UK - Leading installer Hawthorn Theatrical was recently appointed by DB Capital Partners - owners of successful holiday concept Center Parcs UK - to supply a sophisticated integrated sound, lighting and video system to its recently refurbished Elveden Forest site. Due to re-open on 11 July 2003 following a multi-million pound rebuilding and development program, Elveden Forest will benefit from a considerable re-design and the addition of several new features and facilities which will make it Center Parcs' flagship site in the UK.

Hawthorn Theatrical was commissioned to supply a sophisticated AV system to Elveden Forest's new multi-purpose Sports Café, designed to be extremely flexible, interactive and, above all, simple to operate. The Sports Café contains a variety of sports facilities including table tennis, snooker and a swimming pool. It also hosts twice-weekly cabaret sho

UK - The Edinburgh Corn Exchange has installed Colorflow in its recently converted Conference and Banqueting Centre to give this multi-functional up-market suite maximum impact.An unusual conversion, the Edinburgh Corn Exchange has left behind its agricultural origins as a converted cattle market and corn exchange to become Edinburgh's premier conference and banqueting facility.

Bert DeMarco, director of Edinburgh Corn Exchange, commented: "I first saw Colorflow at Leisure Industry Week about three years ago and was then looking at it with a view to creating a feature of the concourse area that joined the old cattleman's restaurant with the corn exchange. I wanted to give the area some life. However, after further discussions with Atmospheric's sales team it was clear that the area was too bright for Colorflow to have the impact that we wanted."

However, DeMarco and

UK - Stagetec, the Slough-based lighting and sound sales and installation specialist, has designed and installed two complete show lighting rigs for two different arenas at Ice Sheffield - the new £15.7million international sports venue.

Ice Sheffield's two Olympic-sized rinks will host world-class sporting events, ice shows and ice sports, as well as family fun and corporate entertainments. Stagetec's MD Andy Stone and Matt Miles managed the project for the two rinks, which both called for completely different lighting set-ups.

The Leisure Arena is utilized for everyday public use and for private bookings and corporate events. Lighting here follows more of a club theme, so to add colour and movement, 8 Martin Pro 918 scanners and 6 Martin Pro 400 colour wash fixtures were specified. These can be run on their own, or boosted with 48 PAR cans that supply a blast of incandesc

USA - When the officials at Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox, decided to add seating behind the famed 'Green Monster' wall in left field during this past off-season, it meant the loudspeakers previously installed there needed to be moved. Since the old system needed upgrading, the Red Sox took advantage of the opportunity and contacted WJHW Consulting of Texas to assist in designing a whole new speaker cluster for the outfield.

Jack Wrightson, a WJHW partner, immediately recommended that the Red Sox contact EAW, located about 50 miles southwest of Boston in Whitinsville, Massachusetts. "I told them that there was a local manufacturer with excellent product and a long history of successful ballpark installations," commented Wrightson. "I knew that EAW would be willing to work with the Red Sox and that the resulting collaboration would result in improved soun

UK - TESA UK, a leading manufacturer of high quality self-adhesive tapes, has appointed the Le Mark Group as its 'entertainment technology specialist'. The appointment represents the long-term commitment of the giant German-owned company to develop products specifically for the entertainment industry.

The announcement concludes nearly 12 months of negotiations between the two companies and sees Le Mark become a 'focused distributor' for TESA. Le Mark's managing director, Stuart Gibbons, told PLASA Media: "This is very much a two-way partnership. It will enable Le Mark's design ability and award-winning flair to be developed further. It also ensures that Le Mark's clients have a direct channel to a multi-national manufacturer who recognizes that the entertainment industry is a growing sector which should be given special attention."

One of the first areas of collabora

Portugal - O2 Lx is a highly-designed, new-build club in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon, owned by South African, John Blummenfeld.

Blummenfeld committed a million euros to convert the former restaurant and discotheque, with Philippe Starck furnishing and decor forming the centrepiece of the predominantly blue interior design. Around 20% of the budget was allocated to the sound, lighting and video system, which was specified and installed as a fully-integrated system by Lisbon-based Audium, who had worked with Blummenfeld on a previous installation, Rock City, back in 1994.

The 1000-capacity club trades on two levels - the ground floor space and an upper level mezzanine around the dance floor. While the ground floor is open to the general public, the upper floor operates as a kind of private club for VIPs, special guests and private parties.

Serving up a fare of mainly Hous

Greece - A massive AV installation on board the Thomson Spirit cruise liner, owned by Lewis Cruise Lines of Greece, has just been completed. With 1,400 passengers, and a crew of 520, it is one of the largest ships operating out of Palma offering cruises around the Mediterranean.

Now 18 years old, the ship has recently undergone an extensive refurbishment, which has seen major changes across the entire ship, from cabins to kitchens through to entertainment systems. Thomson's consultants provided the specifications and a list of equipment to Live Business International (LBI) who were brought in to provide system design and schematics, installation, commissioning and ongoing maintenance. The LBI team, with Gerry Logue as technical project manager, thus either fitted from scratch, or refitted, 12 entertainment areas.

The Broadway (main show lounge) features a full theatre sound, l

UK - London's prestigious Royal Albert Hall has recently purchased 10 Clay Paky Stage Profile Plus units to add to its existing Clay Paky Stage Zoom 1200 inventory for use in the famous auditorium. Supplied by Clay Paky and Pulsar reseller A.C. Lighting Ltd, these workhorse units will be used to complement all visiting showcase events.

RAH technical manager Mark Jones explains why he chose the Stage Profile Plus: "Due to the diverse nature of the shows in the hall, and the varying distance that the units are from the stage, we were looking for a zoom profile with high light output and overlapping shuttering. After a lengthy product comparison of 1200W shuttering moving head projectors on the market, we chose the SP+ because it is exceptionally bright with good colour mixing, the gobos can be changed easily, it's quiet and most importantly very reliable. The overlapping shut

Italy - A total of 40 Outline Micra Reflex loudspeaker enclosures, powered by Series T power amplifiers, have been installed as the sound reinforcement system for 'Escape from Atlantis' - the latest attraction at Italy's huge Gardaland amusement park. One of Europe's largest water parks, it covers an area of 15,000sq.m, and has already been the setting for spectacular publicity footage transmitted by major Italian and international television broadcasters.

Outline's systems can also be found at Gardaland outside the 'Valley of Kings' - an attraction that's a faithful 1:2 scale reproduction of Egypt's' ancient Abu Simbel temple. Here, two Doppia enclosures, two Victor Live subwoofers powered by DSP Genius 6 and T power amps and two (delayed) Digita Plus N enclosures reproduce the soundtrack for the laser, accompanied by dancing fountains and water walls up to 45ft high.

Outline

Ireland - Duran Audio UK has recently supplied two AXYS Intellivox 4Cs, two AXYS Intellivox 2Bs and two AXYS Intellivox 1Bs to Northern Ireland-based installer DL Electronics as part of an installation at St Patrick's Cathedral in Armagh.

The Cathedral has recently undergone an extensive refurbishment programme: an important part of this project was to replace the PA system, as there had always been problems with speech intelligibility in the building. Acoustic consultant, Peter Lloyd, and the installers, DL Electronics, were keen to investigate a more innovative approach, as distributed systems had not worked well in the Cathedral in the past. Following several conversations with Duran Audio UK, they arranged for an Intellivox demonstration so that they could see what could be achieved using Duran Audios DDC technology. The benefits of the technology were immediately clear and

Switzerland - The Montreux' Congress Centre, which hosts a variety of concerts, conventions and theatre productions each year, has equipped its Stravinski Auditorium and Miles Davis Hall with L-Acoustics ARCS systems. The installation was made by the contractor TMS. Stravinski Auditorium has a capacity of 1,800 to 2,000 seats (1,200 in the pit and 600 in the circle), and the pit can accommodate up to 2,500 people in standing configuration.

The equipment consists of eight ARCS cabinets, split into two stereo clusters of four ARCS each, amplified by two LA24a, an XTA DP226 digital processor, four SB218 subs amplified by two LA48a, six MTD108a coaxial speakers for the circle fills, two MTD112b coaxial speakers and their dedicated L-Acoustics analogue controller to cover the first rows, and two MTD112b coaxial speakers with their dedicated analog controller for side fill.

Marc Bri

Germany - May 2003 saw the official opening of one of the largest and most modern cinema complexes in Germany - the Mathäser, in the heart of Munich. This mega cinema boasts no less than 14 auditoriums - each featuring a sound system from Electro-Voice.

The jewel in the crown of the new mega-complex is Screen 6, which is used for premieres. This auditorium has 840 seats and offers a screen in XXL format, and a sound system to match: the front system from Electro-Voice consists of five Variplex XL enclosures, while the surround system comprises 30 SL 12-2V units powered by 20 CPS 2 amplifiers. According to Eric Egenolf, sales director of Cine Project, the company responsible for installing the sound and projection equipment: "The cinema has been THX certified, for which it needed to satisfy extremely high standards of projection and sound quality."

Egenolf continues:

UK - Sennheiser UK has announced that BBC TV Glasgow has purchased a significant amount of replacement Sennheiser wireless microphone equipment for use on the station's studio and outside broadcasts.

Consisting of four Sennheiser SK 3063 UHF 16-channel pocket transmitters, two SK 3072 handheld UHF 32 channel microphones, two EM 3032 twin UHF diversity receivers, two EM 3031 single-channel diversity receivers, a ProSplit 600 active filtered 2x1:8 antenna distribution system and two SK 5012 16-channel miniature pocket transmitters, the order was supplied by long-established Edinburgh and Glasgow sales and rental operation, Warehouse Sound Services Ltd.

(Ruth Rossington)

Italy - Spanish loudspeaker manufacturer D.A.S. Audio systems has been fundamental in providing a clear message at the Vinovo Hippodrome in Italy. D.A.S. distributor Kennell was responsible for the design and installation of the sound reinforcement systems.

Starting with clear requisites for the performance of the system, Kennel designed the system to provide precise coverage for the different messages to be communicated which include the race start signal, speaker commentary and background music. Sound is provided for three specific areas, the bleacher and parterre areas surrounding the course; the bar, restaurant and VIP areas and finally, a projection theatre located within the facilities of the racecourse.

28 Bi-Drivers were flown from the roof structure of the bleachers in order to obtain precisely defined coverage areas. The Bi-Driver is a high-power, mid-high coaxial de

UK - Described as a 21st century pentecostal church, New Wine Church in Woolwich has carried out a major upgrade to its sound and vision infrastructure. Leicestershire-based Hawthorn Theatrical was awarded the contract, after having impressed with the PA support they provided for the Church's New Year's Eve celebrations.

Divided into three spaces, the three-year-old church includes a small downstairs chapel and community area, including crèche and catering. However, it was the 1,500-seat main room - set within the shell of the Odeonesque art deco church - that Martin Hawthorn's company was asked to upgrade, in order to provide additional functionality.

For sound reinforcement, they selected exclusively Martin Audio components - and provided a cabling infrastructure for future expansion, as well as over 100 ways of audio patching, a 72-channel Allen & Heath ML500) desk, fully-

UK - Apple Sound, experts in the design and installation of sophisticated systems for the Ecclesiastical market collaborated with pro audio distributor beyerdynamic to provide an audio control system to Beverley Minister in East Yorkshire. As part of a substantial audio system upgrade, beyerdynamic provided an intuitive control system, which centered on Audia from Biamp and the Cue management/media management system.

Working closely with its sister acoustic consultancy Apple Dynamic, headed by Dr Paul Darlington, Apple Sound designed a system that would counter the massive acoustic challenges (and satisfy the installation restrictions) presented by the cathedral-like, Grade 1 listed Minster. The system had to be visually diminutive and very easy to operate.

Following an in-depth RASTI acoustic analysis, it was apparent that intelligibility was the key factor as the enormous va

Canada - Olympic skating champions Jamie Sale and David Pelletier christened Princess Cruises' newest passenger super liner Island Princess earlier this week, in a ceremony which also marked the operator's third decade of sailing from the Canadian Port. Island Princess and her sister ship Coral Princess, which joined the fleet in January, will be sailing seven-day Gulf of Alaska cruises from Vancouver and Seward.

The entertainment facilities onboard are second to none, featuring three show lounges including the state-of-the-art Universe lounge. Split over two decks, the Universe lounge was designed to facilitate a diverse range of entertainment options from Princess production shows to movie screenings.

Stage Technologies, perhaps most widely recognized for their work on land-based theatres such as the Royal Opera House and the stage production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

UK - British Harlequin's Activity Sprung Floor with its revolutionary 'triple' sandwich construction has proved a popular choice for many companies, performing arts centres and schools requiring a permanent sprung floor. Activity Floor has typically been installed in conjunction with a non-slip vinyl surface from one of Harlequin's established range of dance surfaces. Now, due to customer demand, Harlequin have developed a choice of three standard hardwood finishes - oak, beech and maple - ideal for venues requiring a more conventional look.

In traditional wooden sprung floors, there has always been an inconsistency of flex over the floor area due to the necessity to use bearers in construction. This problem has now been eliminated by combining an engineered wooden surface with Harlequin Activity Floor, a unique fully floating construction of semi flexible panels supported on a

UK - Wigwam Sales has completed the installation of an L-Acoustics ARCS system at the Abundant Life Church in Bradford. The system comprises of 2 x 6 flown arrays of ARCS, with each hang delivering 135° coverage in the horizontal plane with 40° down and 20° up in the vertical domain. Each single ARCS cabinet is 22.5° horizontal by 60° vertical due to the asymmetrical Wavefront Sculpture Technology (WST) waveguide. The inverted arrays are complemented by two SB218 subwoofers per side, and the system is powered by a combination of both LA24a and LA48a amplifiers.

Mike Spratt, managing director of Wigwam Acoustics, comments: "The 1,500-capacity church is very wide and also has a long balcony at the back and down both sides, so it was important to be able to cover the entire auditorium from a L/R system without having to use standard delays and fills. The ARCS is the perfe

UK - Studio design company, Munro Acoustics, has completed the monitor installation and acoustic refurbishment of a new audio dubbing theatre at BBC Post Production in Bristol. The project involved the installation of a 5.1 surround-sound monitoring system based on custom Dynaudio Acoustics C3F main monitors, BM6 surround speakers and custom T1000 amplifiers. This is identical to the system Munro Acoustics installed in October 2002, when it completed the acoustic refurbishment of a similar dubbing theatre.

The refurbishment is part of general expansion of the audio facilities at BBC Post Production in Bristol, where there are now two main dubbing theatres with Foley facilities and a third, smaller, dubbing theatre with a commentary booth. The complex also houses three track lay areas. Both the large dubbing theatres are equipped with AMS Neve MMC consoles, while the smaller thea

Australia - The long-awaited Federation Square, the new centre of cultural activity in Melbourne, is now officially open. Winning the tender to provide an audio infrastructure for the complex, contractor Rutledge Engineering selected BSS Soundweb as the DSP networking devices for several of the project areas. Rutledge senior project manager, Matt Edgcumbe, says Soundweb was preferred because of the ease with which it connects remote locations together.

A multimedia fibre and Cat 6 backbone provides the connectivity for a 9088iiMM and two 9088iiLL devices. The sound systems in the Plaza, and architecturally-challenging BMW Edge auditorium, are fed with audio from the scheduled multimedia system, which is then mixed with the local PA desk. Because the mixing desks are temporarily set up for events, the Soundweb also provides the ability for the client to connect several microphon

UK - Leeds United Football Club's Elland Road stadium has a new Martin Audio-based public address installation carried out by leading system integrator, Advance Integrated Systems. The company were one of four firms asked to tender to their own design and their submissions where checked for statutory compliance on behalf of the Football Trust by consultants, AMS Acoustics. AIS's managing director Alan Inkster says that the requirement was for an emergency sound system that would comply with BS7827 and the Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds (The Green Guide). His company were supported by a large product catalogue from Martin Audio, and the expertise of Martin's EASE specialist, Peter Child, who produced data and system verification for all four stands alongside AIS director Stephen McCay.

In total AIS have distributed 25 Blackline F12 (12" + 1") enclosures in the North,

UK - When David Azouri opened his first restaurant in Willesden Green specializing in Middle Eastern cuisine, Shish became an immediate and resounding success. The concept is to serve fresh, authentic Middle Eastern dishes in a modern environment, or if drinking rather than eating is the order of the day, there is also a classy cocktail bar where customers can choose from a vast array of original cocktails, accompanied by a selection of mezze dishes. The concept has proved so successful that Azouri has recently opened a second unit in the increasingly trendy area of Hoxton in London, and turned to installation specialist Sound Division to specify and supply the audio system.

Sound Division's audio design team, David Graham and Elliot Patterson, opted for a Crown-powered JBL system based primarily on JBL Control 25AV loudspeakers. "As is the case with so many of our restaura

UK - Brighton's Komedia has become one of the most popular venues in the UK for the promotion of new talent in theatre, comedy, cabaret and music. It's also become a leading light on Edinburgh Festival's Fringe in recent years. Its theatre and smaller cabaret space pack in over 500 shows a year, a figure that's set to rise sharply with the completion this summer of a comprehensive re-fit.

The theatre's home for the past five years has been a none-too-elegant former Tesco supermarket building in Gardner Street, in the vibrantly bohemian North Laine district at the heart of Brighton. Inside is a different story, with the upper floor a traditional end-on 200-seat theatre complete with a small bar, and the downstairs room a smaller cabaret, music and comedy space.

Director Tim Hawkins explains: "The theatre's only used around three or four days a week, but that's still quite

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