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Doughty - Banner - from 6 June 2025

Events

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Show News - Loudspeaker manufacturer Tannoy makes a welcome return to the PLASA show after being absent for a couple of years. The company will be using the Earls' Court event as the platform for a first UK demonstration of its newest pro-audio product lines, VQ and QFlex, as well as exhibiting some of the existing V-Series loudspeaker range.

Executive News - Bandit Lites has announced that Peter M. Heffernan, a 30-year veteran, has been named president of the firm. Effective immediately, Heffernan will take the reigns and serve as both president and C.O.O., a role he has held for the last 15 years. This move comes at a time of growth for Bandit and is the logical step in taking the firm to the next level, says the company. Heffernan began his full time relationship with Bandit Lites in 1978 and he has risen through the ranks. He served as lighting director and/ or production manager f

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Australia - Dante digital audio networking technology proved its reliability and cost-effectiveness at one of this year's largest public gatherings - World Youth Day 2008. Huge crowds attended the July events in Sydney. Crowd estimates for Pope Benedict XVI's final mass at Randwick Racecourse ran as high as 400,000.

Scott Willsallen of Auditoria was charged with delivering a high quality audio experience to everyone in attendance at both Randwick and the "Super Thursday" opening mass, which drew 140,000 to Barangaroo on Sydney Harbour. He relied on Dante to distribute signal from the mixing desks to speaker towers throughout the enormous audiences.

Willsallen is an expert in designing audio systems for major events. His resumé includes the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, 2006 Commonwealth Games, 2006 Doha Asian Games, 2006 Eurovision Song Contest and the 2003 Rugby

Doughty - Banner - from 6 June 2025

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UK - Baldwin Boxall's OmniCare system will be demonstrated at Firex North. Also on show will be Vigil Eclipse2 stand-alone VA/PA system.

Vigil OmniCare is an addressable emergency voice communication system that allows disabled refuge, fire telephones and disabled toilet alarm remote units to be wired in one system. It has been developed in accordance with BS5588, BS5839 part 9 and BS8300:2001 (for the disabled toilet alarm).

The system has two main components: a Master Control Panel and the Remote Units. The Master Control Panel is available in various options: 8-128 way. Control panels also function as slave panels when wired into a Vigil OmniCare system on the ring circuit loop. The Master Control Panel is normally wall mounted within a central control room, with additional panels at other locations for control of local areas.

Vigil Eclipse2 is a wall-mountable voice alar

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UK - Stage Electrics is supplying in house sound and audio visual equipment for the entire run of Lift Festival 2008 which takes place this summer at Stratford and the Southbank Centre. Since 1981, Lift has been recognised as one of Europe's leading arts festivals, introducing theatre from over 60 countries to venues and unusual sites across London. At the heart of the festival is The Lift, a mobile venue and meeting place that hosts performances, exhibitions, workshops, discussions and screenings.

Andrew Sugg, business development manager at Stage Electrics says, 'The project requires a flexible system which can be used for many applications, from live music, dance and film to individual speakers. On top of this, we have also provided additional sound and audio visual equipment for one off special events such as outdoor film showings.

Robin Shepherd-Blandy, technical m

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UK - PLASA Media has revealed this year's short-listed nominees for the prestigious Gottelier Award, and opened up the online voting form at the PLASA Show website.

The voting is open to industry professionals worldwide, and will remain open until 12.00 midday (UK time) on Friday 29 August 2008. The winner will be announced at the PLASA Show on Monday 8 September.

Named in honour of the late designer, developer and commentator Tony Gottelier, this award aims to recognise the tireless product developers who have made a significant contribution to the development of the equipment and tools that enable our entertainment technology practitioners to continually push the boundaries of event production, presentation and installation.

Last year's inaugural Award was won by Tony Andrews of Funktion One for his decades of dedi

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UK - The promise of new technologies and applications, plus a dramatically expanded educational programme, has helped drive the PLASA Show to its highest-ever pre-registration figures, with a record total of over 10,000 industry professionals already registered to attend.

With the show a year on since its redesign, the one-floor, two-hall layout has been refined and expanded to allow for new and returning exhibitors, say organisers PLASA Events Ltd.

And with new products topping the 'wish list' of the majority of visitors, there's no doubt that PLASA08 will definitely deliver, according to show director Nicola Rowland. "There's a real buzz building around the wide range of technologies and expertise on offer at the show and how these can be applied across the industry. It's a unique chance to see how projects are being delivered, how lighting, sound and AV systems are bei

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UAE - Gearhouse Staging Connections has secured an exclusive three-year appointment as the event services partner of the new 1539-room ocean-themed Atlantis, Palm Jumeirah - the flagship resort of the man-made palm-shaped island development The Palm Jumeirah in Dubai.

A culmination of almost two years of planning with Atlantis, Palm Jumeirah management, the contract marks the group's first foray into the high-growth venue services market in the United Arab Emirates.

Gearhouse Staging Connections will assemble an onsite team of 15 "world-class technical and client services personnel" from its Dubai and Australian operations to deliver conferences, concerts, launches and events of any scale at the prestigious resort. The company will also install a range of multi-million-dollar audio-visual technology into the resort's facilities.

Staging Connections Group CEO Michae

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UK - Impact Products (Europe) Ltd, a leading trade-only supplier of professional audio and lighting products, is highlighting five leading manufacturers at PLASA08.

Adding to its comprehensive collection of amplifiers and speakers, Brooke has two impressive new ranges of line array speakers, suitable for every kind of venue from small club to stadium.

Rhino have introduced the robust Twin Table DJ Rack Case, whose removable doors with folding legs fix securely to the 19" flight case to form two tabletops for decks and mixers.

Business manager Keith Williams says: "We are proud to now be the stocking distributor for Litestructures and exclusive stocking distributor of US-based Chauvet Lighting in the UK."

Small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, Chauvet's new MiN Spot is a portable moving head LED fixture with RGB mixing and nine gobos, whilst Impact's P

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UK - PLASA08 organisers PLASA Events announced record visitor pre-registration figures of 12,700 yesterday as the final week's run-up to the show began.

With half-price online pre-registration available until the final day of the show, PLASA08 (7-10 September, Earls Court, London), which has attracted a host of new exhibitors and the promise of numerous new product launches, looks set to break all records.

"The industry is heading for Earls Court," commented Director of Events Nicola Rowland, "and the buzz is tremendous among exhibitors and visitors. We also have some strong contenders for the PLASA Awards for Innovation and huge interest in the Gottelier Award - we're anticipating a great turnout for the Awards presentation on Monday evening. PLASA08 is also a fantastic opportunity to see all the key technology brands that helped deliver a successful Beijing Ol

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UK - The range of seminars and workshops for PLASA08 (which opens at Earls Court in London this Sunday) has attracted the highest-ever number of advance online bookings. The sessions, which are free, cover a broad range of industry subjects and interests.

Sunday's special interest seminar programme includes two Infocomm seminars; the Institute of Acoustics, Royal Shakespeare Company, National Skills Academy, PMA and Arup feature on Monday; Tuesday sees sessions from the Arcola Theatre, National Theatre, ATG/ABTT and Cirque du Soleil; while Wednesday's line-up is headed by the Institute of Acoustics and CC Skills' Creative Apprenticeships seminar. Technologies For Worship is hosting seminars on every day of the show.

Meanwhile, manufacturer-led sessions include Zero 88 (Sunday), Alcons, Wireless Solution, White Light and Martin Professional (Tuesday) and Cast Software (Wednesda

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UK - Soundcraft today introduced 96- and 72-channel upgrades to the Vi6 and Vi4 consoles, respectively. According to Andy Trott, president of Soundcraft and Studer, the new additions will make the Vi6 and Vi4 even more potent and versatile tools for front-of-house and monitor engineers in a vast array of tour and fixed install applications including large houses of worship. The input-to-mix expansion is part of the new V3.0 software release.

"Never before has so much power and versatility been accompanied by such an easily navigable, application-engineered user interface," Andy Trott, said today. "We are very pleased to expand the Vi Series and from our continuous discussions with members of the engineering community, we're confident that the 96-channel and 72-channel variants will resonate strongly with the market."

With its advanced Vistonics II user inte

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UK - Zero 88 chose the first morning of PLASA 08 to launch two new products: its new theatre orientated lighting console, ORB and the Jester TL.

Designed to provide innovative control of the latest technologies in lighting including LEDs, Moving Heads and Video Server technology, ORB offers extreme flexibility, four universes and contemporary styling.

Building on the successful platform of the existing Leap Frog and Frog 2 ranges, ORB offers a combination of theatrical control philosophy with an adaptable hardware platform, providing intuitive control of both generics and moving lights.

ORB features 2048 channels which can be controlled over standard DMX universes or via Ethernet. Using a numeric keypad, encoder wheels, palettes and syntax keys, programming on ORB is familiar to both beginners and experienced professionals.

Zero 88 previewed ORB to the UK Theatre market at

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UK - Midas confirmed at PLASA08 that the first UK clients for its new PRO6 Live Audio System are SSE and Britannia Row, who have each purchased six PRO6 systems.

Although PLASA 08 marks the first public unveiling of the PRO6, more than 100 systems have already been ordered. Anticipating unprecedented interest in the new system, Midas is demonstrating four PRO6s on stand J33.

The PRO 6 purchases by rental companies Britannia Row and SSE confirm their commitment to Midas digital networked systems. Each company also owns two XL8 Live Performance Systems, making them the UK's only XL8 rental suppliers, together with EFX Audio in Scotland.

"We already have our XL8s lined up for a busy autumn," says Britannia Row's Mike Lowe. "Oasis are taking the first XL8 out for the autumn touring season for their UK arena tour which runs from late September until early November.

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UK - Lighting Designers Peter Fisker and Paule Constable are the two latest lighting designers to be invited to the Lee Filters Factory to create their own unique range of colours. Working alongside the Lee research and development team, each designer created four new colours which have now been added to the popular Lee 700 series. The new colours are being launched at PLASA 2008 and will be on show on the Lee Filters stand throughout the exhibition.

Come and see for yourself at Lee Filters Stand C68.

New colours from Peter Fisker: 700 Perfect Lavender, 703 Cold Lavender, 727 QFD Blue, 780 AS Golden Amber

New colours from Paule Constable: 768 Egg Yolk Yellow, 742 Bram Brown, 733 Damp Squib, 731 Dirty Ice

(Julie Harper)

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UK - Jester TL is a theatrical version of Zero 88's popular Jester consoles, bringing the power and flexibility of this range to those operating in theatre environments. The Jester TL offers control of up to 120 dimmer channels from a numeric keypad using standard industry syntax.In common with the other Jester desks, the Jester TL features a cue stack for the play back of memories in a traditional theatrical manner. Submaster playback (via DMX-in) is also supported. As with the other Jester consoles in the range a monitor port is standard together with USB storage and easy patching. Control of up to 30 moving lights is simple using palettes, effects engines and a full fixture library. Its small form factor makes it perfect for venues that were previously limited by space.

With the addition of a dedicated theatrical console the Jester range now represents the most comprehensive

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UK - The PLASA08 exhibition, which opened its doors today at Earls Court, London, sees the official unveiling of Polar Audio Ltd - a new name to the audio industry, but the exclusive UK distributor for some of the best known names in the professional audio market.

A statement issued by the company said,"Polar audio is the exciting new face of beyerdynamic GB Ltd and brings to the market an innovative approach to distribution. Beyerdynamic GB Ltd has always been an independent company, not a subsidiary, but as such it has conducted its operation as a distributor very much in the image of beyerdynamic Germany. This of course has had huge advantages, but in many ways it has coloured our image and led to some inaccurate perceptions of who we are as a company today."

The statement continued: "Perception is not always reality, we are no longer a distributor of microph

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UK - Hot on the heels of the SD7, launched this time last year, DiGiCo has launched the SD8 The SD8 has a fixed architecture and employs a smaller Super FPGA than the SD7, yet it benefits from all the major features and versatility of the DiGiCo D Series, plus the advances already made in the SD7, says the company. "This gives a superlative performance to price ratio, allowing DiGiCo to offer an entry-level console, with remote pre amps, at a price point that has never been possible before," says a company statement issued at PLASA 08.

The SD8 incorporates the Stealth Digital Processing, based on the single Super FPGA and combined with Analogue Devices Tiger SHARCS, creates the Tiger SHARC FX engine. This provides audio quality, precision and processing power with an extensive range of built-in, reverbs, dynamics, output matrix and more.

The SD8's control surface has

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UK - Cooper Controls are pleased to announce their appointment as exclusive global distribution partner for LightFactory.

In September 2007, Zero 88 took on European distribution of LightFactory control software, bringing this incredibly powerful PC based lighting console to its extensive dealer network across Europe.

Following extremely positive response, Cooper Controls will now provide marketing, distribution, service and support worldwide. Existing LightFactory dealers will continue to service their markets. Cooper Controls will be working closely with them to ensure the continued high level of support that they have come to expect from LightFactory.

Graham Eales, Managing Director of Zero 88 said "Having seen the power of the LightFactory products we were very excited about selling them in Europe. Now that we have the opportunity to broaden the market international

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UK - Goboland introduces Gobo Motion, its new video clip service, at PLASA 2008. Utilising its experience in gobo production, Goboland now turn this expertise to video content.

Gobo Motion is a growing library of Collection video clips featuring background images and textures which can be downloaded directly from the Goboland website at www.goboland.com. Gobo Motion can also be used to create custom clips from customers' artwork to provide an economical and convenient method of basic video display.

Ideal for small scale budgets, simple installations such as trade show stands or foyer exhibitions, Gobo Motion can be used to animate, for example, a company logo which can then be played from standard hardware such as a laptop or AppleTV through a simple video projector or Plasma screen or LCD screen.

This dispenses with the need for media servers or high-tech projection equipme

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UAE - Now in its seventh year, the 2009 edition of PALME Middle East, which will take place 26-28 April at the Dubai International Exhibition Centre, has already built up momentum and promises to receive more exhibitors and visitors than ever, claim the organisers.

Over 8,000 key buyers and decision-makers are expected to attend the 2009 show, which will consist of four key show segments.

Said show director, Alex Heuff, "The success of last year's show was accompanied by a number of constructive comments as to how the show could be even further improved. These included streamlining the layout and rebranding of certain sectors - and I am pleased to report that we have been able to respond to these suggestions.

"For example, we have re-branded MUSAC Middle East for the professional MI market and DJ equipment manufacturers as the sector starts to show real sign

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UK - InnovaSON is showing its latest digital control surface, Eclipse at PLASA 08. Based on new technology and fully networkable, Eclipse represents the French company's first console release since the ultra-compact Sy48 in 2004. More powerful than the flagship Sy80, Eclipse is also claimed to be the world's first digital live recording console to offer onboard multitrack recording.

Eclipse's DSP engine enables you to mix up to 104 inputs simultaneously into 48 mix busses with the capacity to manage up to 320 inputs on the console using up to five remote audio racks. The control surface is furnished with 48 faders and 48 fully configurable rotary knobs (spread over four layers). The concept is called SmartPanel and effectively gives you 96 "faders", taking InnovaSON's original SmartFAD concept to the next level.

According to InnovaSON's product manager and designer o

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UK - High End Systems has introduced StudioPix, a hybrid wide-angle moving yoke LEDwash light with programmable graphic imaging. This second product in HES' new line of Pixelation Luminaires makes its global at PLASA 08 in London.

HES, a new member of the Belgium-based Barco group, unveiled StudioPix at theBarco/High End Systems stand J30 at Earls Court yesterday.

Smaller than its predecessor Showpix, StudioPix features a circular array of 61homogenous 3-watt LEDs on a 13.5-inch diameter head with an output of 11,500RGB lumens. The pixels offer unlimited possibilities by projecting not just colour, but also displaying images and effects that transform the fixture head into a display device.

"We are excited about the addition of StudioPix to the LED family of luminaires,"stated Bill Morris, HES executive VP worldwide sales."We believe that the future of lightin

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UK - ETC has announced the appointment of ARRI Lighting Solutions GmbH (ARRI LS) as its preferred distributor for broadcast applications in several major markets.

The new partnership will allow ARRI LS to provide complete broadcast lighting solutions now comprised of ETC control systems and products, ARRI lighting and suspension products, with turn-key design and installation services.

The partnership covers important broadcast markets in central and Eastern Europe (including GUS) as well as the Middle East and Africa.

"ETC and ARRI have developed some of the best lighting technologies for the broadcast industry," says ETC CEO Fred Foster. "This partnership with ARRI Lighting Solutions will capitalise on the strengths of both companies to provide complete lighting systems made with ETC and ARRI products."

The partnership - which does not affect the thea

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UK - Shuttlesound can report an impressive boom in Electro-Voice line array system sales in the UK, primarily catalysed by the new compact cabinet formats introduced to the market in the last 12 months.

In addition to the recent sale of EV's XLD and XLE modules to APR Audio, Shuttlesound is pleased to welcome five rental companies into the EV family: Clear Sound, based in Stratford-upon-Avon; CWS, based in Peterborough; Ethix, based in London; Leisure Tech, based in Wigan; OneBigStar, based in Nottingham.

CWS, Clear Sound and Ethix have all invested in EV's XLC system which has been revitalised by the recent DVX upgrade, which brings EV's new 12-inch low-frequency/mid-bass woofers into the XLC127 cabinets, improving high-SPL stability and full-bandwidth intelligibility.

Colin Smith, proprietor of CWS, explains that: "we were renting in line-array systems up to ten times

  1. Impact Products to distribute Litestructures in UK
  2. APB ProDesk-4 makes UK debut
  3. Mix Rack System aimed at wide user base
  4. FogScreen launches AV Integrator Programme
  5. Ateis appoints HD Pro Audio as a main UK distributor
  6. The Week in Lighting & Sound
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