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Installation

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UK - Wembley Arena has beaten off international competition from Zurich, Barcelona and Ireland to win the Best International Arena Award at the recent 18th Pollstar Concert Industry Awards held in Los Angeles.

This is the fourth time Wembley Arena has been awarded this accolade, and the first since the £36 million refurbishment of the Grade II listed building, undertaken by Quintain Estates and Development, who own the Arena and an additional 70 acres of land surrounding Wembley Stadium.

The new-look Arena, re-orientated to face the Stadium, has attracted a record number of fans since reopening its doors in April 2006 after a 15-month refurbishment programme.

The transformed Arena is part of a mammoth £2.6 billion regeneration project that will include a 17-screen cinema and a boulevard lined with restaurants bars and cafes. The scheme is expected to inject

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UK - George Michael is to play the first concert at the new Wembley Stadium, it has been confirmed. The former Wham! star will perform at the 90,000 capacity venue on 9 and 10 June as part of his British and European stadium tour.

Alex Horne, managing director of Wembley Stadium, said it was "fantastic news" that Michael would perform the first concert at the prestigious venue, adding: "He's no stranger to this great stage having performed at the old stadium with both Wham at Live Aid and as a solo artist." Muse will also be among the first acts to play the revamped stadium, having previously announced a date on 16 June.

The new £757 million venue was due to reopen in August 2005 but was delayed following a series of hold-ups and legal wrangles that led to a number of musical and sporting events being postponed. Among them were concerts by Bon Jovi, R

PLASA Show 2025 - Banner - June-Aug 2025

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Europe - Lighting&Sound International magazine is making an unprecedented special offer to European industry professionals at the forthcoming ProLight&Sound exhibition in Frankfurt (28-31 March).

For the first time ever, L&SI is offering full-time professionals on the European mainland the chance to sign up for one year's FREE subscription to L&SI magazine - a subscription that would usually cost around 75 euros (£50). Visitors to the show can sign up for this great offer by visiting the PLASA/L&SI stand at the Hall 8.0 Walkway, stand J80. (Look for the VPLT, ESTA & PLASA signs).

(Lee Baldock)

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Sweden - Newly-appointed Apex distributor Electrosound has supplied andinstalled Sweden's first Intelli-Q22 sound optimiser at the well-known nightspot and video gallery Berns Club in Stockholm. The club boasts a high-quality profile, which is reflected in the sound system. The Intelli-Q22 is the first of "a new breed of fast, easy-to-use, digital problem solvers" from Apex, the company says.

According to Apex, one of the Intelli-Q22's strengths is the fact that it combines a wide range of sound enhancing applications like a 30-band graphic equaliser, a 10-band parametric equaliser, shelving filters, variable high & low - pass filters, delay, multi-band compressor, and a BrickWall limiter per channel.

"The talk of the town is that this room is the best-sounding place people have ever been to. The installation of the Intelli-Q lifted the whole sound picture to a

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UK - The eclectic mix of club, laid back eatery and live music venue that is Cargo nestles in the backstreets of trendy Shoreditch in London's East End. It has recently benefited from an upgrade of its existing Turbosound loudspeaker system, with a new TA-500 Aspect Wide system installed by Marquee Audio.

The venue stages a mix of club nights and live performances. "There's something for everyone here," says Cargo's marketing manager Joe Roberts. "We want to appeal to all tastes, from your hard core clubber to those that want to have something to eat and then see a live band. We are now getting the bigger name, more experienced musicians in here, and they wanted a better monitoring system than we originally had. This has been part of the reason we upgraded our system. If you want the best, you need to have the right equipment."

Head of sound, Matt Smith, wh

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USA -With the installation of a new sound system featuring Meyer Sound's M'elodie ultracompact high-power curvilinear array loudspeakers, North Point Ministries' newest satellite location, Browns Bridge Community Church in Cumming, Ga., delivers their message with the utmost power and clarity.

About 5,000 guests regularly attend Browns Bridge Community Church, which opened in October 2006. As with Buckhead Church in nearby Buckhead, Ga., an impressive, high-definition video presentation featuring senior pastor Andy Stanley's sermons highlights the church's Sunday morning programming. The recently installed Meyer Sound system ensures that everyone in the audience hears the inspirational messages with unquestionable intelligibility.

The loudspeaker system in the 2,100-seat main sanctuary is comprised of 26 self-powered M'elodie boxes configured in two arrays. "M'elodie was

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UK - Sitaaray, a Bollywood-themed two-tier dining and corporate hospitality complex, has opened in London's Drury Lane with a sound system that incorporates JBL Control series speakers, Crown Xs series amplification and a complex BSS Soundweb London DSP routing system and mode switcher, all supplied by Harman Pro UK and installed by the Sound Division Group.

The new restaurant, above last year's much-vaunted Tamarai, completes restaurant entrepreneur Rohit Khattar's mission to combine a restaurant, 5.1 cinema, dance venue, art gallery and corporate entertainment under one roof.

The Sound Division Group was commissioned to install the complex system requirements by the restaurant's parent company Old World Hospitality. The company arrived on site in 2005, soon after Rohit Khattar purchased the former Millennium Club with a view to providing an extravagant sister operation in Lo

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USA - New Covenant Ministries in Lithona, Georgia, has a new sound system designed by Ronnie Stanford of dB Audio and Video. For years, New Covenant suffered through a sound system that provided terrible coverage to much of the main room. "Between the mix position and the first row," recalled Stanford, "there was a 25dB drop! If you got thingssounding right at the mix position, you blew the front row away. Altogether,it was a poor design filled with poor speakers.

"But New Covenant had a very sharp tech team," Stanford continued. "They knew exactly what they wanted in the way of fidelity. Pastor Billy Johnson is an amazing musician with an extraordinary voice. When we brought our first demo over, he asked us to turn it off so that he could play keyboard through the system. That was the real test."

The challenge for Stanford was to deliver 105

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USA - New York's Brooklyn Academy of Music has installed a new 32-axis power flying system from Stage Technologies, making its backstage equipment "as current, sophisticated and impressive as any major new build".

During a dormant period of nearly two decades the building greatly deteriorated and suffered extensive water damage. A major restoration project in the 1980s worked to retain and dramatically enhance the building's historic appearance. Without detracting from the prime aesthetics of the building, a new power flying system has been installed to automate the theatre's existing scenery bars, enabling a much quicker turnaround for performances.

The venue is now equipped with 32 BigTow winches and controlled from an Acrobat control console. The power flying system eliminates the use of counterweight cradles, improving the theatre's health & safety backstage. Sta

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UK - As the largest co-educational boarding school in the UK, Millfield School in Somerset recently commissioned a fully-featured concert hall, the focal point of a newly-developed £12 million music block. The public school brought in Arup Acoustics, who became responsible for sound containment and acoustic optimisation, while Stirling Trading were awarded the contract to specify and fit out the auditorium and provide other music facilities.

Andrew Stirling managed the project personally, specifying a Nexo PS15 system to meet the diverse programme requirements, ranging from orchestral recitals to rock concerts. "The brief for the concert hall was to provide a good quality utility sound reinforcement system that would principally fulfil the vocal requirement," said Stirling. "It needed to be sufficiently powerful without being overly-intrusive, and so we opte

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UK - Stuart Myles, technical manager of the Coade Hall theatre - part of Bryanston School in Dorset - has declared himself "blown away" by their new ETC Congo desk, recently purchased through dealer Stage Electrics.

Myles explains: "We looked at several desks within our price range and Congo was the one that fitted our needs and requirements. It offers us the ability to run generic lights for theatrical shows in a traditional way, while also enabling us to bolt on the moving lights when we do rock concerts. We also really like the fact that the software updates, which ETC brings out on a regular basis, are free of charge, so as a growing school theatre, we are confident that Congo will grow with us.

"ETC's Jeremy Roberts came to demonstrate the desk to us, and it was not long after we first took delivery that our 15 to 18 year old stage crew were flying aro

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UK - Stage One has recently taken delivery of a Routech Chronos CNC machining centre, a nine tonne, five-axis machine with a working size of 3m x 1.5m x a 800mm Z height - one of only four in the UK.

This technology enables Stage One to machine out both scenery and 3D objects such as moulds or sculptural pieces, in wood or plastic, with the utmost precision, making "an astonishing variety of 3D models a possibility and allowing the company to offer a rapid prototyping service to customers.

"Machines such as these have been used in other industries, such as furniture making for some time," says Stage One production director Chris Augur. "We believe, however, that this machine is unique to our industry and added to our portfolio, will allow us to provide yet another exclusive service for our clients; in fact it has already caused quite a stir."

Purchas

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USA - Blues System's North American debut at USITT, Phoenix was a great success, according to the company. The product range, manufactured in the UK by Global Design Solutions and specifically designed for backstage lighting applications in the working theatre, won the PLASA 2006 Innovations Award at its European launch last year and Blues System has already been installed at various venues in Europe.

TMB has been appointed the exclusive distributor for Blues System in the Americas, Asia and the Middle East. Said Chris Curran, TMB's architectural sales director: "Blues System is truly one of those 'why didn't I think of that?' new products. It solves many backstage lighting problems as well as offering options that were previously impractical. We were almost overwhelmed by the positive response at USITT and also by the various possible new applications that arose during con

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Greece - Chios has long been considered one of the most beautiful Aegean islands. Now, with the 1,200 capacity Palazzo club, Chios has gained a new attraction. In addition to an elegant ambience, the club boasts a Dynacord alpha sound system.

To ensure that the dance floors of the 1,200 capacity Palazzo remain packed at all times, the management regularly brings in internationally famous DJs from abroad to relieve the house roster.

Club manager Tsatsalis Leonidas comments, "Whilst in terms of location and ambience, the Palazzo can easily hold its own with the best in Greece, it's our sound system that really sets us apart. There we really are setting new standards, as we've been told now, repeatedly, by visiting DJs."

The sound system that gives the Palazzo the edge is an alpha system from Dynacord. In use now in many of the world's top discotheques (including the

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USA - Utilising JBL Professional PD Series loudspeakers, Westbury National Show Systems designed and installed the audio system at the new Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, IL. The 11,000-seat arena opened in October 2006, and has already hosted concerts by Bob Dylan and Duran Duran. The Sears Centre is also the new home of the Chicago Hounds (United Hockey League), the Chicago Storm (Major Indoor Soccer League), the Chicago Shamrox (National Lacrosse League) and the Chicago Slaughter (Continental Indoor Football League).

The seating area of the Sears Centre is arranged in a horseshoe pattern, to which Westbury National designed the system accordingly. Four clusters of three JBL PD5212/64 loudspeakers were placed along the north and south sides, while two clusters of two were hung in the northwest and southwest corners. Additionally, two clusters of three PD5212/64's are located

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Sweden - Studer has taken an order for one of its compact Vista 5 digital audio consoles from a new venue attached to the Stadsteater in Gothenborg, the first in Scandinavia to choose the Vista 5 as a front-of-house mixing desk. The sale of the first Swedish Vista 5 has been followed by the appointment of a new distributor in Sweden, LydRommet Sverige A/B.

The Vista 5 console is destined for the Backa Teater company, part of the Gothenborg City Theatre, or Stadsteater, and generally regarded as one of the most interesting and attractive theatre groups in Sweden. Music plays a large role in its live productions and there are five musicians working permanently in the group.

In 1989, the Backa company moved into a reconstructed factory on the Hisingen Island close to the central parts of Gothenburg, but, after eighteen years in that building, the City of Gothenburg has decided to

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USA - February 2007 saw the Indianapolis Colts beat the Chicago Bears by 29 points to 17 ensuring the most prestigious National Football League (NFL) Superbowl trophy, making its way from east coast to the Midwest states. And Lighthouse screens were an integral part of the format showcasing the ultra-fine resolution all over the country through CBS Sports broadcasting. Shining brightest of all - on what proved to be a wet and miserable evening in the Dolphins Stadium, Miami - was a Lighthouse R4 4mm LED screen.

Bringing all the actions to a worldwide television audience of millions, CBS television's open-sided pitch-side television studio saw host Dan Marino joined by former American football players-turned-pundits Jim Brown, Shannon Sharpe and Boomer Esiason.

Used to display the game's score and NFL graphics, the Lighthouse 4mm screen was arranged three panels wide by one pan

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UK - At the Guild Hall in Preston, Adlib Audio has completed the design and installation of an ultra-flexible sound reinforcement system, despite the challenges of the infrastructure. The result cleverly addresses the changing needs of the venue, using available technology from Nexo and custom designs from Kelsey Acoustic, as it hosts a huge variety of productions and events both theatre style and in-the-round.

Built in 1972 to mark the Guild Celebrations of that year, the Guild Hall and Charter Theatre is one of Britain's most successful multi-purpose, entertainment, exhibition and conference centres, and is now renowned internationally for its presentation of entertainment and major indoor sporting events. The auditorium, which has an adaptable stage area, can accommodate more than 2000 people for a concert or theatre production. It is also used for high-profile sporting compe

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UK - When Sheriff Taylor set out to convert the Settle Down basement bar in London's affluent Kensington into a venue seeking A-list celebrities, he wanted to create an opulent environment split into three separate areas. Two distinct 'satellite' lounges - the 80-capacity Cocktail Bar and 120-capacity Champagne Bar - would operate off the main club area, which holds a maximum of 300 people.

The interior creation of this £1 million project was entrusted to Siberian designer, Valentina Druzhinina. Each of the rooms is delineated by different chandeliers and a different colour scheme - white for the Cocktail Bar, a warmer brown for the Champagne Bar and black granite and black marble in the main room, with textured black Ulf Moritz wallpaper and curtains.

For their audio requirements, the club contacted residential/home theatre specialists Audio Venue, who were already know

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UK - Justin Hawkins has purchased a Pro Tools / ICON Console system from HHB. Comprising a 32-fader ICOND-Control console, Pro Tools HD3, extensive storage and a full suite of plug-ins,the system forms the heart of the former Darkness frontman's new recording facility in North West London.

"The HHB team has been great to deal with right from the start," reports Hawkins. Commenting for HHB, Greg Wheeler says "Everyone at HHB particularly enjoyed working on this project. The new studio looks and sounds great, and we wish Justin every success."

(Jim Evans)

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Germany - The German contemporary restaurant franchise Café 7 has opened its latest franchise featuring fully integrated lighting control from Zero 88. Style and branding are core to Café 7's philosophy and part of their franchise agreements is to maintain their distinctive ambience and style. During the day they operate as cosy café's but as evening approaches Café 7's evolve into relaxed bars offering a range of international wines and cuisines.

For its fourth franchise, which opened in Münster during February 2007, Cafe 7 chose Zero 88 for the lighting control. The management of the café needed a simple way for staff to seamlessly integrate ambient house lighting, colour changing LED and disco lighting effects. The combination of Chilli dimmers, remote panels and Frog-Box replay unit were chosen for their ease of installation, ease of use a

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UK - Dolly Parton, one of the most honoured female country performers of all time, has unveiled a plaque of her handprints, which will be on permanent display in Wembley, London's Square of Fame. The ceremony took place as Parton prepared to go on stage for a sold-out performance at Wembley Arena, part of the singer's 17-city, 10-country European tour.

The legendary singer, songwriter and actress joins other iconic artists including Madonna, Cliff Richard, Status Quo, George Michael, Kylie Minogue and snooker champion Stephen Hendry in having a permanent cast of her hands in the Square of Fame. On unveiling her handprints, Parton commented: "It is wonderful to be performing here at Wembley and an honour to leave my handprints in the Square. I never realised just how small my hands are."

(Jim Evans)

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Singapore - Only once every three years is the annual World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) meeting hosted outside Washington, D.C. In 2006, Singapore was chosen as the venue with about 16,000 delegates attending the meeting.

To accommodate them, 35 meeting rooms were equipped with audio visual equipment and conference microphones - with 14 of these rooms being exclusively equipped with Bosch DCN Next Generation simultaneous interpretation systems for up to nine languages.

The Danish company Teletech was selected as the sub-contractor for supplying the DCN Next Generation interpretation system and worked with the local AV supplier Showtec who installed the AV system.

(Jim Evans)

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USA - The Duderstadt Center on the campus of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor boasts a recently overhauled, state-of-the-art audio recording studio.

At the heart of the Walters-Storyk Design Group renovation is a new API Vision console that allows its users to intelligently mix in both stereo and surround formats simultaneously.

David Greenspan, audio resources coordinator at the Center, comments, "We're effectively calibrating our students' ears and brains so that their baseline standard is pristine analogue sound. When they hear other technologies or manipulations, they'll be able to hear and mitigate artefacts. That was reason enough to get an API console. With the Vision however, students are also learning to explore and conceptualise movement in space and timeand to think in both stereo and surround at a fundamental level."

(Jim Evans)

  1. Academy Music Group confirms Live Nation link
  2. MPOWERdome for Canberra
  3. Meyer reinforces the sound of La Academia
  4. Paul Morrill joins PRG
  5. Klotz Digital Launches Varizone VAB-Line
  6. AV Matrix invests in Martin Professional
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