40 l April 2014
www.psneurope.com
marketfeature Leaning the right way
Italians survive the economic crisis and gain ground abroad, suggests Mike Clark
Italian pro audio: still taking a ‘Pisa’ the action on the world stage
ACKNOWLEDGING THE ITALIANS’ ability to make key contributions to top-grade productions from both a creative and a technical point of view, as demonstrated by the Olympic and Paralympic Ceremonies, PSNEurope investigated how Italy’s pro- audio trade is fairing at home and abroad. To do this, we sought insight on just how important the market is (particularly export-wise) from a cross-section of manufacturers, distributors and end-users (rental firms and festival organisers) who gave their views on the situation in a period that is anything but rosy for the country, from both an economic and a political point of view. Although loudspeaker
manufacturers’ domestic sales
account for just 5-10% of their turnover, the majority state that these have been hit by a series of negative circumstances: the building industry and property markets are in a sad state, so new installs are few and far between, local authorities’ budgets have been cut by the government’s adoption of the European Stability Pact, thus reducing spending on both installs and live events, and the already meagre monies allocated by the government‘s FUS (performing arts fund) have been reduced even further. Speaker manufacturers Eighteen Sound and B&C Speakers supply components to Italian enclosure manufacturers, but as B&C’s MD Lorenzo Coppini explains, “Almost all of them export the majority of their output, so that area of the market has remained more or less steady.”
Amplifier manufacturer Luca Giorgi, speaking in Frankfurt
Powersoft’s pro-audio manager Luca Giorgi has no doubts to the reasons for his company’s relationship with the Italian market: “We have never been active on the domestic market, for a number of reasons – we’re an engineering company and very proud of the technology we have, but at the outset found it difficult to promote these aspects on the Italian market, which was rather
ITALIANS IN FRANKFURT
CURRENTLY THE hottest trade topic, Italian manufacturers report on their Frankfurt news. Wisycom presented its MFL RF fibre distribution system which being simultaneously used by Presteigne Charter, to integrate BBC coverage of Melbourne F1 races. RCFshowcased its NXL24 column speaker, with a few months’ sales record, following prototype launch last year. Outline debuted its iP24 processor, with which iMode technology will be available for use with its passive enclosures. Montarbo unveiled a digital console based on a joint venture with a US software house - a “revolutionary wireless console able to control audio, lighting and video for live events”, due
based on politics and commercial agreements and we were probably not prepared to have this kind of relationship with the market – we were talking about technical issue and (potential clients) were saying things like, ‘Give us some amps free, we’ll test them for you and you’ll get some marketing benefits …’”
WHERE IN THE WAREHOUSE?
Although big names can fill arenas with tickets at high prices, many others need to set
on the market from September. The K-array
product attracting most attention was the KH8 digital steerable, flat-step array touring system, currently finishing beta-testing. FBTspotlighted its Modus and Muse line arrays and X-Pro series of enclosures. Faital featured new compression drivers (HF103, 108 and 109) attracting interest for their new phase plug, diaphragm coupling design and diaphragm finish. The diaphragms, manufactured in-house, “ensure more linear response and good frequency extension”.
their ticket prices lower to draw good crowds, which results in smaller budgets being available for producing the shows – and, therefore for rental companies – very important end user for the pro-audio industry. Fabrizio Grazia, Italian sales
manager with RCF, opines, “Although the main items in their warehouse have a reasonable shelf life, rental companies also have to keep up to date with any new technology arriving on the market, as artists’ technical riders often
Wisycom MFL Although known for its compression
drivers, B&Cfocussed on additions to its woofer range, such as the 12NDL88 and unusual diameters, such as a 14- inch model, while Eighteen Sound spotlighted the new 15NCX 1000 coaxial, in production at the end of June.
include these brand-new products. But rental firms often also have to face difficulties for access to credit for purchasing new equipment. However we’ve extended our product range to cater for smaller audio rental firms and this area of the market is reacting in spite of the economic situation.” Grazia confirms that another
area of the installation market in considerable crisis consists in privately owned venues such as clubs and suchlike, “These have become very risky clients, as
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