Tracoman Inc, a Stanton Group subsidiary and a professional lighting industry market leader in North and South America, and Coemar Spa, a world-leading manufacturer of automated lighting fixtures based in Castel Goffredo, Italy, has announced an agreement in principle whereby Tracoman will acquire a controlling interest in Coemar.

Gerald Cohen, CEO of Stanton Group, said: "We recognized the unique and special talents within Coemar early on and have worked diligently since the beginning to get this deal done. Coemar and Tracoman have seen tremendous growth in the past 24 months. The unity of talents and synergy of the combined businesses will help to fuel further growth in the coming years. The extraordinary talents of Coemar’s founder will greatly benefit the combined group in the future."

The agreement will allow the current management of Coemar to run their operations while Tracoman will provide the expertise to enhance the company’s marketing, distribution and research and development capabilities needed to develop growth. Bruno Dedoro, founder and president of Coemar, told us: "I have really enjoyed working with Tracoman over the past two years. I have learned a side of the business that I never knew. I look forward to being a part of this team for many years to come, while co-operating to give Coemar the market share it deserves. This business combination will allow me to spend more time developing the best lights in the world, while our new partner will take care of the sales and marketing they are known to do so well."

Gerard Coh

Mass Audio Visual, of Burlington, Massachusetts, recently purchased two Digital Projections Lightning 15sx projectors. This acquisition further expands the company’s inventory of presentation equipment and follows their earlier purchase of the new EAW Line Array sound system. Commenting on the purchase, massAV general manager Jeff Robinson told PLASA Media: "We are now able to offer clients a one-stop-shopping solution for large event staging. This furthers our commitment to provide the latest in technology, for both high-end audio and video, to our expanding customer base."

After many year's absence, the ISCE led range of mini seminars which took place during the recent PLASA Show, attracted over 100 people across the three workshops. Doug Edworthy, Events chair told PLASA Media: "I think everyone attending benefited from the variety of relevant subjects covered in the audio field, and many are now booking for ISCE's extended one day programmes scheduled throughout 2001/2."

Edwin Shirley Staging, the international staging and structure specialist, has been commissioned by PCI LiveDesign, one of Europe’s leading live communication companies, to provide a bespoke structural solution for the launch of the new Fiesta by the Ford Motor Company, during the Frankfurt International Motor Show this month. An empty warehouse space near to Frankfurt Airport has been transformed into a multi-levelled launch venue with ESS designing two temporary grid structures, a stage platform and show control platforms within the Nexos Centre for the launch. In order to facilitate the flying elements of the launch show, two roof grids measuring 12m by 14m have been specifically designed to take in excess of five tonnes in weight. The whole structure fits inside the Nexos building and was assembled in just three days.

In an effort to support the victims of the recent attacks on the United States, TMB is collecting donations of money and clothing in both of its US locations and encouraging employees to donate blood at their local Red Cross. On September 14, the LA office shipped out the first pallet of West Coast donations, along with a large quantity of socks, raingear and tarpaulins, to the Red Cross relief effort. TMB CEO Colin Waters is issuing a call to other companies in the lighting industry to do the same: "We are terribly shocked and saddened by the recent attacks and want to do everything we can to show our support to the victims and relief workers. I hope that all of the companies in our industry will make similar efforts. With so many caring and capable people in the lighting community, we can make a significant difference when it is needed most."

If you work in the LA or NY area and would like to drop off donations, TMB will make sure that they get to the right place quickly. Please visit the TMB website (address below) for details. To learn more about making contributions to the Red Cross call 1(800) HELP-NOW or visit the online donation system at http://redcross.org.

Entech 2002 returns to its Darling Harbour home in Sydney next February. The show is one of the largest audio and visual trade shows of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere. It attracts professional designers, engineers and equipment users from all over the Asia Pacific region. Each Entech boasts an extensive range of conferences, seminars, workshops and equipment training sessions. These include sessions on a range of issues, including rigging, with the ever popular DJ Bootcamp also returning. A trio of topic-related seminars will be held daily in the new Convention Centre South, nearest to the trade show halls. Pro Audio seminars include surround sound and contracting audio topics, along with a discussion on line array systems and DSP. InfoComm will present a daily session on vision and integration. Venue design is the topic of a summit style seminar, where architects, venue managers, and consultants discuss trends, shortfalls and the future of venue design. Graham Walne will host a series of lighting seminars focusing on designers, and featuring professional working lighting designers.

To add to this year’s Entech educational opportunities, keynote speakers will be addressing the topic of the industry’s future in a free daily seminar.

Entech runs from February 4-6, 2002.

PLASA Media has heard from Brad Mackie of New Jersey-based Prism Theatrical Lighting. Brad tells us that on Tuesday his crew were working on a dance series with leading New York ballet companies at the base of the first of the World Trade Center towers to be struck, and were just beginning rehearsals at the time of impact. Brad wants to let everyone know that all the production crew members from RSA Audio, Prism Theatrical Lighting, CSS Staging and MPE Generators got out of the building safely.

Twelve DHA Digital Light Curtains are set to create stunning visual effects in the production of Tintin and the Temple of the Sun, making a spectacular stage debut in Antwerp on 15th September 2001. The production will be under the direction of one of Belgium's most acclaimed directors, Frank Van Laeke, and will be lit by Jack Van de Velde. With two versions of the musical in different languages, the production team is confident of its success and plans are already underway for tours of the Netherlands, France, UK, Germany and Canada.

The main difficulty that faced the creators of this musical version of the all-time classic was how to allow the production to speak to the audiences' imagination with the same impact as the written words and in the same style as the original.

Cardiff-based Theatre Vision (a Stage Electrics Group company) has kick-started its busy corporate season by providing production lighting services for the recent WHAT HI-FI? Sound & Vision Awards 2001. Hosted by the irrepressible Clive Anderson at the Hilton in Park Lane, the show is produced by Head to Head Communications on behalf of Haymarket Publishing. Theatre Vision was called upon by busy awards lighting designer Matthew Evered to provide dynamic lighting for the event. A mixture of Strand SL cool-beam profiles, parcans and Martin Mac 300 moving lights were used to help jazz up the event, now in its 25th year, and all controlled and programmed by Tim Routledge on an Avolites Pearl. Also provided were a number of low voltage lighting kits for various branding and reception areas. Truss and rigging was provided by RoadRunner while sound was sourced from Tone Ferne from Dobsons.

Tripath Technology Inc and Alesis Semiconductor, both from the West Coast of the United States, met at this year’s PLASA Show to finalise their new distribution agreement with European audio component distributor Profusion plc. Keith Persin, managing director of Profusion told PLASA Media: "Tripath have excellent patents covering the class T switching amplifier technology, which produces true hi fi quality." With big names such as Sony using these parts and receiving awards, many companies are now looking at the class T designs. Steve Tomlinson (MD of Tripath Europe) continued: "Our parts often require application support as the technology is so different from traditional amplifier designs. Appointing Profusion was a logical choice as they have applications engineers and the facilities to offer good technical support."

The Audio Engineering Society has announced the postponement of next week's 111th AES Convention at the Javits Convention Center, New York, until early December. The Javits is being used as an emergency services co-ordination centre in the aftermath of the recent events in New York. The organizers have issued the following statement. "We have just returned from the Javits Center where we had a meeting with their top management. We learned that the New York City Mayor's Office of Emergency Management and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) have taken over large portions of the Javits Center for use in coordinating emergency services. We also learned that FEMA will have complete control of these spaces and any others that they need, for an undetermined period. This obviously makes holding the event as planned impossible. However, we have been able to reschedule the convention, rather than just cancel it. The new dates will be Friday November 30 to Monday, December 3 2001, with the same exhibit, demo and conference space as would have been used next week."

The PLASA Exhibition marks an exciting period for SkyTronic and Adastra as they launch their third catalogue in as many years. The 300-page catalogue contains over 4,000 products including 650 which are new for 2002, covering the entire consumer electronics spectrum.

SkyTronic prides itself on bringing new and exciting products to the marketplace backed up with a sales and customer care policy of which they are equally proud. The rapid growth that SkyTronic has achieved and continuing customer loyalty are testimony to this. Adastra Electronics Limited offers a comprehensive range of commercial audio Public Address products. Incorporated in 1949, Adastra has a long history of quality, performance and reliability.

Sennheiser's annual 'Industry' Golf Challenge Trophy competition, at Mill Ride Golf Club near Ascot, proved more successful than ever before, this year raising more than £25,000 for Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital in London. Held on 6 July, a good turnout of keen, though not exclusively proficient, golfers entered into the spirit of things. This year's winner was once again Ashok Patel of ASK, just pipping Richard Bleakley from Diamond Stylus for the Stableford competition. In third place was Praful Patel of ASK who took consolation as winner of Nearest The Pin.

The day's longest drive came from LMC's John Ridley and The Texas Scramble was won by Mark Austin of Wycombe Wanderers, Andy Streets and John Hine of Synergy for the front nine, with Charles Smith, Chris Cress and Sennheiser managing director Paul Whiting on the back nine. Martin Sheehan represented Great Ormond Street Hospital and Autograph Advertising's Paul Hodsman was responsible for the Golf Invitations and Score Cards.

The £10,000 record sum raised on the night, along with the £15,000 proceeds from other Sennheiser fund raising activities, meant that a final overall total of £25,000 was achieved. As in previous years, all the money will go to Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children.Commenting on the success of the day, Paul Whiting said, "I want to thank everyone who took part, both on the fairway and during the evenings activities. Congratulations to the winners, and we look forward to seeing everyone again for next years trophy in July 2002."

Currently touring the UK, the Budweiser House Party, visiting the cities of Leeds, Manchester, Glasgow and London among others, showcases some of the UK’s top DJs and is part of a touring promotion campaign for Budweiser Beer. The essence of ‘cool’, the Budweiser house has the statutory flying ducks on the wall, a range of retro furniture, a bath full of Budweiser and a dance-floor bed. Staging specialist Maltbury was approached to supply staging for the events. Jon Scott, managing director of Jon Scott DC, was contracted to design and construct the innovative dance floor bed for the Leeds House Party at Granary Wharf. The ‘bed’ needed to be robust enough to support the weight of partygoers whilst also creating interest and focus within the set of the Budweiser house. Maltbury was chosen to provide nine modules of Metrodeck staging, some of which were to be modified to create the dance floor bed. A number of 600mm square framed lightboxes were incorporated into the Metrodeck staging to create the ‘disco-feel’ dance floor in the shape of a bed and each of the lightboxes was individually lit. Scott specified Maltbury’s Metrodeck for several reasons: "Due to the imminent deadline on this job and the number of modifications that had to be made to create the dance floor bed it was essential that we chose the right company to provide the staging. Maltbury demonstrated once again the ability to alter a design to order and work within a limited time frame. Metrodeck is a lightweight decking system and far easier to transport than

Formula Sound has unveiled its latest modular mixer- the PM-100 - at PLASA 2001. This mixer replaces the award winning PM-90 and is proving to be as popular. One important feature of the PM-100 is the single universal input module which can be configured to accept virtually any type of input source. Also featuring VCA controlled crossfade with punch; contour control and inserts at either end for connecting external signal processing equipment. With its many other facilities and its combination of sizes, layout etc. the PM-100 is the most versatile small production mixer around.

The full range or products for mixing and noise control is on show on stand E26.