UK - Maycom, the Dutch company which has pioneered the design and manufacture of compact flash card sound recorders since 1994, has appointed Solid State Sound to distribute its range of HandHeld II, EasyCorder and MP3/MicTube solid state recorders in the UK and Eire.

Based near Warminster, Wiltshire, Solid State Sound specializes in the sale of digital audio card recorders and their accessories, including suitable microphones and headphones. The company is owned and run by Rodney Wayman who has over 20 years' experience in pro-audio equipment sales, and some 10 years in broadcast production before that. "Having used and sold several million pounds worth of every conceivable audio device in my time, all the way from open reel to hard disk," says Wayman, "it is such

France/China - French digital mixing console manufacturer InnovaSON has appointed its first Chinese partner, Hua Nan (HN) Audio. For several years InnovaSON has been testing the water in China, and the new appointment reflects an aim to step up its presence in the region.

"The Chinese market is a huge and difficult one," says Philippe Pelmelle, market development manager at InnovaSON. "If you do not have somebody in the country working for you with experience of your technology and products, together with a great knowledge of its market, and ability to do business right across the region, you will not succeed. My strategy was to find a company not only able to do this, but which also represented other product lines compatible with InnovaSON."

HN Audio was able to meet Pelmelle's criteria. Located in the southern Guangdong province and active across the whol

UK - A.C. Lighting has reported the sale of a large quantity of SpectraLite cases to Stagelight, a leading Belgian lighting production company. StageLight, which supplies to the entertainment and performing arts markets, purchased 24 SpectraLite cases after a successful trial using the product to send out equipment from its in-house rental service.

Stagelight chose the cases due to their combination of stylish design, high build quality and scratch-proof material. The trial cases have been in regular use since they were purchased 12 months ago and have transported a wide range of equipment, including power and microphone cables, Hog PCs and ETC Source Fopur PARs.

The cases are constructed from an injection moulded, custom blended thermoplastic resin material which although often lighter than conventional cases, is able to withstand harsh touring environments. The material is

USA - ESTA - The Entertainment Services and Technology Association - has announced the election results for its 2005 Board of Directors, with Bill Groener of Color Kinetics taking over the role of president from Mike Wood. Other appointments are: manufacturer vice-president - Bob Luther (CEO, Lex Products Corp), dealer director - Larry Schoeneman (Designlab Chicago Inc), manufacturer director - Rich Wolpert (Union Connector Company) and affiliate director - David Taylor (Theatre Projects Consultants).

Bill Groener has a long history of service to the Association, having previously served as the chair of the Technical Standards Committee, dealer director, affiliate vice-president, and a member of numerous committees including Long-Range Planning and the recent Buyers Survey. ESTA says Groener is in the unique position of having, during the course of his career, been a Dealer, Ma

USA - Meyer Sound celebrated its 25th anniversary in style at the117th Audio Engineering Society (AES) convention held in San Francisco recently. After a year of increased sales and well-received new products, the company had a strong presence at the exhibition and left with its fifth TEC (Technical Excellence and Creativity) award, awarded to the MILO high-power curvilinear array loudspeaker for being best in Sound Reinforcement Loudspeaker Technology at the 20th annual awards show.

Previous TEC awards have been given to the SIM source independent measurement system, HD-1 high definition audio monitor, PSW-6 cardioid subwoofer and UPM-1P ultra-compact high coverage loudspeaker. The award took its place on Meyer Sound's booth the day after the TEC event next to the company's previous four awards, which were on display there. MILO's nomination was the 19th that the company has r

New Zealand/Australia - Following the recent appointment of Amber Technology as exclusive distributor for DPA Microphones in New Zealand, it has been announced that the ties between the companies have been further strengthened with the appointment of Amber Technology as the exclusive Australian distributor for the range.

For the past decade, DPA Microphones have been well represented in Australia by Leon Hart from D2a Professional Audio. However, in an amiable agreement between all three companies involved, distribution arrangements for DPA products have moved to Amber Technology, with Leon Hart joining the company to ensure his extensive experience and product knowledge will continue to be available to DPA's large Australian client base.

"It was time to grow the DPA Microphones brand name even further and after more than 10 years association with DPA, I am pleased that m

Germany / USA - Messe Frankfurt, organizer of Prolight&Sound, and Primedia, producer of the LDI exhibition and Entertainment Design and Lighting Dimensions magazines, have announced a strategic alliance. The statement issued jointly by the two organizations says: "This allows our attendees and exhibitors to take advantage of a wide range of sales and marketing objectives without increasing the number of shows. The initial result of this agreement will include combined marketing efforts designed to help promote each group's events, with more concrete synergies as the relationship grows."

Details of what the new relationship will entail, and what benefits it might bring to exhibitors and visitors to the two shows, are yet to be revealed, although it appears that Primedia is looking to strengthen the LDI exhibition's pro audio presence by cross-selling exhibiting and mar

UK - The Effects Company has announced an expansion to its range of essences available for the Aromatech System. The available range has now expanded to include 49 'off the shelf ' essences, with the inclusion of 'notes' such as Anti-Tobacco, Cologne, Pizza, Hickory and Leather. All Effects Company essences are noted for their particular realism and the standard range is complemented by a library of an additional 290 'specials'. In preparation for Christmas, four seasonal specials are available - Christmas Spice, Frankincense and Myrrh, Mince Pie and Mulled Wine, the company reports.

(Lee Baldock)

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USA - OptiLED has announced the launch of its Designer Dimmable, a breakthrough LED lamp that, for the first time, features lighting intensity and distribution control in a familiar form factor, with outer dimensions identical to an ordinary halogen MR16.

The Designer Dimmable offers full performance at 12 volts DC or AC and dimming capability from 10 volts down to three volts, where it operates at candle glow. At full power, the unit requires less than two watts.

"OptiLED tailored the Designer Dimmable specifically to meet the needs and demands of our customers, offering a LED lamp that can adapt to suit any environment and create a wide range of effects, atmospheres, nuances, light levels and mood," said Bruce Pelton, OptiLED's vice president of sales. "As a result, the Designer Dimmable Series provides designers and architects with a variety of new options, d

UK - The BT Digital Music Awards 04 took place in the Shepherds Bush Arena recently, with PA company Canegreen Commercial providing their specialist audio expertise to ensure the event could be enjoyed by the live audience and be recorded for the all important webcast.

The event was managed by Reality, who have extensive experience of producing corporate style awards ceremonies with a rock'n'roll element. MD Paul Corrick commented: "When music is the central theme of an event we know the sound - critical to the events success - will be in safe hands with Canegreen Commercial. Their knowledge of the venue and their interfacing with a good in-house system helped make these Digital Music Awards run very smoothly to be televised and webcast."

Canegreen has enjoyed a long relationship with the Shepherds Bush Empire, having first installed the in-house PA over 10 years a

USA - Community Professional Loudspeakers has launched the new DXP4800, a Digital System Controller that provides precision digital signal processing for Community full-range and subwoofer loudspeaker systems. The DXP4800 can also be used as a generic DSP device for other loudspeaker products.

New system configurations are possible with the abundant number of audio channels. The 4 inputs and 8 outputs allow stereo 4-way, stereo 3-way + mono 2-way, 4 bi-amp mixes and 8-channel zone capability. The DXP4800 enables the audio engineer to come up with creative system architectures via the 4 x 8 matrix feature and programmes allow for fast A/B comparison, and the matrix feature allows any of the four inputs to be assigned or mixed to any output, say Community.

The audio converters in the DXP4800 offer high quality signal reproduction, distortion and noise, with a sampling rate of

UK - Professional audio-visual supplier, Snelling Business Systems of Norwich, has just completed an AV system for the new Jarrold stand at Norwich City Football Club. The microphone systems chosen are from Sennheiser's evolution wireless G2 series: two ew322 systems with EM300 receivers and SK300 pocket transmitters with ME 4 tie cardioid mics and two ew335 systems with EM 300 receivers and SK 300 hand-held transmitters with MD 835 cardioid heads. These, plus Denon multi-CD and pro DVD players, plus a JVC SVHS VCR, feed the mixers and DSP audio matrix control. Amplification is handled by a QSC CX254 4-channel amplifier, which drives eight Tannoy iP5 Mirage NXT ceiling loudspeakers. A Tannoy CMS110B active sub adds the lower frequencies to the system.

To provide audio for the hard of hearing and comply with the Disability Discrimination Act, Snelling installed an additional Sen

USA - The wide light dispersion of Cosmos 2.0 from Chauvet Lighitng makes it well suited for both permanent and mobile applications. Cosmos 2.0 is a versatile rotating beam effect with two sets of easily interchangeable covers (domes or discs), giving users the flexibility to change the lighting style from a dome to a chopper effect.

The fixture features 74 interchangeable coloured lenses and 24 clear lenses and projects a multitude of vertical, horizontal and oblique rays. Two spheres rotate 3600 around their own axis and around the axis of the base. Cosmos 2.0 is conveniently mounted using a single clamp. Controllable features include flash/full on (controlled on-board via a switch), flash speed and rotation speed (controlled via a knob). These functions are also accessible via an optional CON-EF2 wired controller. A total light output of 600W by two easily accessed 300W halog

USA - American DJ will be holding its Customer Appreciation Party on February 23, 2005 during the Mobile Beat 2005 Show at Las Vegas' famously popular Beach Night Club, which was voted "no 1 Party Club in Las Vegas" in a 2004 poll conducted by the Las Vegas Review Journal.

The party is free for Mobile Beat show attendees. "It's our way of thanking customers for their patronage and support," said Scott Davies, general manager of the American DJ Group of Companies. On most nights, working DJs provide entertainment so that other people can party and have fun. We thought our customers deserve one night when they can kick back and do the partying themselves."

"The 2005 version of this annual ADJ bash promises to be bigger, better and more fun than ever," said Davies. "In fact, this party will be so jamming that it will take two DJs to emcee

USA - TAB Technical Services has become a major installer of Allen & Heath's iDR DSP audio distribution and processing systems. For one client, The Cheesecake Factory, TAB has installed the A&H iDR-8 at 75% of the national restaurant chain's 60 locations, according to company president Todd Berman.

Although materials, ceiling height, and décor differ slightly between locations, says Berman, the A&H iDR installation at each Cheesecake Factory restaurant is essentially the same. "It's pretty much an 8 or 10 zone system in each venue. The iDR works out well because there are 10 outs - two monitor jacks in addition to the eight main outs."

Using the multi-zone control and processing capabilities of the iDR-8, audio in each area of the restaurant may be separately programmed and controlled, continues Berman, who also has years of experience with Allen & Heath's DR128 dig

UK - Following on from the successful 'Working Safely - Adapting to change in the electrical distribution phase colour codes' seminar at the PLASA Show, PLASA is hosting a follow-up seminar on 15 November at RIBA's London premises. The half-day open discussion and workshop will attempt to resolve ways in which the industry can manage the mixture of old and new colour schemes in temporary installations, especially during the grace period which runs until April 2006.

Anyone interested in helping to formulate a practical answer to this change in the wiring regulations is invited to attend. For more details on this half-day session, including directions and timings, please contact Nic Bowker at the email or phone number below.

(Ruth Rossington)

USA - Color Kinetics has announced revenues of $11.1 million for the third quarter of 2004. Revenues increased 42% from the $7.8 million reported in the third quarter of 2003 and increased 9% from the $10.2 million reported in the second quarter of 2004. Net income for the second quarter increased to $853,000, or $.04 per diluted share, compared to $8,000, or $.00 per diluted share for the third quarter of 2003. The company's cash and short-term investments at 30 September 2004 totaled $55 million.

"We're extremely pleased to post another quarter of excellent results, and our sixth consecutive quarter of profitability," said George Mueller, chairman and CEO. "This achievement reflects Color Kinetics' ability to deliver strong operational results both domestically and internationally, driven by continued market and technology leadership."

"The perfor

Worldwide - The edgy melodic post-grunge of Hoobastank is a worldwide hit. Live, the band relies on Audio-Technica mics to deliver knockout performances on stages throughout North America and Europe. Currently trekking through Europe on The Reason Tour, Hoobastank's lead vocalist Doug Robb is using the A-T Artist Elite 5000 Series Wireless System with an AEW-T3300 capsule.

Drummer Chris Hesse has a pair of Audio-Technica ATM63HE dynamics mics on the top and bottom of his snare, the dual-element AE2500 on his kick drum, an AE5100 on his hi-hat and ride cymbals, and the AE3000 on his rack toms. The AT4050 microphones Hesse uses as overheads are also employed by guitarist Dan Estrin on his guitar amps, while bassist Markku Lappalainen utilizes the AT4047/SV.

Brendon Brown, Hoobastank's tour manager and FOH Mixer for the band's last two tours, likes to work with the combina

Germany - d&b audiotechnik has announced the launch of a newly-designed website - and really hopes that everyone has as much fun looking at it as they had choosing the images - such as the d&b army knife representing 'Support' (pictured). The website design now matches the most recent marketing design used by the company over the past year and to launch the Q-Series loudspeaker range and the D12 amplifier.

The company says that the new design allows easy navigation to download all d&b documentation and software updates and even includes a site map for those to whom speed is of the essence - zero to E0 in nanoseconds. Even the highly useful d&b calendar has been made more accessible under the News section, say the company.

"Of course," commented Simon Johnston, d&b's marketing director, "being d&b, we will now be changing the design of our advertisements from S

UK - Lift-Turn-Move, the newly-launched company fronted by John Jones, has already announced the appointment of an additional team member, as Alan Wood joins the core LTM team of five. As works engineer, Wood will be working alongside his colleagues prepping Lodestars, and further improving LTM's systems for faster and more efficient processing of orders received since the company's inception at PLASA.

Wood first worked with Jones at PCM, which he joined aged 18. He left four years later to work as assistant engineer with industrial lifting and rigging specialist Cosalt, continuing his career in the lifting business. Wood comments: "It's going to be a great challenge working with LTM - a brand new company with a brand new attitude and lots of drive and enthusiasm. I am looking forward to helping make the company a great success."

John Jones says: "Our business

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