UK - Summit Steel supplied four SmarTmasts to Britannia Row which were utilised to emulate a concert style set up for sound tests in the new Wembley Stadium. Two SmarTmast 4s were used to suspend speaker arrays that mimicked the height and positioning of PA wing hangs on a typical concert stage set up in the end-on position. The masts were picked for their 15m height, quick buildability and neat footprint.

The main object of the exercise was to integrate a show PA system with Wembley's house PA to provide full audio coverage throughout the stadium. They also took the opportunity to ensure that Emergency announcements could be heard in all locations around the venue.

Summit's Jon Bray was contacted by Brit Row's Bryan Grant to supply the necessary support structures for the tests. Bray and a team of three riggers erected a total of five masts, which stayed up for a two-day peri

UK - Located in Plaistow, east London, Glory House is a family-based, multi-racial and multi-cultural church where audio and visual technologies have been embraced to broadcast the church's message in the most effective way possible.Music is an integral part of Glory House: up to a 100-strong Gospel choir and musical director being complemented by an in-house technical sound team.

The venue now has a new sound system supplied and installed by South London-based Subfrantic Production Services. The Turbosound system comprises four TA-500 Aspect Wide mid-highs, four TSB-118 subs and six TXD-15M wedge monitors, all controlled by two LMS-D24s. Subfrantic also supplied amplifiers, mixing consoles, outboard equipment, microphones, a custom-designed multicore and an ASL communications system.

"The main factor dictating the specification was to get the best sound we could on a rea

USA - Two public institutions in the USA have recently been the recipient of new Merging digital audio workstations. The Washington-based Library of Congress has recently acquired several Pyramix DAWs, each built around a Merging Mykerinos MB5 card with an AES-EBU digital output daughterboard.

The DAWs are being installed in the Library's new facilities at the National Audio Visual Conservation Centre in Culpeper, Virginia, where staff will be using them primarily to digitise the Library's audio collections, creating high-quality preservation files. The Pyramix systems were assembled by Merging Technologies' US distributor Independent Audio and supplied to the Library of Congress by Massachusetts dealer Parsons Audio.

In a separate sale, Washington's National Gallery of Art has also installed a Pyramix for use by the Gallery's audio-visual staff.

(Jim Evans)

Spain / Portugal - Quercus Equity has invested 60 million euros in the acquisition of the Spanish group Stonex and the Portuguese audio-visual group Alfasom - owner of the Spanish companies Aysav and Congress Rental Ibérica - creating the largest audio-visual group in the Iberian Peninsular.

The Stonex group, founded in Madrid in 1980, specializes in engineering and turnkey stage equipment projects for theatres, auditoriums, congress centres, casinos and theme parks, encompassing stage engineering, show lighting, architectural lighting and audio-visual installations. The company has offices in Madrid and La Coruña, and boasts more than 300 reference projects in the Iberian market, such as WB Madrid theme park, Pamplona Auditorium and congress centre (Baluarte), Colon Theatre in La Coruña, Campoamor Theatre in Oviedo, Expo 98's Lisboa Camoens Theatre and Gran Casino de A

UK - The Association of British Theatre Technicians (ABTT), is sponsoring Performing Theatres, part of The Theatres' Trust Conference 07. Performing Theatres follows on from the successful 2006 ABTT Theatre, Architecture and Engineering Conference and develops the need for there to be a stronger profile for users in setting out requirements for building and refurbishing theatres.

Raising issues about how best to maximise theatre design in the 21st Century, the Performing Theatres Conference is chaired by Ian Brown, artistic director, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Genista McIntosh and Venu Dhupa, director of creative innovation, Southbank Centre. The one day event promises to offer a lively and wide-ranging debate on how the design of theatres will meet our needs in the 21st Century.

Complementing ABTT's annual Theatre Show, which highlights technological innovation a

UK - The concrete is dry, the first crowds have walked the terraces, and just after Easter it was time to test the sound. "When we were approached to test the house sound facilities at the new Wembley Stadium in conjunction with a concert system set-up, we were of course delighted," said Mike Lowe of Britannia Row Productions Ltd. "We expect to be servicing many shows here over the coming months and years, so the opportunity to be the first to get a real feel for the building was not to be missed."

Over three days (11-13 April) Britannia Row crews rigged the stadium for 'end on' and 'side on' concert configurations. "We rigged an EV Xline system off 15 metre SmarTmasts from Summit Steel as for a main stage system, and then added Outline Butterfly delays off 11 metre masts out in the field. The system was then linked into the house EAW installed system an

UK - Sitting quietly in Bristol harbour, one of the UK's most quirky - and in some ways historic - venues has recently had a sound and lighting makeover, including the installation of a major Turbosound loudspeaker system.

Owned by DHP, the Motor Vessel (MV) Thekla gained notoriety in the 1980s as The Old Profanity Showboat, run by well-known eccentric and former Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band main man Vivian Stanshall.

The makeover includes a complete new lighting and sound rig, supplied by Stage Electrics. The hold is still the main performance area, which sees six Turbosound QLight TQ-445 full range enclosures, four TQ-425 bass units and two TSB-118 subs installed, controlled by two LMS-D24 digital controllers and driven by Turbosound-badged MC amplifiers.

On stage six Turbosound TXD-15M wedges are used for foldback, while the bar area in the main room also sports four QLight TQ-

UK - Leisuretec Distribution and Global Design Solutions (GDS) are coming together at ABTT to showcase the Blues System.

GDS will also be showcasing its new i Stage Managers Desk which was manufactured for the Royal Welsh College of Music Drama and Art in 2006, since then the company has supplied three more desks for major UK venues and are working closely with both the British and Irish Stage Managers Association for both consultation and advice.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Christie's working relationship with the Harrods brand has been extended with the installation of an LX66A 6500 ANSI lumen digital projector in the Harrods Estates office in Mayfair.

The system integrators were London-based Handy AV, who in just five years have built up an extensive portfolio of clients in their specialist areas of providing a complete systems approach to corporate and retail. Their product supply ranges from their specialist own-branded HandySCREEN and interactive HandyTOUCH displays (such as those showcased at the Hayward Gallery on London's South Bank) as well as mainstream A/V utilities.

Christie's long association with Harrods extends back to the Peter Pan window display during Christmas 2003, which was followed up with the permanent installation of two Christie S+16K 16,0000 lumen DLP projectors, firing onto a vast 4.7 x 3.5m portrait canvas

UK - Leading names in the history of music production joined forces recently to help launch Studio Sonic, a state of the art demo studio facility for Sonic Distribution based at Canalot Studios, London.

Marking Sonic Distribution's fifth anniversary, Rupert Neve, one of the most important figures in the development of pro audio equipment, gave a speech to mark the occasion and demoed some of the latest products from Rupert Neve Designs. Famed producer Bob Clearmountain (Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney and many others) and the head of sE Electronics, Siwei Zou, were also on hand to mark the occasion.

The facility boasts cutting edge studio and live rooms kitted out with the latest hardware and software, with users being able to demo the latest releases from Apogee, sE, Ghost Acoustics, Waves, Rupert Neve Designs and iLok.

James Young, MD of Sonic Distributio

UK - Byblos, in the rejuvenated area of Merchant City, Glasgow, hosts the debut of the Flashlite Dance Array, shocking-pink groundstacks of Electro-Voice cabinets that, according to installer Andy O'Neill, "exploit the EV range far beyond the manufacturer's recommendation!"

The newly-built, newly-opened club is located beneath Merchant Square in the heart of Glasgow. Owned by private entrepreneur company Springbrisk, Byblos has the capacity for 900 people, spread out through three lavishly designed rooms, and aims to be the biggest thing on Glasgow's busy club scene.

O'Neill's company, Flashlite, was contracted to Byblos on the basis of his reputation. O'Neill likes to work with Electro-Voice, and with its UK distributor Shuttlesound, so much so that the equipment list at Byblos reads like an EV catalogue, and features some notable 'firsts' in terms of installation.

UK - Brighton-based out post sound has opened for business in what many have described as the south coast's most vibrant and culturally diverse city. The company, based in the quiet area of Five Ways, is owned by Rob Speight, and ably assisted by a host of well-known engineers and designers. "What we are trying to do here is create a new way of running a studio by combining it with the ever increasing desire of bands, promoters, managers and labels to digitally multi-track live events," he explained.

Based around a Digidesign Pro Tools HD | 2 Accel system, the company aims to work in two main areas. At its base, out post will concentrate on utilising its vocal booth and 5.1 Genelec surround monitoring to record and mix voice overs, audio for film, television and gaming as well as supporting podcast creation and hosting in-house. Additionally, out post's extensive sound

Dubai - CEDIA, the global trade association representing designers, manufacturers, installers and distributors of home electronics, is lending its support to Install Middle East, which forms a developing sector in this year's PALME Middle East show in Dubai.

CEDIA will be staging a full educational programme which commences on the opening day (May 20) with a three-hour presentation on Home Cinema Designby Peter Aylett.

The schedule also includes: Introduction To Systems Integration (presented by Simon Buddle), Residential Audio and Video Multi-Room Systems (Steve Martin), IP In Residential Custom Installation (Peter Aylett), and Project Management Workshop (Simon Buddle and Steve Martin).

(Jim Evans)

UK - Blitz has completed a contract providing AV refurbishment for Associated Newspapers' offices in Kensington, London. Blitz has worked with Associated and its various divisions for the last eight years. Most recently, it was commissioned to undertake the AV refurbishment of its reception area. This involved the installation of equipment that enables the display of breaking news.

For the new reception area, Blitz designed and programmed a system that employs a combination of nine Mitsubishi 67" DLP cubes and the Folsom Encore product. This enabled the creation of one singlebranded background 4.2m x 3.1m into which various windows could be inserted showing current front pages, websites, breaking news stories as well as the corporate videos.

Custom software applications were written by Blitz to enable the manipulation of incoming news feeds and data. The daily operation o

Spain - As part of a major refurbishment, the Catalan Parliament in Barcelona recently replaced the conference system in its main conference hall with a Bosch DCN Next Generation system. Bosch also developed custom made units with respect to colours and shapes complementing the classical architecture of the historic parliament building.

Installed in November 2006, the new system provides every delegate's position with a microphone, voting panel and connection for a laptop PC. Extra facilities such as loudspeakers, LCD screens for viewing voting results and presentations are provided for senior government positions, while the president's position is also equipped with a touch-screen LCD for controlling voting sessions. The system also features extra-large plasma displays for screening voting results and videos to the general assembly.

The time frame for installing the new syste

USA - In October 2006, St. Louis' new Busch Stadium, home of the Cardinals, went on record as one of very few ballparks whose baseball team won the World Series in the facility's inaugural season. Construction for the $365 million, 44,000-seat Busch Stadium began back in January 2004. Dallas-based design and consulting firm Wrightson, Johnson, Haddon & Williams (WJHW) was charged with the audio system design portion of the project.

WJHW specified Crown, opting for CTs Series amplifiers equipped with PIP-Lite network control modules. "On this go-round, the nature of the system was certainly far more robust," says WJHW Principal Ron Baker. "One of the things that we do as a matter of course on any of these major sports projects is to use amps that are capable of being networked, operated and monitored from a central control point because there are so many channels i

UK / USA - Software developer Stardraw.com has announced two new members of the growing community of certified programmers for its application, Stardraw Control: they are James Heliker who runs TVBR Studios in San Bernadino, California, and Joel Hauxwell of Total Audio Solutions in the UK.

TVBR Studios started life as a music recording and production facility, but has branched out in the last three years into control system design and integration. "I first started experimenting with Stardraw Control for my own purposes in the context of music production, where system control is surprisingly important," explained Heliker. "I then started looking at different markets for control and built a client base."

Total Audio Solutions' Joel Hauxwell agrees: "We are a one-stop shop here at TAS - we offer a full service from design, through installation and full sy

UK - VDC Trading has supplied over 44km of audio, video and computer cable to Queen Margaret University for installation into its new campus in Edinburgh.

Currently based on three sites around Edinburgh, Queen Margaret is planning to relocate to the first new university campus for 21st century Scotland, on the south-east side of Edinburgh, by Musselburgh. The move to the new campus will be seamless, with relocation intended to take place during autumn 2007, subject to successful implementation of the planned development.

The new campus will be a vibrant new academic village with high-tech buildings and attractive landscaped spaces, featuring an innovative learning resource centre at the heart of the development.

Jim Bain, education resource centre manager, says: "We have 70 teaching rooms and lecture theatres at the new site, all of which are being equipped with high-te

UK - Almost 30 years after Nottingham's Theatre Royal reopened to the public following extensive refurbishment work and 25 years since the Royal Concert Hall was unveiled, Theatre Projects Consultants is providing theatre consulting services to the Royal Centre Nottingham again.

The Royal Centre, a celebrated Nottingham landmark and regular touring venues, is currently undertaking a strategic review. MD James Ashworth explains, "Theatre Projects were the natural choice for the job with their intimate knowledge of the building, having helped us conceive it during the 1970s and 80s. With a vast portfolio of experience and an unparalleled reputation for excellence, we believed they would assist us in ensuring the Royal Centre continues to be one of the country's finest facilities for the 25 years."

Theatre Projects is currently celebrating its 50th anniversary of consul

Belgium - Ampco Belgium and R&D division Team Projects (both members of the Ampco Flashlight Group) have joined forces on a new MCR (Multi Channel Reverb) installation at the Hasselt Cultuurcentrum in Belgium, featuring Renkus-Heinz loudspeakers.

Their first project, the Kursaal in Ostend, went on to win an Installation Europe award in 2006, and has since spawned other MCR systems by the group, in conjunction with Dutch acoustic consultant Cees Mulder, who played a key role in designing the original concept.

This new project demonstrated how MCR can be used to adjust auditorium acoustics to suit every performance, in smaller venues than the multi-million-euro Kursaal rebuild.

Located in the town of Hasselt, 86km east of Brussels, the Cultuurcentrum's new 890-seat theatre features a combination of main proscenium PA and a multifunctional, distributed side and rear syst

Poland - Telewizja Polska (TVP SA) which is one of the largest stations in Europe has invested in a variety of lighting equipment by ETC. Impressed by the calibre of lighting control on the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest, which was done with four ETC Congo consoles, TVP decided to acquire its own Congo.

According to Janusz Plewin'ski, the general lighting operator for TVP in Poznan, "Congo is a good choice for mid- to large-sized studios, particularly because the console doesn't use a touchscreen. Its versatile faders and keys allow quick shortcuts to help lighting designers keep up with the busy world of broadcasting."

Congo's 'zoomable' channel views are another helpful feature for television studios, as well as the zoomable Channel Layout function that allows users to draw their own live displays using standard channel symbols or icons. TVP technicians apprec

UK - D&M Europe has announced the formation of DMi D&M Installation, a division dedicated to the distribution and support of products from all of D&M's brands to the commercial AV and custom install markets.

DMi offers a comprehensive portfolio of products from Denon, Denon professional, Marantz and Marantz professional ranges, alongside Escient digital music servers, Opus multi-room systems, and Boston Acoustics' wall, ceiling and outdoor speakers.

The division is headed up by general manager Mark Perrins, formerly general manager of D&M professional Europe. Commenting on the formation of DMi he stated: "D&M Europe has monitored the CI market carefully over recent years; in particular, the gradual convergence towards a more general custom and commercial install market, with common products, customers and support requirements. This has led us to the logical step of mergin

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