PLASA 2010 REPORT BACK
September is always synonymous with Electrosonic SA’s annual appointment in London for the PLASA show at Earls Court. This year both Bruce Schwartz and Bruce Genricks made the pilgrimage.
The usual pre-show dealer conferences provided opportunities to learn more about new technology and products prior to the visitors actually seeing the products at the show. This year the stands were dominated by LED products of every conceivable type, from LED based moving heads to LED screens and even audio consoles packed with LEDs. The technology is clearly coming of age and will no doubt be the light source of the future.
Martin Professional’s stand was, as usual, outstanding. Capturing the limelight during its world wide release was the cutest, brightest little moving head imaginable - the MAC 101 wash. Martin had 128 of these units on the stand, as well as more than 200 of them on the MTV Music Video awards. Martin provided an hourly show on their stand which had visitors constantly blocking the aisles as they strained to catch a glimpse of the presentation.
Other products on show at the Martin stand were the White/Amber module for the MAC 401, the M1 control desk and the Ether2DMX8 wonder box.
Highlighted products from other suppliers at the show included:
CM Lodestar’s new Lodestar motor which is a total redesign of the old unit with the addition of many new safety features and a drastically noise output.
Litec’s new High Load Truss and accessories on the AC Lighting stand
Compulite’s full range of Vector consoles, including the new Vector Violet and Ultra Violet.
Robert Juliat’s fantastic retrofit table LED theatre profile, which won a PLASA innovation award. This fixture has a host of advantages over a traditional tungsten profile, including power saving, heat and lamp life.
This year’s attendance at the show was far greater than last year, which just goes to show that the industry has recovered robustly after a disasterous 2009.
More information on the new products that were launched at PLASA 2010 will be in the next issue of Promag.