Robe - LEADERBOARD - Feb 2025
PLASA Show 2025 - Banner - June-Aug 2025

Business

Details
UK - Reflex Systems Ltd, specialists in the design, installation and maintenance of audio, CCTV video and access control solutions to the Hotel and Leisure industries, is celebrating its 15th anniversary. The company works with a growing number of UK and European customers, many of which are leading blue chip organizations, providing security and site management solutions.

Reflex is experienced across the whole leisure sector, and is responsible for meeting the requirements of a diverse range of clients. Its customers include Luminar, THI Leisure, Boots WellBeing, Ramada Jarvis, Thistle, Queens Moat Houses, Handpicked Hotels, World of Golf, Butlins, and countless other brands from the smallest independents to the largest players. Reflex's installations are located in many of the country's leading bars, restaurants, nightclubs, hotels, sports and leisure facilities, and the compa

Details
UK - PLASA Member CTS has been awarded dealership status for Strand Lighting. "We are thrilled with this development," said David Harwood, CTS sales director. "Having been in this industry for nearly 25 years, a Strand dealership was something that our company always aspired to."

Part of the new product range recently introduced by Strand is aimed at educational establishments and small theatres, and therefore ideal for CTS, which has a large customer base in these sectors. The company holds a comprehensive hire stock of lighting, sound and stage-related equipment and its policy of remaining independent has allowed it to offer clients the equipment to suit their needs. CTS is confident that the Strand range will complement the other manufacturers they represent.

(Ruth Rossington)

Doughty - Banner - from 6 June 2025

Details
UK - Leisuretec Distribution Ltd and Strand Lighting have announced a new partnership. Strand Lighting has recently invested heavily in the development of entry-level equipment and products aimed at the education market - a move which has strengthened their already broad range of solutions for the film, television, theatre and architectural markets.

Leisuretec Distribution has made a substantial stock investment and managing director Nick Spalding is delighted at the appointment. He comments: "It is fantastic to be associated with a brand as prestigious and established as Strand Lighting, with our commitment to 'Pure Distribution' throughout our extensive customer base, we are looking forward to an exciting and long-term relationship with Strand."

(Lee Baldock)

Details
UK - Kingston-on Thames based Metropolis AV & FX has completed a major audio and AV installation at LA Fitness in Sale, Greater Manchester, including a spectacular large projection area at one end of the club’s pool and main work-out area. The building is a former cinema dating back to the 1930s. Working with architects and interior designers Lewis & Hickey Ltd from Nottingham, Metropolis were called in to ensure the fitness outlet has the very best audio system and AV features for its new incarnation.

The primary objective was to ensure that the building’s character was retained, and that the renaissance cinematic feel desired by the client was realized. Metropolis found a technical solution for this idea: the screen is still in its original position now at one end of the space housing the swimming pool, and what were the balconies are now tiered levels housing rows

Details
USA - American Audio has released the CDS-1 single CD player aimed at bedroom and entry-level DJs. The CDS-1 is equipped with many top features used by professional DJs: it offers Fader Q Start (the ability to crossfade to a pre-programmed cue point on a CD when used with a Q-start compatible American Audio mixer), and also includes Instant Start, Loop In/Out, 8x Oversampling and Anti-Skip Protection.

In addition to entry-level users, the CDS-1 is ideal for working professional DJs who want a back-up set-up to take on the road. In addition to selling the CDS-1 as a single unit, American Audio has packaged a complete system, the CDS-1/System, which comprises two CDS-1 CD Players, an XDM-200 DJ mixer and a custom road case. The XDM-200 mixer included in the system was designed specifically for use with the CDS-1. The mixer has 2 channels - one for each CD player - with 2 lines, 2

Details
Germany - Holzkirchen-based lighting specialists transtechnik Lichtsysteme have equipped two well-known theatres in Munich with the latest lighting technology - both the Münchner Kammerspiele and the Bavarian State Opera House have seen significant system upgrades.

transtechnik Lichtsysteme became involved with the Bavarian State Opera House as far back as 1998, and were part of the team working on a phased renovation of the theatre. The 10 FDX90 dimmer cabinets installed as part of phase 1 and the 23 FDX2000 cabinets that went in during phase 2 have ensured that the State Opera House now has one of the largest pools of dimmers in Germany. A Digiplus digital auxiliary console is used to control the auxiliary functions (such as working lights and rehearsal lighting), whilst the Prisma NT and Focus NT lighting control consoles from transtechnik's NT family are used for the stage

Details
UK - A Yamaha aficionado who spans the entire 30-year history of PM series consoles this month became the first customer for the ground-breaking new PM5000. EFX Audio’s John Ramsay has confirmed an order with Shepperton-based dealers, Marquee Audio, for the largest, 52-channel (48 mono + 4 stereo) PM 5000 desk.

Marquee’s Glen Smith, who flew to the Frankfurt Musikmesse with directors Spencer Brooks and Andy Huffer to finalize the deal, told us: "John has been through all the Yamaha boards. He loves the PM4000 - which he also bought from Marquee - and he told us if the PM5000 gave him all that and more, then he’d be interested."

John Ramsay can remember right back to the inaugural PM200 when he was mixing local bands in his native Scotland. "We had monitors along the front of the stage apron with ‘YAMAHA’ spelt across the wedges, and

Details
UK - Turbosound has supplied multiple TCS and THL systems to sound and lighting contractor Innovation, for installation at the Blu Bam Bu - a new beach-theme club in the city of Newcastle. Boasting one of the liveliest nightlife scenes in Europe, Newcastle's Bigg Market area is home to many bars, pubs, clubs and restaurants, and Blu Bam Bu is the area's newest venue, with a sophisticated approach that is reflected across all its facets - interior design, lighting and sound.

Innovation, based in Sunderland, designed and installed the new club's sound and lighting systems, using Turbosound TCS and THL models throughout the venue. The club's impressive street-level entrance takes you into a ground floor bar area, leading to a VIP lounge, with eight TCS-59 units and four TCS-118 subs in the bar, plus a combination of TCS-10 enclosures and TCS-108 subs in the lounge. A large void on

Details
UK - Show Presentation Services (SPS), working with production company Pci:Live, has provided rock and roll industry-style AV support for the annual B&Q Business Update meeting, which was held at the Telford International Centre for over 1,300 B&Q managers from across the UK.

The stage set was dominated by a 14m x 4m Barco Dlite 7 LED screen which was flown from a rigging system. The event opened with a single video image displayed on the LED screen, which then split to create two 7m x 4m screens, positioned each side of centre stage.

Gerry Francke, account manager at SPS commented: "We believe that this project is innovative since LED screens are still mainly used by the entertainment industry, and they aren't something that corporate events organizers tend to opt for, due to considerations over screen resolution and costs. However, the kit that we have supplied for the

Details
USA - This spring the M.I.N.D. Institute will open the doors to its new home on the UC Davis Medical Centre campus in Sacramento, California. M.I.N.D is a centre that takes a collaborative approach in its study and treatment of a number of challenging neurodevelopment disorders among children. The new 135,000sq.ft complex includes two buildings - a research facility and an outpatient clinic, library and resource centre.

To aid its research efforts, the Institute’s new buildings incorporate a number of observation and conference rooms - 20 in total. These rooms are used for a variety of purposes, including evaluating new students, the effectiveness of new procedures or new treatments and for family or patient conferences. Each room has a self-contained sound system, designed in such a way that it allows for future input and output expansion, and independent operation. Eac

Details
UK - Once again the infrastructure of Stage Electrics has proven to be a lifeline for a touring theatre company. The Blue Room, staring Tracy Shaw, was playing in Cardiff for a week’s tour, when on Monday at 5pm the show control computer failed. Stage Electrics took the call at 5:15pm and although not a supplier to the show, Chris Patton, business development manager for the theatre touring market agreed to attend site. Patton had the forethought to grab Ross Livings from the company’s IT support team, armed with a company PC. On site by 6:30, Livings had two computers in pieces within minutes, swapping the necessary parts and software. The show was running by 7:15, a cool 15 minutes ahead of curtain up. Stage Electrics offers this level of support and service throughout the UK from its 10 Branches.

(Lee Baldock)

Details
UK - The Barco Viewscape Image Controller has arrived at Cheshire based, Keyteq and is being heralded as "the ultimate, soft-edge blended, wide-screen vision mixer for live events." The exceptional piece of kit is a multi-input, multi-display control device allowing the user to show a multitude of windowed inputs onto a set-up of combined displays. It is able to control both projection and plasma displays directly and daylight displays indirectly and offers a wide range of effects such as alpha blending, chroma keying and z-order control.

The arrival of the Viewscape has been eagerly awaited by Keyteq’s clients and with confirmed bookings well into the summer it looks as if it will be a very popular piece of kit. Based in Altrincham, Cheshire, Keyteq is an independent rental company servicing both conference production companies and event organisers, and is one o

Details
Europe - Microsoft’s Xbox games console has embarked on a major promotional tour of selected European cities, in two liveried 40ft tractor/trailer units with hydraulic drop-down sides. There are also two 16-tonne support vehicles containing generators and back-up equipment, and a trailer-mounted 3 metre long model of an Xbox controller. The concept was devised by brand experience company, Live Communications, who number Microsoft Xbox among their clients. Live, in turn, enlisted Avesco companies Creative Technology, Screenco and Dimension Audio to help construct the technology infrastructure for the visitor experience.

According to Dimension Audio project manager, Kevin Swain, the trucks are designed to show off the full capacity of Xbox, with a playing area, a series of pods and free play zone with games machines and chill-out areas. Visitors enter a 48-person auditorium

Details
Switzerland - This year’s Geneva International Motor Show, which runs until March 16th features approximately 350sq.m of Barco’s popular LED display products. 19 leading car manufacturers, including Daimler Chrysler, Jaguar, Saab, BMW, Mercedes, Mitsubishi, Pirelli, Porsche and Audi have chosen Barco LED displays to showcase their latest models over the course of the 10-day event.

The Barco products present at the show (provided by some of Barco’s worldwide rental partners, including Creative Technology, Gahrens and Batterman, ICT, ETF, SONO and VPS) include the indoor ILite 6mm, ILite 8mm, and ILite 10mm range, the outdoor DLite range, as well as various large-screen projection set-ups by Opel and Citroen with Barco’s ELM and SLM projectors.

(Ruth Rossington)

Details
Greece - Jack Morton Worldwide has been appointed producer of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the next Olympic Games, to be held in Athens in 2004. Jack Morton will support Dimitris Papaioannou, the concept creator and artistic director of the Games’ Ceremonies.

Dimitris Papaioannou said: "Jack Morton Worldwide has an impressive track record and I am looking forward to working with them. We are all very honored to deliver the Ceremonies celebrating a special occasion: the return of the Games to their birthplace."

The appointment was announced by the Athens 2004 Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (ATHOC) this week after a seven-month bid process, which involved agencies from within Greece and throughout Europe. The European office of Jack Morton, based in London, led the bid with an international team most recently responsible for the successful pr

Details
Germany - Berlin-based production company Complete Audio has become the first to purchase Martin Audio’s new compact line array (W8LC). The company’s managing director, André Rauhaut, placed the order for 12 W8LC enclosures (including rigging frames and amplification) with Martin Audio’s German distributor, Atlantic Audio, during the recent ProLight+Sound exhibition in Frankfurt, where the system was unveiled.

Complete Audio are no strangers to Martin Wavefront technology. Their rental inventory already includes 20 Wavefront W8C top boxes, 8 Wavefront W8CS subs, 20 Wavefront WSX subs, 8 LE12JB floor monitors and 10 LE700A floor monitors - all powered by Martin Audio/Lab Gruppen amplification.

Explaining the reasons for the purchase, Rauhaut said: "We needed to invest in a line array, as many of our competitors in Berlin already have one and we needed to

Details
UK - The Institute of Sound & Communications Engineers (ISCE) is sponsoring an industry-wide invitation workshop on 31 March in Watford, with the aim of setting up a certification body to combat what is seen as the current trend of falling installation standards. Representatives from across the public address, voice alarm, sound, fire and insurance industries are being invited to attend.

Further details of the workshop are available from Cathy Makenzie on 0151 639 5211 or via e-mail at the address below.

(Lee Baldock)

Details
UK - A full house gathered at PNN Hammersmith Palais this month for the star-packed NME Carling Awards 2003. The evening saw the night’s winners such as Coldplay, Ryan Adams and Oasis picking up awards with The Datsuns and Noel Gallagher playing live.

Creative Technology, working through production company Reality Ltd, provided technical reinforcement for the live event and enabled MTV2 and Channel 4 to screen the recorded highlights from the following day. CT were contracted to provide all the display, recording and playback equipment for the event, along with all the video graphics elements. The main focus was a 7 x 5 panel Barco i8 LED screen, which was ground supported centre stage.

A component GVG PPU, with four Sony D30 cameras, handled the recording and playback elements. One camera was used for follow-on shots, a second camera, fitted with a standard lens, was de

Details
USA - High End Systems has announced that Altman Lighting Inc will receive a worldwide non-exclusive license for specific patents belonging to automated lighting manufacturer High End Systems Inc and Richard Belliveau. The agreement finalized today relates to the use of LEDs in lighting products. The patented technology offers significant advantages to the user. Altman will make use of this in their soon-to-be-released Spectra Series luminaires: a line of LED products and advanced patent-pending technology that offers a virtually endless palette of color possibilities to enhance any theatrical or architectural setting.

As part of the same agreement, High End Systems will receive non-exclusive rights to Altman's patents concerning digital stage and architectural lighting technology. Mike Wood, chief technology officer of High End Systems, comments: "We are delighted to have

Details
UK - A new concept in realistic visual effects is being launched this month. Scene Change, which creates digital video effects, aims to bring the latest in lighting techniques to the theatre.

At an open day on March 25 at the MacOwan Theatre, Earl's Court, Scene Change, a specialist creator of still and animated digital video images, will demonstrate how life-like effects can be brought to the stage. Technical Director Nigel Sadler says: "It's already been embraced by nightclubs, but it's the next big thing for the theatre. This year, we're likely to see it begin to take off in the world of theatre lighting."

"There's so much more that can be done with it. We can create 'real' rain, 'real' snow, moving water, a sun rising -the possibilities are endless." The theatre world has been slower to pick up on the technology, whose uses include visual displays at cl

Details
USA - Symphony Hall, home to the Boston Symphony Orchestra for more than one hundred years, recently upgraded its house audio capabilities with, among other things, a new L-Acoustics loudspeaker system. Steve Colby of New Hampshire-based Evening Audio Consultants was selected to head up the retrofit. To assist him on the project, Colby, a senior sound engineer for the Boston Pops as well as a frequent engineer and consultant for the Boston Symphony, chose to assemble a group of seasoned professionals, including both Mark Brosnan and John ‘Klon’ Koehler of Greenfield, Massachusetts' Klondike Sound.

Suspended above the proscenium, the new system features a central cluster of seven L-Acoustics V-Dosc enclosures with a pair of dV-Dosc small-format/downfill array elements hung beneath. Both the V-Dosc and dV-Dosc array elements incorporate a patented Dosc waveguide to fac

Details
Spain / Belgium - D.A.S. sound reinforcement systems were in use recently at the Davis Cup eliminatory tournament between Spain and Belgium. Held at the ‘Olympic Tennis’ sports complex in Seville, the event drew a crowd of over 5,000 tennis fans.

Seville-based Klarson, run by Sergio Clarasó Estebe was in charge of installing the sound systems at the event. D.A.S. DS-12 12" two-way systems were used to provide coverage in the three large bleachers and lobby areas. Installed in the press conference rooms were the ultra-compact DS-8 full-range systems that use an 8" low frequency transducer with a 1.5" voice coil.Klarson specializes in the rental of sound, lighting and audio-video equipment for all types of live events, including sports events. Segio Clarasó, proprietor of the company comments regarding the sound of D.A.S. products: "I depend on th

Details
France - Auvitran SARL - Audio Video Transcoding - is a new technology company recently formed through a spin-off of ex-Digigram SA employees, Yves Ansade, Wlodek Sielski and Jeremie Weber. All three were involved in both research and design, as well as commercial development, at Digigram.

Auvitran will design and manufacture audio, video networking and computer-based solutions and products. Having recently signed a full IP licence with Digigram for its EtherSound technology, Auvitran will focus on this technology over the coming months, as Yves Ansade, who will be the managing director for Auvitran, explains. "Having been heavily involved in EtherSound’s development whilst with Digigram, we were keen to exploit this technology through adding value with our own EtherSound-based products, as well as offering services to other companies in our industry who may wish to l

Details
UK - Saturday 8 March saw Manchester’s production community uniting to show their support for peace, on the occasion of the ‘Don’t Attack Iraq’ event organized by Manchester Coalition Against the War. Consisting of separate marches from the North and South of the city, together with one from Salford, the event culminated with some 12,000 people converging on a rain-soaked Albert Square to hear a packed programme of speakers, plus acoustic performances from Elbow and Josephine Oniyama.

The event was managed by Jon Drape Event & Production Management, with production management and trucking provided by Andy Stratford at Walk the Plank. With a budget of just £50 to cover fuel, Jon and Andy appealed to Manchester’s production supply companies to come up with the goods, a call that was met with overwhelming support.

So it was that Manchester Light & S

  1. Raycom equips Corinthian TV studios with radio systems
  2. Geary launches Gearline
  3. Wavicle: new company specializing in LED instruments
  4. Hog III features at Port Fairy Festival
  5. Lumiled LEDs add colour to clubs
  6. nva launches two new lighting schemes for Glasgow
Page 571 of 1803
Astera - Large MPU - June 2025
Sennheiser - MPU - June 2025

Latest Issue. . .