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

Sound

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As ever, a host of new products was on show from the members of Harman Pro Group. JBL showed a new range of studio monitors; the LSR4300 is self-powered speaker to use for a computer-based project studio, and comes with software, mic clip and calibration microphone. Designed to run on Harman HiQnet, the software allows volume control over multiple speakers (e.g. 5:1) and includes a hand-held remote control giving control of all LSR features. Place mic at the mix position, engage room analyser, and the LSR gives automatic room mode correction. Aggressively priced.

Control 322C and 328C are ceiling speakers from JBL, 12" and 8" respectively and with 90° and 100° conical dispersion, high end coming from a compression driver mounted behind and on-axis of the cone speaker. Also on show were new Drive Packs for the Vertech 88 and 82 cabinets. All take three different inputs; one

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Duran Audio recently released an update to its Axys Intellivox digitally steerable arrays. Now, with six channels of DSP, the arrays are even more steerable with more definition and throw. Also on the stand was an unusual-looking item, the Axys Intellidisk - a 90cm diameter disk with a total of 41 4" drivers in a grid giving exceptional steerability and directivity in both planes.
Doughty - Banner - from 6 June 2025

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With 22 new products on show, beyerdynamic had most audio bases were covered. The company presented the Opus 86 flexible gooseneck microphone, a lightweight mic with high gain before feedback, designed for easy mounting for a variety of applications, including any type of instrument from sax to accordion. Powered by a 9V battery, the unit can mix three mic inputs and route the output to a pocket transmitter or wired power supply unit. The Opus 89 vocal microphone made its debut: the hypercardioid handheld is built to withstand the rigours of the road.

The MCW-D 50 wireless conference system isa digital system, broadcasting on 2.4GHz DSSS transmission technology, featuring 128-bit data encryption and the ability to operate a total of 4,096 mic units on up to nine bi-directional data channels: flexible and expandable.

Among its third-party lines, beyerdynamic showed the Viper Digital P

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USA - While readying the sound system for the Wynn Las Vegas' brand new Aqua Theatre, theatrical audio specialist Pascal Van Strydonck, head of audio for the venue and also the show's sound designer, was presented with a significant problem. The 2,087-seat, in-the-round home of Franco Dragone's Le Reve - The Show was suddenly not the same venue acoustically as originally designed. Fronted by a Yamaha DM2000 digital console, the house PA, a 5.1 surround, 360-degree, six-zone system by Meyer Sound, was already ordered and installed, yet architectural and rigging changes significantly affected its performance.

As a result, Van Strydonck decided that comprehensive acoustic measurement and tuning were in order for the theatre. "The quality of the PA is impeccable," says Van Strydonck. "But unfortunately the cabinet types were chosen for a specific design and it

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Autograph Sales' Mike Mann detailed the company's new direction: "Autograph Sales is a revitalized company, we have come of age and entered a new phase," he said. The company has tracked down several smaller independent audio manufacturers - one being EM Acoustics, a young British loudspeaker manufacturing company based in Surrey. With Autograph Sound Recording using many DiGiCo D5Ts on high profile theatre shows, Autograph Sales has recently also taken on the D1. On the software front, acoustic analysis programme Room Tools from German company Ascendo was being demonstrated. Working in conjunction with a USB audio box with software can provide RTA, FFT, waterfall plots of frequency decay, amongst other things, in real time.

Finally, Mann was excited to show us the new GR2 Analogue Zone Mixer from Allen & Heath: the model with serial number 1, in fact.

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Penton UK manufactures and sells loudspeakers for voice evacuation and background music systems. At PLASA this year, the company was exhibiting the latest addition to its range, the RCS3/T miniature ceiling loudspeaker. Rated at 6W, the 100 volt line, 8 ohm metal fitting only requires a cut-out of 78mm, a similar size to downlighters, making them less conspicuous in a ceiling. The RCS3/Ts, like all Penton products, are BS5839 Part 8 compliant.

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ADS Worldwide's project manager, Keith Prescott, describes the company as the one-stop-shop for public address systems. The ADS stand was full of a selection of the company's wide range of products including background music systems, induction loop amplifiers, loudspeakers and accessories.

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From Finland, EKS was capitalizing on the massive success of its XP10 scratchable MP3 audio pad. Weighing just 370g, it can replace a 5kg CD player, say the company. This year, the XP10 was running with Bison v0.9, the latest version of its proprietary software, which brings two important new features to the mix - perfect vinyl emulation and time stretch. Time stretch maintains the pitch while you change the speed to faster or slower.

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Forward-looking Digidesign presented several new augmentations for its digital desk, the Venue. D-Show 1.1 is a free update, giving a new Variable Group mode that permits operators to configure 24 discrete mix busses, in addition to main LCR bus. Drawmer TourBuss gives live sound engineers four plug-ins for the desk, noise gate, expander, comp/limiter and a bracketing filter. D-Show Script Tray is a simple flat transparent tray designed to fit above the console surface and roll across it without disturbing any controls, while supporting notes, cue sheets - even a Laptop, anything reasonable the operator needs to hand. Personal Q Monitoring software and hardware allows for remote mixes from the main desk transmitted over a four-pin XLR to PQ wired controllers.

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The company launched a number of new products including the new Monitor Q ceiling speaker, MQ50C, a compact designed, limited depth, lightweight ceiling speaker. RCF says this is ideal for use in any PA system, or background/foreground music system, where high quality sound reproduction is required. The unit offers quick and easy installation.

Also new, the ART 110-Ti is a two-way high efficiency compact speaker system, offering high intelligibility, say RCF, and an ideal solution for fixed installation thanks to M10 inserts and optional accessories. The ART 110-Ti is recommended for permanent installations with constant voltage or low impedance speaker connections, sound reinforcement systems in small spaces or with distributed speakers and AV playback.

RCF also showed the latest additions to the 4PRO speaker range, the 4PRO 7001 passive loudspeaker system and the 7001-A (active) to

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Lamba distributes Stanton, KAM, Cerwin Vega (see elsewhere) and KRK in the UK. KAM's section on the Lamba stand featured over new 130 products including three new speaker ranges - the 2 Series, KSF and IMS Mk II. Also new was a wireless microphone range - the KWM - offering a complete range of systems from entry level to 96-channel UHF dual mic systems with IR.

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Stirling Audio is a distributor of studio equipment and live mics including the Audix brand and Ashley installation graphic EQs, amps and distribution units. The company also handles Aphex rack-mounted compressors and mic preamps. An assortment of products were on the stand, together with the Metric Halo Mobile 10 for location and broadcast work for those who travel and want to record on the move.

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Ian McCarthy - probably one of the most popular men at PLASA - reports that sales of MC2 amplifiers have gone through the roof. The company, set to expand production by up to 50% by Christmas, has also recently expanded into an adjacent unit at its production facility, a move that McCarthy hopes will help to ensure that MC2 can keep up with demand. As if they were not busy enough, they'll be announcing a brand new product - the E4750 - at Frankfurt, but everything else about it is top secret . . . watch this space.

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Community UK became its own entity on 1 July this year, making this the first time the company has exhibited at PLASA in its own right. On show was the expanded iBOX range of installation speakers, which has numerous array and dispersion pattern options, all in cabinets of identical size. The new iBOX HP3500 series, which are slightly larger than the existing 1200 and 1500 series, are a high performance 3-way system. Both the iHP3564 and iHP3594 are loaded with a 15" and 8" low- and mid-range drivers plus a 1.4" throated, edge-wound voice coil compression driver. Dispersion from the two boxes varies from 60° x 40° for the iHP3564 to 90° x 40° for the iHP3594, and both loudspeakers can operate in either passive or bi-amped modes.

To complement the range, two subs have also been released in the form of the i118S and i215LVS, and have the same physical dimensions as the

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The Camco UCA Network module from UK distributor Fuzion gives full DSP function to any speaker system you wish to input. Only German specification sheets were available on stand, but we can confirm this is a two-channel unit - visit www.camcoaudio.com for more.

From Australian Monitor, the new QF5A ceiling speaker, a quality 5" unit with multi-tap transformer is an upgrade of the QF5 which it replaces, and is designed for fast-fit installation.

A full-range system for bars and theme venues, the FG Series from T&M comprises five models with a choice of three subs. The new RMW-1152 MicroWedge from Radian is a line of ultra-compact stage monitors for live sound applications. Finally, from Work comes the Studio Series install speaker for bars and clubs using a small horn tweeter. With a 100V/70V line option - the Studio series is designed for hi-fi background music.

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The TiMax SoundTablet from Outboard is a cue-driven sound effects editing and playback package operable from any desktop, laptop or tablet PC, available at a very realistic price. Eight mono or stereo audio sample tracks per cue, mixable to eight soundcard outs; simultaneous and instantaneous multi-channel playback from PC hard drive; limitless Playlist cues triggered either manually or by MIDI, SMPTE, RS232, or a follow-on timeline. The drag-and-drop function of manipulating cues and effects makes this a no-brainer to work with.

If added to TiMax imaging software, with its complex manipulation of multiple delays to produce satisfyingly realistic image-shifting sound effects, SoundTablet directly applies Image definitions to perform enhanced static and dynamic pan imaging.

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MEDC, specialists in loudspeakers for voice evacuation in hazardous areas, was showing its new explosion proof (meaning they won't cause one), BS5839 Part 8 compliant, Next Two speakers at PLASA. The loudspeakers are designed for use on oil rigs and other similar harsh industrial environments.

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MilTec (UK) featured several new products from the Ecler brand, including the Ambit 103 and 106 loudspeakers, the DPA, XPA and DT ranges of amplifiers and the DP300 effects processor. Further new audio products included a series of Beyma neodymium driver and line array horn loudspeakers.

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Equipson showed its new Studio Series loudspeakers. The new range is specifically aimed at providing high quality audio for short spaces that have high ceilings, such as shops, galleries and museums and are designed to minimize diffusion to maintain intelligibility.

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Signet, manufacturers of induction loop, voice alarm and emergency telephone systems were showing its recently introduced Pro range of induction loop amplifiers at this years show. The PDA Pro-Range come in three varieties, PDA200/2, PDA500/2 and PDA1000/2, which relate to the number of square meters the loop can encompass. Also, on the stand was the neatly packaged PL1/K1 Portable Induction Loop system ideal for use anywhere and ready in seconds. The system is capable of generating a loop field of 1.2m2 , provides excellent sound quality and runs off a rechargeable battery.

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Peavey focused attention on a new live sound desk made in Australia - the Smart Console. Really, it's a work surface designed to be used with products such as Peavey's Nion (now we see their logic). The control surface comes in three formats - 48-, 72- and 96-channel, each topped by a sweeping arc bridge which exemplifies the innovative approach taken by the Smart Console. Besides being a meter bridge, the arc gives the operator instant access to any channel by sweeping a finger along the touch-sensitive strip below the channel linear meters. A simple scribble strip beneath each channel is read by character recognition software from below and transferred onto the digital display above the channel faders on the main work surface below.

Highly intuitive, but radically unconventional, the Smart Console is intended as a universal control surface to work with ultimately any engine. Besides

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Probably one of the most useful products at the show is the new Samson USB microphone, the C01U. The condenser mic plus directly into a USB port on either a PC or Mac allowing direct digital recording into the machine. The A/D converters are placed as close to the capsule as physically possible and were designed specifically for the microphone.

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Utilizing Alcons' own 18" ribbon tweeter, the new Q-Series is a true flat line array in the purest sense of the name. Highly directive Q comes in 1m modules with frequency control in the lower ranges increasing as you add modules, potentially down to 80Hz if you like a line that tall. With 90° horizontal dispersion and the high claimed power of the ribbon driver, a single module makes for a very powerful cabinet.Alcons' Ultra Compact Line Array comprises two cabinets, the LR14 and LR14B (bass). It can be flown (including the sub), or groundstacked, and uniquely with the mid/high boxes pole-mounted (up to three boxes) in a yoke-style harness, adjustments can still be made to the arraying intervals between the cabinets. All with on-board amps and DSP.

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The Mach CW 115 is the newest subwoofer in Mach's new C-Range of installation speakers. The powerful reflex-loaded sub is designed for heavy-duty use in professional environments, say Mach. Like all speakers in the Mach C-Range, the CW 115 is designed to fit unobtrusively into any install environment and features the same flying point principles used on the C-Range top boxes. The Mach C-Range also includes the CI Series of molded speakers for in-fill applications, and the first in a series of white CI Series moulded speakers, the CI 6, also featured at PLASA.
  1. Canford Audio
  2. LMC Audio
  3. Tannoy
  4. American Audio Europe
  5. Fametrack
  6. Innovason
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Astera - Large MPU - June 2025
Sennheiser - MPU - June 2025

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