In the UK, Musicland was awarded 'Best Retailer of the Year', Batmink was presented with the 'Best Reseller of the Year' award, and Sapphires Sound & Light was decorated with 'Best DJ Retailer of the Year'. International distributors were also acknowledged, with Pro Audio Marketing in Germany, PT Santika Multi Jaya in Indonesia and Distribuidora Gonher S.A. de C.V. in Mexico, receiving awards for 'Most Improved Territory'. Korean distributor, Dai Kyung was credited for 'Best Technical Support'.
However, the most prestigious award of the evening went to Italy, as Grisby Music Srl was presented with 'Distributor of the Year'. Grisby's managing director, Lorenzo Benigna, commented: "It is a great honour to accept this award, which recognizes the efforts of the whole team at Grisby. The Allen & Heath brand is one of the best in the audio market with a name that stands for quality and value. We are proud to be supporting it."
Allen & Heath also received an award of its own, when it scooped one of the top prizes at DJ magazine's T-Scan Awards. Held during PLASA at the West End's popular MoMo restaurant, Allen & Heath's Xone:62 DJ mixer was awarded 'Best Club Mixer' for the second year running, reinforcing Xone mixers as one of the industry standards in club installations.
The PLASA event itself was a great success for Allen & Heath, attracting interest in the eight new products launched across its portfolio of market-leading ML, GL, Xone, iDR and PA series, impressively displayed on a new two-tier stand. The show also saw the introduction of new distribution channels in Austria, China, Bulgaria, Costa Rica, Martinique, Thailand and Hungary.
(Ruth Rossington)
