118 EXPO
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1.Dave Green and Steve Warren celebrate the announcement of the strategic alliance between Avolites Media and Immersive Ltd. 2. Mike Walker of Martin Professional UK. 3. The Elation team headed by Sales Manager, Eric Loader (front). 4. Ricardo Martinez, Export Manager of Equipson. 5. Brett Downing of TOA. 6. Nick Spalding of Cloud. 7. Paul Bauman, JBL Director of Tour Sound.
8.Cadac’s Vincenzo Borrelli. 9.Lee Garnett, Graham Barrow, Michael Brooksbank and Darren Jackson on the Chauvet stand. 10. The Adam Hall stand.
places that this magazine was first created to feature, are still of great commercial and cultural importance. Currently, the true origins of the discotheque as a small, intimate boite-de-nuit, where friends would congregate and listen to their favourite music being played louder and better than in their homes and apartments, are showing signs of renaissance, and at PLASA, the technology was on hand from several manufacturers to facilitate this. The development of ultra-miniature high- performance loudspeaker systems continues apace, and with parallel and strong appeal in the conference and AV presentation marketplaces bolstering demand as well, has become something of a market hot-spot. Whether the attraction is for something that will play loud and clear within a small, confined space, or for a high-quality sound delivery system with a very small visual presence, the product is here to do it. Initiators in this buoyant sector are Italy’s K-Array, who extended their product range with flying, arrayable products to supplement the more conventional floor standing configurations. This takes them, and the concept into more ambitious, higher SPL territory. Hughes and Kettner were showing Elements, their attractively packaged modular alternative to K-Array, as well as Vortis, a range of coloured speakers (no pun). Also from Germany, AD speakers showed the Pico Sub ultra- compact as part of an interesting range. Bose have, over many years, done more to further the cause of large numbers of small speakers (and drive units) versus small numbers of large ones than anyone else, so it was perhaps surprising that their featured product at the show was, by their standards at least, a large format system, the RoomMatch array, complemented by a new, high-efficiency amplifica- tion design, PowerMatch, which draws on the company’s vast experience in Class D amplifier design, gained after years of work in the automotive industry, beginning
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with the Delco division of GM, back in the early 1980s. The principles that created the asymmetrical folded horn, years ago, have also been revisited, at PLASA under the aegis of Labgruppen, by Flare. Their ultra-high SPL 4 x 18-inch fixed, arrayed horn-loaded bass system was demonstrated in the Cromwell Suite on Earls Court’s upper level, but tangible right down to the London Underground station many feet below. Systems like this, capable of peak SPL’s around 150dB require circumspection more than showmanship in the demon- strating. Along the corridor, Axys had a more restrained and civilised going-on, including a 2-way 15-inch combo that seemed to me righter and tighter than its 2 x 12-inch sibling. So, that was something new. Having touched on insanely high SPL’s, a product not at the show is now waiting in the wings, having just gained UK distribution. From the USA, Danley Loudspeakers have produced two ultra- high SPL speakers, of which the Jericho Horn is surely the most remarkable. This is a high-power, full-range point source projectile system with maximum output in excess of 150dB, using multiple drive units, and, as a flying system, weighing in at a modest 720lbs. It is, however claimed to be able to throw an integrated soundfield or image across 1km. The technology used seems to me to owe more than a little to the Electro-Voice MT systems from the mid-to-late ‘80s. This latter company were showing their latest high-power coaxial units and some stylish retro microphones. Focus at Funktion One was on their wedge monitors, as it was too at Nexo, who are justifiably proud of their arrayable wedge system, 45ºN-12. Major new product news from them will have to wait for Frankfurt while field trials continue. OHM also showed HD-MX wedges, and their take on medium-sized line-array. Expressing what is surely now a mature market, there is no shortage of companies
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