UK - The first deployment of JBL's new all-weather AWC stadium speakers has taken place at one of the oldest professional football clubs in the UK.

The 125-year-old Preston North End (PNE) has relied on the services of public address specialists TG Baker to keep its audio fit for purpose for nearly two decades.

When it came to upgrading the 8,100 capacity Sir Tom Finney stand - built in 1995 at a cost of £4.4m - they saw the opportunity to debut the new AWC129.

Project manager Jason Longworth recalled, "We were sent a couple of speakers for evaluation by [Harman Professional UK & Eire distributors] Sound Technology and we put them through their paces and really liked them." The AWC129 itself is a compact, coaxial-driver, 2-way, highly weather-resistant (IP56) full-range loudspeaker which is designed for speech and music.

Faced with installing these as part

India - TC Group has implemented a definitive plan for sustained growth in the Indian market with the opening of a new office in Noida, India, and a significant appointment to its technical sales team.

Binny Sharma has been appointed as the company's technical sales and support manager for India. Based at the new India office in Noida, Binny will be responsible for providing application and technical support to Tannoy, Lab.gruppen and Lake customers throughout the country.

Binny comes to TC Group with several years of experience in the pro audio industry, including six years in the field of AV systems integration. He has been part of the design and technical support departments in Bose and Bosch.

In his new post, Binny will assume the lead role in the region by providing design and project commissioning support for system integrators, as well organising technical seminars an

UK - ASVL Group has introduced the new QTX SG300 and SG350 Shotgun microphones which offer focused, long range sound pickup.

Powered from a single AA battery inside the microphone body with a 3-way switch for off, cardioids and hypercardioid polar response patterns. Each has a balanced output and is supplied with a 4m XLR lead.

Also supplied is a short XLR to 3.5mm jack lead, hot-shoe mount and foam windshield for location camera work. They are available in shotgun and long shotgun versions to cover a range of broadcast, stage and surveillance applications.

(Jim Evans)

Hungary - The Agora community and arts centre (Hungarian: A Vértes Agorája) in Tatabánya, Hungary, has been equipped with two Meyer Sound systems, supplied by Budapest-based Chromasound.

In the Agora theatre, Chromasound installed a permanent CQ-1 loudspeaker system to support small ensemble musical and theatrical performances. A separate mobile system, based on the Meyer Sound JM-1P arrayable loudspeaker, complements the CQ-1 system during rock concerts, and is also used for outdoor events. The upgrade at the Agora was part of a wider government initiative to upgrade Hungary's cultural facilities.

"The mobile system is capable of delivering a very high SPL, and the integration between the mobile and installed systems is easy to achieve," says Makkay Imre, director of Chromasound. "The outstanding quality of the Meyer Sound loudspeakers proved itself fr

USA - Audio-Technica reports that Nyack, New York-based On the Road Marketing has been presented with A-T's President's Award, for their work representing Audio-Technica U.S. On the Road Marketing's Principal Doug Brown accepted the award, which recognises a leading manufacturer's representative for outstanding commitment and dedication during the Audio-Technica 2012/2013 fiscal year.

The award was presented by Philip Cajka, Audio-Technica U.S. president and CEO and Michael Edwards, A-T V.P. Professional Products. Also representing On the Road Marketing were Justin Walker, Chris Grajewski, Jon Stafford and Jason Longobardo. On the Road's Frank Portalatin was absent. The A-T President's Award was presented at a ceremony during the 2013 InfoComm Expo on 12 June in Orlando, Florida.

Phil Cajka commented, "On the Road Marketing has been awarded this honour for their continued

UK - Due to continued growth, Rubber Box moved premises this year into a larger building, putting everything under one roof. It has allowed the company to expand its already extensive range of standard boxes and look at developing more new products.

New to Rubber Box this year is a range of audio breakout boxes. Says the company, "We looked at the market and found there is a need for a range of audio boxes. We then had discussions with audio and sound engineers and took on board their comments and suggestions to come up with boxes specifically designed for the audio market: We currently have five new standard boxes that have been added to our 'On the Shelf' range."

Rubber Box has been designing and building custom boxes for customers for over 20 years and will continue to offer the same bespoke service in the audio box range.

The audio box range will use the same t

UK - PLASA London 2013 has confirmed that Robe Lighting, Martin Professional Lighting, Clay Paky and Roland will sponsor this year's show. Over 12,000 people have already registered to attend PLASA London 2013, which takes place at the ExCeL Centre, London from 6-9 October 2013.

For the second year, the Platinum Sponsor is Robe Lighting, the Czech manufacturer of innovative, high quality moving lights and digital lighting products for the professional entertainment & leisure, architectural and themed environment industries. Josef Valchar, general manager, Robe Lighting said, "Our company philosophy is centred around working as closely as possible with our business partners and end users, listening to their needs, thoughts and wishes in order to understand their markets. PLASA London is an essential event for us as it provides the ideal opportunity to meet many of them in pe

Germany - The House of Delegates - or 'Stadthaus' - in Cottbus, Germany, is a historical building that is an important part of the local community, with its Grand Hall used for many purposes including meetings, events and theatre shows.

Since the Grand Hall is such an important space, it was decided that a new sound system would provide the degree of flexibility required. However, initial plans included a system made up of almost 20 loudspeakers - something that would have seriously affected the aesthetics of this historical venue.

Diego Noack, procurement manager of audio specialists G. Fleischhauer ing. Büro Cottbus GmbH, suggested Tannoy's award-winning digital beam steering loudspeaker array, QFlex. He had been aware of the architecturally sensitive profile and its ability to distribute smooth, even coverage in acoustically challenging spaces, and after some careful model

UK - The Wireless Festival, now in its ninth consecutive year with headliners Jay-Z, Justin Timberlake, will.i.am, Snoop Dog, A Tribe Called Quest, and Rita Ora drew record crowds to London's Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. A Turbosound Flashline PA was deployed by Britannia Row Productions for the Pepsi Max Stage, which also saw appearances by Calvin Harris and Tinie Tempah.

Britannia Row Productions' Johnny Keirle was systems tech for the event and, despite arriving in the UK from New Zealand recently, has seen plenty of Flashline action. "I'm pretty familiar with Turbosound as I worked a lot with Oceania back in New Zealand, they have a large Flashlight and Floodlight rig that's one of the best sounding systems around. The very first time I heard Flashline, I loved it. Since then, the more I work with Flashline the more I like it," he says.

"Mechanically, the r

Germany - Berlin-based Complete Audio recently provided sound coverage for a capacity audience of 22,000 at Berlin's Waldbühne, situated in the Olympic Park.

The PA company has worked with the singer songwriter for the past two years, but MD André Rauhut admits that this one off show - a curtain raiser for next spring's tour and a launchpad for the artist's new record, Am Seidenen Faden (Hanging By A Thread) - was on an unprecedented scale.

Providing even pattern control within an amphitheatre is taxing at the best of times, but Complete Audio was able to deploy its Martin Audio MLA system with confidence, given their vast experience of the system and knowing that its sound control is second to none.

Commenting on the topography of the bowl, André Rauhut notes, "The hill itself is very steep; the distance from the downstage edge of the stage to the highes

Poland - Tommex Zebrowscy Sp. J. has recently completed the design and installation of a Community loudspeaker-based audio system for the Ztotnicza Sports Park.

Ztotnicza Sports Park is the most modern stadium in the city of Jelenia Góra in Lower Silesia, southwestern Poland. In addition to the floodlit football pitch, the stadium has an athletics track and is Class 4A PZLA certified for European championships. The stadium has a total seating capacity of over 3,600, with a main grandstand accommodating 1,558 people.

Jaros?aw Kraszewski of Tommex, the designer and project manager for the system, explained, "The sound system was required to cover the grandstand, ground seating and competition zones and for such large areas we naturally choose Community R-Series. Their all-weather durability, outstanding intelligibility and high efficiency combined with the wide range of co

UK - Always a consummate showman, Robbie Williams' 2013 UK and European Take The Crown stadium tour was sure to wow. Featuring a spectacular stage set and energetic performance, and with Sennheiser microphones and in ear monitors providing crystal clear audio for both performers and audience alike, it certainly doesn't disappoint.

The compliment of Sennheiser equipment includes 2000 series IEMs, supplied by Mission Control Ltd, for both Robbie and support act Olly Murs' bands, with SKM 5200 wireless microphones supplied by Britannia Row Productions, which handled all vocals for the headline act.

"The bulk of the stage radio systems for the tour are Sennheiser products," says Ali Viles, the tour's RF tech. "The core of this is 22 channels of Sennheiser 2000 series IEM transmitters performing monitoring duties for both the main and support bands. The show u

UK - All eyes were on Murray at this year's Wimbledon Championship men's final and, with peak viewing figures at 17.3m, the televised coverage drew the biggest audience since 1990. The feast was not only visual, but aural as well, with Sennheiser's flagship 9000 series digital microphones used on Centre Court by Sue Barker for presentations heard by those lucky enough to be at Club and across the globe via the BBC broadcast.

RG Jones is the Club's sole provider of audio equipment and services. As well as providing equipment on hire to the Club, it also manages the Club's ever increasing inventory of audio equipment.

"We deploy services on to all of Championship Courts, the hospitality marquees, the famous Queue Lane and for the Aorangi Terrace Large Screen system," explains RG Jones project manager Tim Speight Tim. "We are also responsible for a large comms inst

USA - Located in the heart of West Hollywood, the Whisky A Go-Go has served as the launching pad for literally dozens of high profile acts over the years, gaining a well-deserved reputation as "the place to play" in Los Angeles. Recently, this iconic nightclub added its first digital mixing consoles, placing the Behringer X32 into both the front of house and monitor positions.

"Our last console was purchased about 30 years ago, and obviously it was analogue. So it was time," notes Leonard Contreras, production manager and front of house engineer for the club. "The X32 is a great-sounding console. I love the Midas-designed preamps, and the FX algorithms are awesome - clean quiet, just amazing. I love it, and everyone else who works at the Whisky is pretty stoked about it, too."

Contreras, who has been mixing at the Whisky for about 17 years between

USA - Justin Timberlake's 20/20 Experience World Tour is the live iteration of the artist's The 20/20 Experience LP, which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 earlier this year.

To assure that every bit of that experience translates to the sold-out stadiums and arenas the tour is passing through, front-of-house mixer Andy Meyer chose the Artist Elite 5000 Series Frequency-agile True Diversity UHF Wireless System paired with an AEW-T6100 transmitter (wireless iteration of the AE6100 Hypercardioid Dynamic Handheld Microphone) and AEW-R5200 Receiver from Audio-Technica. On tour, these system components are delivering Timberlake's vocals to hundreds of thousands of fans each night in stadiums across the US

"The AE6100, as well as its wireless counterpart, is an amazing-sounding microphone, and it really works for Justin's vocals," says Meyer. "T

UK - Miltec will be showing the production versions of their British made Blakite speaker range (Stand number F10).

The new range was designed by Miltec and is manufactured in the UK using custom drivers supplied by Fane. All seven models are made from birch ply and finished in high quality black or white paint.

The range consists of three full range speakers and four subs. The three tops have 8", 10" and 12" drivers with 1.7" compression drivers. The sound is very clean and detailed, making them suitable for conference and theatre as well as schools, live music and clubs. Features include a 35 degree wedge angle, optional rubber feet, flying points, PowerDrive bracket mounting points and a pole socket.

The subs are all front loaded and available in 12",15", 2x 15" and 2x 18" formats. The sound is warm and deep but very controlled. The

UK - With the sale of an MLA Compact System 36 to Oxford-based W E Audio, Martin Audio has boosted its UK-based network of Multi-cellular Loudspeaker partners to four.

W E Audio's experienced MD, Wayne Barker, has long favoured new technology adoption, and by becoming the first UK customer for this flown Compact system the company has kept that reputation intact.

Deciding it was time to retire their existing front line system he first discussed his options with Tim Bamber, who handles technical sales at the Birmingham office of LMC Audio Systems, the Martin Audio dealers.

Remembers Bamber, "When Wayne initially discussed the possibility of a new loudspeaker system, I believed it had to be a solution that would match the quality of service that W E Audio offers. I knew that an investment in a technology-led, multi-cellular array system such as MLA Compact, as well as giv

Brazil - A major Brazilian country music venue, Villa Country, has installed an Allen & Heath iLive digital mixing system at FOH. Located in Sao Paulo, the huge club hosts American country music and sertanejo Brazilian country music artists, and has a restaurant and various bars, including a 3500 capacity room where the iLive system has been installed.

The system was spec'd and installed by sound contractor and engineer, Ceara, who evaluated all of the major digital mixers on the market before choosing iLive, selecting an iLive-112 Control Surface and iDR-48 MixRack.

"iLive is so easy to work with, It is ideal for the continual stream of engineers who mix in the venue," Ceara comments. "Plus, the audio quality of the system is second to none, the sound is transparent. As soon as I plugged the system in, I knew immediately it was the one."

(Jim Evans)

UK - Clockwork Audio Systems has recently completed an installation of 75 Multiple ESD series speakers from KV2 Audio on a high profile installation project in the South West of England.

Having conducted a shoot out of several competing brands, Nick Western and Dave Monk of Clockwork Audio settled on the ESD series for its superior sound quality and ease of set up. Nick Western explained, "The KV2 Audio ESD products not only sounded great, but didn't require any external DSP or processing. We also were able to use third party amplification without any issue and as the only passive pro audio speaker on the market utilising an internal analogue delay line, the phase response and overall performance was just brilliant."

Already keen exponents of the Active and Active driven ranges of KV2 Audio products, Clockwork were very aware of the high benchmark for quality set by

USA - Aviom, manufacturer of the A-16II Personal Mixer has licensed Audinate's Dante digital audio networking technology. Integrating the Dante networking solution into its line of personal mixing products allows Aviom to simplify the connection of its personal mixers to those digital consoles that offer Dante connectivity.

The Dante networking solution is widely accepted among many pro audio manufacturers because it is a self-configuring network that uses standard Internet Protocols over both 100Mbps and 1 Gigabit Ethernet. Set-up is easy, with devices that automatically discover one another and one-click signal routing with user-editable names. Dante has now been adopted by more than 95 OEMs, and is recognized as the most interoperable media networking solution in the market today.

"Audinate's Dante has become a standard in digital audio networking for the pro audio ind

Italy - Built in the early 12th century, the stately Romanesque Cathedral of Sessa Aurunca in Italy, recently installed a Meyer Sound CAL column array loudspeaker system to solve a speech intelligibility problem commonly found in highly reverberant spaces.

The cathedral's high, vaulted interior is acoustically reflective, with stone walls and columns surrounding a tile mosaic floor, and hard plastic seating. To bring speech clarity to this reverberant space, two CAL 32 loudspeakers were deployed to focus acoustic energy precisely on the congregation seating area with minimal energy exciting the adjacent hard surfaces. The CAL loudspeakers are adjustable to one degree of vertical dispersion.

"The cathedral is an ancient and historic building, and almost nothing is permitted that would alter the appearance of the interior," says Lorenzo Benigna of system provider Linea

Japan - Martin Audio's MLA (Multi-cellular Loudspeaker Array) provided coverage for three principal stages at the famous Rock In Japan 2013 in August.

One of the country's largest, and most pre-eminent events, the picturesque Hitachinaka Seaside Park location, bathed in sunshine, was the backdrop for Martin Audio's flagship system to flex its muscles in front of 177,000 people who attended over the three days. And its innovative control solved problems of sound escape that had hitherto proved problematic at the three-day festival.

The system was provided by MSI Japan. At Sound of Forest and Park Stage nine MLA modules and one x MLD Downfill were flown at each wing, along with double stacked MLX centre subwoofers, in six rows. Park Stage returned for the first time since 2011, the year of the great earthquake in the east of Japan - and in both locations, Martin Audio's Display2

USA - Clearwing Productions, a full service production company specializing in audio, light, stage and video support for major concerts and festivals, chose an Outline GTO-based speaker system to provide the sonic thunder at the Miller Lite Oasis Stage for Summerfest 2013.

Dealing with an eclectic range of music acts from Diplo (EDM), Dropkick Murphys (Celtic punk) and Imagine Dragons (rock), to Leann Rimes (country) and Nelly (rap), among others, the Outline system faithfully delivered the essence of each musical genre for eager audiences of up to 15,000 people per show.

"Summerfest 2013 was our first experience with the Outline GTO system and I can say the sound quality was exceptional," says Bryan Baumgardner, audio operations and logistics, Clearwing Productions. "We knew Outline was very good, but the system far exceeded our expectations and worked flawless

Australia - Established in 1982, JMC Academy was originally founded in Sydney to meet the demand for qualified professionals in the entertainment technology industry. Recently, the Academy relocated to a new purpose built three level campus in Ultimo, Sydney.

The PA People were called in to supply and install the audio visual requirements of the campus including the auditorium where a JBL VRX PA system was chosen.

"There are three VRX932LAP speakers per side as well as a VRX918SP subwoofer per side," revealed Brett Steele, project manager for The PA People. "As the auditorium ceiling is quite low, the sub is mounted in behind the three VRX932 boxes to maintain as much height as possible. The client wanted a system that was quite punchy and the VRX certainly delivers."

Four JBL PRX612M speakers have been provided for use as stage monitors. A BSS Soundweb L

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