KV2 Audio was celebrating its second year of trading. Now with a total of 30 distributors, the company is experiencing significant growth in the Asian and Australasian markets. The company also announced that it's teaming up with Allen & Heath to target the US market. This year, KV2 launched its high tech EX12 high-output active full-range speaker. Marcelo Vercelli, KV2 president noted: "Design of the EX12 took over two years as our goal was to create a product that would re-define the 12" two-way product category."
Show Designer, Martin Professional's light show visualization and programming software, now offers much faster 3D rendering. Also from Martin, Stage Cyclo is a four-tube architectural fluorescent flood beefed up to make it robust enough for touring. A new set of Gobos for the MAC 2000 has been designed by Patrick Woodroffe. The Maxedia media server can run up to 20 layers simultaneously, while the new Maxxyz Wings are add-ons for the main Maxxyz lighting control desk. Good idea this: several different wing modules, all with the same construction, just different face plates. Rental houses will be able to mix and match wings to suit jobs, much as audio people have been doing for years. Martin also introduced several new lamps for the club market.
Michael Strathmann from Rainbow Colour Changers said the company was having a good show and an extremely successful year with its scrollers. Future plans include increased flexibility with a lot of customized work in the pipeline.
City Theatrical, exclusively distributor of A.C.T Enterprises Inc, was showing its new device to hang moving lights from. The simple, inexpensive and versatile piece of hardware allows moving lights to be hung on the truss where the designer intends and not where the truss dictates. The newest members of the WDS family - the wireless Rx2 DMX receiver and OEM wireless DMX receiver - were also attracting attention.
Mach, the speaker division of Martin Professional is now firmly focussed on the install market: a complete new range designated 'C' addresses every size and configuration you'd want. Particular attention has been paid to mounting and ease of install. 13 new cabinets were on display; another seven will be with us by the end of the year.
Danish audio manufacturer MTI showed its new 8 x 1000W/per channel power amp - the MP 82000. All that in a 3U rack, thanks to digital electronics and switch mode PSU. With built-in speaker control via laptop (up to 16 amps daisy-chained on RS485) each amp has a number of customer programmable presets, including speaker type, load etc. Full matrixing, any in to any out, six-band parametric, filters, look ahead limiting, and crossover - it's all there. Peak limit system in the analogue domain through laser trimmed VCA, gives zero compression, "keeping volume flat, any kind of distortion only comes through as even harmonics," the company said.
MEDC makes a wide variety of speakers - the Next Two brand - for the retail, commercial, transport and leisure industries. New products include the WS wall cabinet, an enclosure available in coaxial and duel cone versions. Designed for specification by architects and installers, it comes in two parts - a 'back box' for first fix, followed by the cosmetic front plate once the messy work is completed.
Stage Technologies showed its rental kit for the first time aimed at small-scale, short-term rentals. The company has been busy with projects including a recent fixed installation in the Aberdeen Music Hall, where it was required to provide an infrastructure to protect the building for refurbishment purposes.
Enjoying its first visit to PLASA since changing management, image and name was Australian company State Automation, who used to be Bytecraft Automation. They are due to launch new lighting control products in the future and was showing its Sinewave dimmers.
Gemini had approximately 45 new products on the booth, having revamped its entire product range. Of note was the UX range of wireless mics, and the GX range of powered speakers, including a highly portable 10" enclosure.
The featured product on the White Light stand was the new Digital Festoon System (see Awards for Innovation, pages 44-48). Having recently taken on the UK distribution of ELC Lighting products, a key new item was the dmXLAN system, which allows lighting designers to utilize the ArtNet protocol by converting DMX to Ethernet and back. ELC's range of other DMX tools was also attracting interest.
Lee Filters revealed eight new colours in its Designer gel series, while its new fluorescent sleeves enable users to chose any colour from the Lee range, which is then cut to size, inserted into a clear sleeve and delivered ready for use. It's also available for self-assembly, with pre-cut rolls of colour supplied with the polycarbonate sleeving.
OPTI was highlighting recent additions to its famous Optikinetics range including DMX versions of the GoBoShow and GoBoPro and the X-Y mirror attachment for these projectors. Also new were the 50mm Effect Cassette, 6" Effect Wheel titles and an improved Clock Attachment for use on all OPTI projectors.
Swing-wing trussing has been with us for a while, but Tomcat has taken the concept further, combining load strength of over 3000kg UDL on a 12m span. Designed primarily to carry a variety of moving lights, fix points are also available for conventional lamps. Brilliant Stages shared the stand and had refined its Dek product to a lighter variant called Dekex. A weld-less extruded aluminium deck frame houses all the usual convenient fittings; an 8ft x 4ft section weighs just 40kg, yet on six legs supports 560kg per sq.m. One for the educational market.
Several new pieces of audio equipment from Yamaha: on the MI front, the MG8/2 FX is an analogue mixing desk with built-in effects, particularly multiple reverbs and flange; also available in 12-channel version.
The PC-N series is an existing range of power amps for the professional user. Two new models have been added: PC9500N is 925W per channel, and the PC4800N offers 475W each side. Main characteristics are high linear power, and low distortion, EEEngine technology for increased efficiency, optional networking compatibility with ACU/NHB, 10-point LED metering and many more - all in a 2U case with tamper-proof cover plate.
Pride of place for Yamaha, however, went to the PM5D. Launched only five months ago, the desk is already gaining widespread acceptance. The company is now drawing attention to increased connectivity available on all the digital desks in its fleet via Cobranet, Anet, EtherSound (via the Auvitran card), MADI etc. Main features include 64-channel input, 24-channel output mix, two stereo, eight matrix, eight mute groups and eight DCAs.
Milos Structural Systems was showing its new image and logo along with its 120-page catalogue detailing the company's huge product range. A new addition to its xStage systems is a lightweight, low profile stage.
Acustica - an installation range of speakers from RCF, covers compact and full size cabinets, mostly two-way. The portable PA system Move 100 is, as the name suggests, a self-contained 100W nominal PA set-up. Master controller includes three inputs, wired and wireless mic, plus programme input; voice EQ (tone control) and master volume.
New from ShowCAD was Automaton, a low-cost show controller which can be programmed via a web browser and will replay programmed shows without the 'host' computer. The latest updates to the flagship Artist control system were also being discussed, including a Microsoft Powerpoint interface and the implementation of WYSIWYG protocol.
Another company launching a new range of faders was Seltron Components, which developed the X Fade crossfader with torque control in conjunction with DJ company Eclectic Breaks. The new product is designed specifically for DJ use and was being put through its paces on the EB stand.
With there being so much LED-based lighting in the show this year, it was good to see a change in the shape of Par Opti Projects' fibre optic products. An eye-catching London skyline scene was a good reminder that fibre optic is inherently safe, looks effective and is straightforward to use for non-technicians.
According to Monica Rigono, boosting the profile of the Manfrotto brand was a key objective on the Lino Manfrotto & Co stand, aided by the latest 196 and 396 series of articulated lighting support arms. A range of new Litec product was also on display, including new ranges of host controllers' and accessories, plus a new range of technical clothing: "It's designed from scratch, manufactured in Italy and is not merchandise!" said Litec.
Autograph Sales showed Aviom's new AN-16/I-M mic input module. The AN-16/I-M is a rack mounted mic and line level input device that contains 16 high-quality mic preamps with 24-bit A-to-D converters. It can be used as part of a digital snake, along with all existing products in the Distributed Audio Network line, including the A-16ii personal mixer and Aviom16/o-Y1 Yamaha output card.
There were three lines of new Chevin Research products. The ROD series (at prototype stage), has three active loudspeaker modules which should find homes in an array of applications. The Line 250 and 500 amplifiers are for 100/70V line applications, while the company's flagship A Series stretches to 12 models, seven into a minimum four ohm load and five into two ohms.
Pioneer launched its DVJ-X1, based on CDDJ technology, but also allowing the DJ to manipulate visuals in the same way as an audio source. Pioneer's new EFX 500R was announced at the show, a special issue colour edition of the EFX unit for manipulating sounds, demonstrated by James Zabiela.