The Netherlands - Digital fibre solutions specialists, Optocore has entered into an agreement with fellow German manufacturers Fohhn Audio AG, to provide multi-channel digital connectivity to their pioneering Linea Focus electronically steerable loudspeakers.

Explaining the background to the partnership, Fohhn's public relations & marketing manager, Daniela Bohl, stated, "We were looking for a solution to provide our speaker systems with a digital signal and control data; up to now we only had an analogue solution.

"We chose Optocore because they are the pioneers of that technology and there is a perfect fit between our two companies, as we are both innovation-driven and German based."

In order to provide integration onto the Optocore networks, the fibre specialists have created a special card, while Fohhn has developed a purpose enclosure, which can be attach

The Netherlands - tvONE launches the CORIO matrix mini at ISE 2015 this week. The new, 1 RU, routing switcher is more than just a matrix router, it provides a 12-port matrix router, scaler, format converter, audio router and HDBaseT extender all in one unit. The C3-310, CORIOmatrix mini uses modular hardware with five (or 16 with the larger 4 RU, C3-340) configurable AV module slots that offer a wide mix of top-quality signal management options plus two fixed, universal inputs.

The CORIOmatrix mini is also equipped with a powerful new web browser user interface (also now integrated in the larger, 32-port C3-340), which allows users to choose from 4 different views and be able to drag and drop inputs or outputs to these views to monitor and adjust the video and audio routing from an accessible, networked remote location.

"In today's world, A/V installations and BYOD enviro

The Netherlands - Outline has chosen ISE 2015 as the global launch event for their new large-scale permanent installation product.

The Outline STADIA100 LA range combines key principles of line-source theory with well-established proprietary Outline technologies to produce a range of products which provide the perfect 'toolbox' for those engaged in audio installations in very large spaces such as sports stadia, says the company.

The new loudspeakers are an original design created specifically for purpose. Capable of delivering up to 149 dB with a peak input power handling of 8kW, coupled with pin-point accuracy of directional control over long distances, the STADIA100 LA delivers the power and accuracy to provide perfectly intelligible full-range audio throughout the largest spaces.

Construction and finishing techniques developed specifically for long-term outdoor installati

USA - At this year's NAMM Show in Anaheim, Studiomaster showed its latest offerings for the pro audio retail market. The Vision and ultra-compact ClubXS mixing desks debuted alongside Drive, the company's new high spec injection-moulded powered PA cabinets, and an uprated replacement for the existing VPX and VSX series.

The Drive series is a two-way, active, portable injection-moulded PA cabinet. Best-in-class performance and build specifications, and a highly competitive price tag, greatly improve on the VPX and VSX series Drive replaces. Premium competitive features include exemplary weight-to-power / SPL ratios; making the Drive smaller lighter and louder than most leading comparable PA series.

The new Studiomaster ClubXS is a price / specification competitive portable mixer series, aimed at gigging musicians, sub-mixing, small venue install, corporate and other enterprise

UK - Audiologic has further strengthened its team with the appointment of technical support specialist Yavor 'Max' Yanakiev. Max joins Audiologic from the Shoreditch Bars Group where he was tasked with designing, installing and commissioning audio and AV systems for the group's various premises, as well as supervising, training and offering technical support to in-house and freelance engineers.

Having gained qualifications in electronics and broadcast engineering during an already impressive career, in 2010 Max obtained a 1st Class Honours BSc in Audio Video Systems from London Metropolitan University, leaving Audiologic's sales and marketing manager Andy Lewis to reflect on an appointment of the highest calibre:

"Max will work with our in-house team in relation to all our brands as well as, where necessary, visiting customer sites to offer support. His wide-ranging techn

The Netherlands - Audinate, creators of digital media networking solution Dante, announced at ISE 2015 that 200 manufacturers have now adopted Dante, the Audio over IP networking solution. The company hit this milestone just six months after announcing their 150th manufacturer.

Recent licensees span a wide range of industries and applications, reflecting the universal need for a truly interoperable, low latency, high quality Audio over IP solution. Dante is expanding to include manufacturers from diverse verticals including broadcast, conferencing, information technology and communications.

In addition, Audinate announced that it has shipped over 20m Dante network channels to date with 50% of those shipping in the past 12 months. This proliferation has been driven by an increasing number of earlier licensees now shipping Dante-enabled products, as well as increased demand from

The Netherlands - The M-5000 digital mixing console from Roland will make its debut to the European market at ISE 2015 this week (booth 7-Q212/7-Q215). This console is based on a new operating platform from Roland that provides more adaptability to individual workflow than any previous option.

The platform, known as O.H.R.C.A, stands for three key concepts: Open; High Resolution; and Configurable Architecture. This combination adapts to the needs both of the application and the operator by delivering 128 freely definable audio paths, an extremely flexible user interface, expandable protocols and multiple-format I/O choices. All paths are delivered at a pristine 24-bit/96kHz sound quality.

The key to the Roland M-5000 Live Mixing Console's internal architecture is that it is not fixed to any configuration. It can be freely defined within a range of up to 128 input or output cha

The Netherlands - At ISE 2015, HK Audio is presenting a series of new system solutions for installation applications in collaboration with Lab.gruppen.

As of this week, passive HK Audio ranges such as Elements, Linear 5, ConTour, ConTour Array, Cadis, Vortis and the IL Series can be operated using Lab.gruppen's new IPD Series amplifiers.

The collaboration makes a variety of HK Audio system solutions possible that set new standards in terms of sound quality, ease of use, features, energy efficiency and value for money, says HK.

Lars Langholz, product manager at HK Audio, said, "When developing system solutions that would meet the high standards of the HK Audio passive installation ranges, we tried and tested many amplifiers on the market. Nothing at that price point came close to the feature set and overall sonic quality of Lab.gruppen's IPD Series."

The IPD platf

Russia - Black Cat Music recently installed a Diva Acoustical Shell system in Moscow's Nazarov Musical Theatre.

In a competitive tender, Black Cat Music's Berlin based team won the contract in the face of tough international competition. Originally built for the Moscow Olympic Games of 1980, the Nazarov Musical Theatre has recently undergone a major refurbishment. The revival in fortunes for the theatre, located within the Olympic Games legacy site, began when it became part of the Moscow State Philharmony in 2014. A requirement of the building overhaul was an upgrade for the auditorium acoustics, with an acoustic shell being specified by Moscow State Philharmony.

With the contract awarded, the Berlin based project team of Paula Ulrich and Tim Ehrlich worked to increasingly tight time scales while also accommodating client changes to the final dimensions of the Diva shell. Tha

UK - Flare Audio has again impressed on former Westlife frontman Shane Filan's second solo tour. The first tour represented a milestone for the West Sussex-based audio manufacturer as it was the first UK-wide outing by a major artist to use Flare's touring speaker system, the X5A line array. The impressive 'audio punch and clarity' combined with the lightweight and compactness of the products led to the production team immediately re-selecting Flare for the second tour.

Configured with six X5s and four Q18 bass units each side and powered by Lab.gruppen PLM20000Q four channel DSP amplifiers, the system was a revelation to sound engineer Darryl Walsh. "To say this system is stunning is an understatement," he enthused. "I can only describe it as a blank canvas for mixing; the PA is sonically almost 'invisible'."

Walsh used the Flare system for 31 of the 34 sh

Canada - Having completed a series of significant upgrades to six control rooms at its Agincourt and Queen Street campuses in Scarborough, Ontario, in 2011, Bell Media (former CTV Canada) has expanded and integrated its Lawo mc²56 and zirkonXL consoles around a Lawo Nova73 router - creating a networked infrastructure with a total of five mc² series consoles.

The initial installation supported migration from SD to HD, and included four mc²56 MkI digital production consoles and two zirkonXL consoles. These have now been joined by a further mc²56 MkII console.

The audio mixing systems were initially chosen for the broadcast of the 2010 Winter Games by Canada's Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium and comprised a 64-fader mc²56 console configured with DSP cards, redundant processors, 15 MADI ports, 32 AES3id I/O, and three DALLIS frames which were located at the Agincourt Campu

Europe - Global production company Stage Entertainment's Holiday On Ice has an illustrious 70-year history and is, to date, the most visited ice show in the world. This ever-evolving visual spectacular took to the road in November for a three-month tour of Europe.

Focus Advanced Event Technology, part of the Netherlands' Rent-All Group, is providing a full technical package for the tour, including a substantial L-Acoustics ARCS Wide and ARCS Focus loudspeaker system.

Designed by Jeroen ten Brinke - arguably Dutch theatre's best-known sound designer, having been involved in large-scale theatre productions including Soldier of Orange and Anne, and European partner for international sound design group ADI - the L-Acoustics solution was chosen for its audio quality and flexibility.

"The position of the lighting rig changes from time to time and, as a result, the posi

USA - PLASA Focus: Orlando 2015 opens in one week, taking place on 17-18 February at the Rosen Plaza Hotel.

The two-day event kicks off Tuesday at 9:00am with Richard Pilbrow's educational seminar titled Light and Theatre? 50 Years of Change. Additional seminars follow and the exhibition hall opens at 10:00am-5:00pm with over 60 regional and national companies exhibiting the latest in entertainment technology. On Wednesday, the exhibition hall and seminar programme runs from 10:00am-4:00pm.

"We are thrilled with the incredibly high pre-registration numbers that we've seen so far, and can't wait for an extremely successful PLASA Focus event," said Laura Hoepker, PLASA Events sales executive. "Between the show floor and educational seminars, we are providing access to the best in the industry to everyone who attends."

Free registration to both the sh

The Netherlands - Yamaha Music Europe has launched two new, low profile ceiling loudspeakers. The latest addition to Yamaha's expanding Commercial Installation Solutions (CIS) range of products, the new VXC-F loudspeakers are being launched on the company's stand 2-A40 at Amsterdam RAI.

Featuring a newly designed speaker unit and resin enclosure, optimally tuned for music playback, the shallow, lightweight construction and flexible design of the VXC3F and VXC5F can easily conform to the strictest installation limitations, says the company.

The VXC3F features a 3.5" full-range bass reflex driver rated at 20w, with the VXC5F a 4.5" driver rated at 40w. The speaker unit and back box volume have been painstakingly matched to achieve well-balanced reproduction of all frequencies, even at low output levels - delivering refined, natural music reproduction at any volume leve

The Netherlands - Tannoy is introducing two additions to the the QFlex range, specifically engineered to offer fully optimised solutions for life safety applications.

Tannoy has developed the new QFlex Life Safety (LS) models as a cost effective solution for critical, life safety applications, a solution that balances complex power consumption needs with the high performance and intelligibility that is the core of the proven QFlex range. The new models have an optimised driver placement and improved current draw, making them suitable for applications where emergency voice alarms or communications may be required.

The new QFlex 16LS and QFlex 32LS column loudspeakers are designed primarily for large transportation hubs as part of a PA/VA system where speech is the main audio source, either from live announcements or via pre-recorded message. These new QFlex life safety models a

The Netherlands - Radial Engineering revealed at ISE 2015 the IceCube IC-1, an ultra-compact balanced line isolator designed to fit inside a technician's tool kit to eliminate hum and buzz caused by ground loops in audio systems.

Radial sales manager Roc Bubel comments, "The use of isolators to solve noise problems is not new; small plastic units have been around for years. But the problem with these is that they were designed years ago - back when audio systems had limitations both with respect to signal-to-noise, dynamic handling and sound quality. Today, with the advent of digital audio sources, high performance mixers and line array technology, the frequency response and dynamics have increased to the point that those older devices simply cannot keep up. We identified the problem then began looking for a solution some 18 months ago.

"The best way to solve ground

The Netherlands - Coinciding with its 40th anniversary, RTS has introduced the first keypanel series with OMNEO on board at ISE 2015. The KP-Series keypanels set a new milestone within the RTS product range, combining HD colour displays, improved single key operation and full compatibility with all existing RTS matrices in a modern design.

KP-Series keypanels are suitable for a wide range of intercom product customers such as broadcast production studios, theatre and sport venues, houses of worship, and outside broadcast (OB) vans.

The new KP-Series family from RTS includes three members: KP-5032 - two-rack unit keypanel with 32 operation keys; KP-4016 - one-rack unit keypanel with 16 operation keys, and EKP-4016 - one-rack unit extension panel with 16 operation keys.

(Jim Evans)

Italy - The KU210 from K-array is an ultra thin, high performance passive subwoofer designed to be the companion to any of the K-array Installed Sound Series. A combination of extended frequency response with prodigious output and a virtually invisible profile make the KU210 an appropriate fit for even the most ambitious projects.

The subwoofer is comprised of a 10" neodymium transducer, combined with a 10" passive transducers, instead of a reflex, which ensures that the device remains completely sealed. The unit is engineered for maximum linear excursion and minimum residual noise. Its neodymium transducer has a double voice coil to allow for selectable impedance settings allowing you to combine up to four KU210s powered by just one channel of the KA84 amplifier.

KU210 is made entirely of steel, making it extremely resistant, even when deployed outside in tough weat

UK - d&b audiotechnik GB has announced the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (RCSSD) will be hosting two Y-Series product presentations at the Embassy Theatre in Swiss Cottage, London on Wednesday, 25 March. This is an opportunity to listen to the system up close and personal and learn more about this new series of loudspeakers.

"We'll start by taking a look at how d&b arrived at the Y-Series, which comprises both point source and line array loudspeakers," explains Steve Jones of d&b GB Education and Application Support." We'll then focus on the Y7P and Y10P point sources and what makes them so special; we'll also be listening to them with the B6-SUB, a single 18" bass-reflex design with a frequency response down to 37 Hz. Then we'll delve into the line source line up, have a listen, add the cardioid Y-SUB ... then turn it up.

"Y should you come

USA - The University of Iowa Hawkeyes football team plays all of its home games in the 70,500-seat Kinnick Stadium, which is located on the west side of campus. It is adjacent to residences on one side and to campus buildings on the other side, one of which is the University Hospital.

Although it's fair to say that almost all Iowans stand behind the Hawkeyes (there is no pro team in the state) it's also true that Iowans who are recovering in the hospital deserve peace and quiet, even on game day. When school officials became disenchanted with the lo-fi sound and poor coverage of Kinnick Stadium's old sound reinforcement system, they worried that elevating it to modern standards would only increase game day complaints from the hospital.

Those worries have been allayed. Kinnick Stadium's new high-powered Danley Sound Labs system - the first in the world to use the massive Caleb

USA - At the 57th annual Grammy Awards - held on 8 February 8, 2015 - Gwen Stefani performed using Audio-Technica Artist Elite 5000 Series Wireless with an AEW-T6100a Hypercardioid Dynamic Handheld Microphone/Transmitter. Stefani and Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine performed My Heart Is Open from Maroon 5's 2014 album V.

"Live broadcasts are extremely challenging, as we only have one chance to get it right," stated John Harris, co-music mixer. "I have been using Audio-Technica wireless systems for years, because of their sound quality and reliable performance."

(Jim Evans)

Sweden - Rhapsody in Rock is an annual series of live shows which combines classical and rock music, performed by a symphony orchestra alongside its founder - Swedish pianist Robert Wells - a contemporary band and vocalists. In March the production heads out on the second leg of its 25th anniversary tour, where three Yamaha CL5 digital mixing consoles will again provide their own Rock solid performance.

A former child prodigy, the classically-trained Wells founded Rhapsody in Rock in 1989. Performing everything from Liszt to AC/DC. It has played to nearly two million people in the USA, Russia, China, the UK, Scandinavia and Germany.

The 25th anniversary tour is playing multiple dates throughout Scandinavia and features a fully redundant Dante network with three Yamaha CL5 consoles, one providing the main front of house mix, manned by Thomas Malbeck, one submixing the orchestra

UK - Britannia Row Productions Training is now offering a new range of courses. From complete beginner, to professional wanting to progress their career, Brit Row is opening up more opportunities than ever to learn about live sound from a company with 40 years experience in the industry. Training is now based at Britannia Row Productions head office in Twickenham. Courses for 2015 include:

A Talk on Live Sound Industry - one day - An overview and insight into what the Live Sound Industry is all about and how it works.

Live Sound Basic two-day PA Course - Learn how to jump onto a small P.A. This two-day course is suitable for anyone who needs or wants to do this and is not entirely sure how to go about it - from the person working with their friend's band, to the teacher who needs to get the PA system out of the cupboard a couple of times a year and make it work for the school

The Netherlands - After proving the OCA control architecture in the field on global tours and major music festivals, the OCA Alliance is promoting the OCA message to the wider market.

At and around ISE 2015, several of the large number of OCA member companies exhibiting at the show participated in various activities to promote OCA. These included a presentation to members of the press, to carry the OCA vision of a common remote control standard to the AV industry, as well as presentations to AV consultants and system integrators. Meetings with numerous manufacturers also helped move forward the process of making the OCA vision reality.

OCA Alliance member companies Yamaha Commercal Audio, TC Group and Salzbrenner Stagetec, joined d&b audiotechnik in presenting the current status and future vision of Open Control Architecture, as these relate to the AV Installation and Systems

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