. Aspirants can construct their own virtual warrior and undertake tests to accrue points, which qualify the top scorers to 'play' on the show.

Secondly, there is the TV show itself, where w

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Australia - Compulite's new lighting control system, Vector, has debuted on one of Australia's leading live television events, the Logies.

A prototype of the Vector was seen at LDI in Las Vegas last October by Megan McGahan from the Australian television network GTV Channel 9. No stranger to Compulite, or to large-scale productions, McGahan spoke to network LD Rohan Thornton on her return and to Australian distributor Coemar De Sisti Australia (CDA), about the availability of a Vector for use on The Logies.

Compulite was initially cautious, as further testing of the system was still needed, but the company realized that there would be considerable benefits for the console's development cycle in being part of such an event. Following the decision to send a console and technical person 'down under', a duplicate system was set up at Compulite's head office in Israel, so that any

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USA - Andrew Lloyd-Webber's Starlight Express first opened at the Apollo Victoria, London, in 1984, enjoying nearly 18 years of success there. Now it has a new incarnation as an American touring production, with dates scheduled until the end of the year.

Designed by John Napier for Troika Entertainment, it features an updated score and instead of the race track that was an integral part of the original show, it now has stunning stereoscopic 3D race sequences projected using a custom-built rig, from London-based 3D specialist, Inition.

Stuart Cupit, James Gant, Chris Sutton and Andy Millns formed Inition in 2001. The team has a passion for 3D graphics, creating a range of virtual reality (a.k.a. VizSim) graphics products and services, including the recently-launched Duality range of stereoscopic projection rigs. Although 3D projection has featured in themed entertainment instal

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Gibraltar - With nearly a million visitors a year, St Michael's Cave continues to be one of the most popular visitor attractions in Gibraltar.

It is situated 300 metres above sea level, in the Rock of Gibraltar, and has caught the imagination of visitors to the area since Roman times. The Cave was often reputed to be bottomless, or part of a link to Africa, 15 miles away. With a lighting and sound system in need of updating, the Government of Gibraltar issued a very broad invitation to tender, seeking ideas for the refurbishment of the lighting and sound systems - with a short 'day' show for visitors walking through the caves and an 'evening' show for special occasions. Since the Tourist Board of Gibraltar, which manages the caves and the project, wanted a single supplier and a 'turnkey' solution, audio-visual company Electrosonic was called upon to put together a team of specia

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UK - 2003 marks the 100th anniversary for West London's Shepherd's Bush Empire - one of the Capital's oldest and most established venues. L&SI reflects on a century of change . . .

Designed and built by Frank Matcham, the venue still retains the original grandeur of its early years. Situated on Shepherd's Bush Green, it opened on 17 August 1903 with its first performers - The Fred Karno Troupe - and continued to provide first-class entertainment with stars of the Music Hall and weekly variety performance and revues, until the 1950s. George Robey 'The Prime Minister of Mirth', Charles Penrose (of 'Laughing Policeman' fame) and George Formby all graced the Empire's stage.

It was sold to the BBC in 1953 and converted into a television theatre with classic shows such as Crackerjack, The Old Grey Whistle Test, That's Life, Hancock and Wogan all transmitted from the venue. (The cloc

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UK - Ocean Frontier is a new visitor experience located in the remote and beautiful environs of Fort William in the West Highlands of Scotland. Berkshire-based CGA undertook the lighting, sound and AV installation, working closely with Lightfactor Sales who supplied the LDR lighting fixtures, LightProcessor control, Denon amplifiers and playback machines, and over 70 Apogee Near speakers - the UK's first theme park installation of these enclosures. To this, CGA added Hantarex video monitors, NEC projectors, a DVD player, custom multimedia PCs and a Peavey MediaMatrix system.

The attraction's centrepiece is a 5m deep themed Atlantic reef, contained in a massive seawater tank, and complete with a 10m-long wreck of the 'Kaye Louise' which also provides habitats for indigenous creatures such as conger eels and lobsters.

Areas inside the venue include the Ocean Theatre, a presentat

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UK - A.C. Lighting's Projects division has completed the supply and installation of gallery lighting for the Natural History Museum's new T.rex: The Killer Question exhibition. The exhibition bases its killer question on new scientific evidence that suggests the T.rex may not have been capable of killing for food at all, but that it relied on prey already killed and devoured by other predatory dinosaurs. Visitors are given the chance to compare the red-faced scavenger T.rex with the more familiar, roaring and predatory dinosaur to make their own decision about how they lived.

A.C. was awarded the contract after supplying a cost-effective solution requiring minimal upgrading of the existing gallery fixtures to accomplish all theatrical lighting aspects of the brief. Throughout the build project manager Ray Dolby worked closely with the exhibition's designer, Trista Quenzer, to en

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UK - Proel will field an impressive line-up of new products at this year's PLASA. Brand new for this year is the latest development of Proel's touring system speaker range - the Edge Series. Firmly aimed at the top end of the professional market, the Edge series contains some key products, epitomized by the mighty EDGE121SP 21" subwoofer. A single direct radiation bass-reflex design, this model uses a 21" speaker with a 4" voicecoil with ISV (Interleaved Sandwich Voice Coil Technology) for maximum heat dispersal and reliability, also assisted by the double-ventilated die-cast aluminium basket design. Capable of handling 800W AES continuous (1600W peak), the 121SP has a sensitivity of 98dB and a frequency response from 25Hz. Also making its debut is another subwoofer, the Edge series 218SP (1600W continuous AES) which features twin 18" speakers fitted with 4&quo
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Astera - Large MPU - June 2025
Sennheiser - MPU - June 2025

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