DISTRIBUTION NEWS
d&b appoints new distributor UAE: d&b audiotechnik has appointed Dubai based Lightbox Professional as its new distributor for the GCC. The company is headed by Joe Khadra and Chadi El-Masri and the new arrangement will see the distributor target both the live and install markets. ‘It’s new and exciting times for us here,’ said d&b audiotechnik’s Thomas Hedrich. ‘Lightbox has some interesting connections into different market segments. They also have a branch in Qatar for example where they already serve a lot of the hotel industry with A/V solutions and
Thomas Hedrich and Chadi El Masri
VIRTUAL SOUND WINS dB TECH DISTRIBUTOR AWARD GHANA: dBTechnologies distributor Virtual Sound has been presented with a distribution award for ‘fastest growing company of the year’ at the fifth annual Prosonic distributor convention weekend in Cologne. Virtual Sound owner Nana Opoku collected the award from Michael Herweg, MD of dBT Germany and Harald von Falkenstein, international sales manager. ‘Virtual Sound started as a distributor for us in 2009 and has grown its business by an incredible 30 – 40 per cent a year since then,’ stated Giovanni Barbieri, dBTechnologies business development manager. ‘They
integration,’ he explained. ‘We see a big potential in the market. People are aware of the brand and we have a lot of projects here where quality plays an important role.’ For his part, Mr El Masri is equally positive about the new relationship and would like to set up new partners in different segments of the market. ‘The other very important thing is training and education,’ Noted Mr El Masri. ‘If you want to push something that is really high quality, people have to understand what the high quality is and what the beneÀts are.
its distributors with its new DVA T12, described as ‘the main focus’ of the two-day forum. ‘T12 is the impressive result of three years’ intensive R&D, and we want to give our distributors as much product knowledge and marketing support as we can, to justify and validate the efforts that have gone into its design,’ explained Mr Herweg. Trausti Ingólfssson from dBTechnologies’ Icelandic distributor, Tonabudin said: ‘It has been great to learn about how T4 and T12 are compatible, and Ànd out the ideal conÀgurations of the two line arrays. Together with the S30 subwoofers it makes for an amazing system.’
‘I’ve worked a lot with suppliers, and manufacturers,’ continues Mr El Masri, ‘and I would really like to say that d&b is the best company I have ever worked with in terms of communication, support and taking care of their customers and partners, and this is what really makes us powerful at Lightbox. We feel that somebody is really backing us now. They are really true in whatever they say and this is how we both like to do business.’ www.dbaudio.com www.lightboxprofessional.com
Thomsun renovates music showroom
A wall of speakers at the refurbished showroom UAE: Thomsun has announced that its Deira-based Thomsun Music showroom has been completely refurbished in order to offer customers a choice of professional audio solutions. The newly renovated store now caters to customers speciÀcally looking for professional audio gear, but Thomsun is keen to state it will continue to stock musical instruments, A/V products as well as professional audio products in its other stores in the UAE.
The new-look showroom has clearly marked zones for studio headphones, microphones, audio mixing consoles, ampliÀers, studio monitors, and speakers. The way in which the products are set out is designed to allow customers to test them, as well as provide them with a clear understanding of each product’s feature set. ‘We realised that a specialised and dedicated store that catered to the needs of customers from the studio, post-production, live and
install markets would help us serve our customers better,’ explained Thomsun’s Biju Thomas. ‘We are conÀdent this new retail format will help us promote our brands better, and in turn help customers in making a more informed purchase decision.’ The distributor has also announced a new relationship with Reference Laboratory. Thomsun will now stock the manufacturers MI and home cables. www.thomsun.com
Nana Opoku collecting the award from Michael Herweg and Harald von Falkenstein are extremely satisÀed with dBTechnologies and have been overwhelmingly successful in strengthening the brand image in Ghana, particularly in the church installation market with the DVA line.’ ‘Virtual Sound is an important company in Ghana, and one of the biggest in Africa, as it also handles the exclusive distribution rights for many MI and pro audio brands,’ furthered Mr Barbieri. In addition, a Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to area sales manager Stefanos Koutavas, who will be leaving dBTechnologies after twelve years of service. Elsewhere at the convention, dBTechnologies reportedly impressed
DATASAT JOINS VENUETECH PORTFOLIO
‘The great thing with RD-Net is that you can remotely control and monitor the DVA T12 whilst it’s rigged – even during a performance,’ said an impressed Luis Tavares of Garrett Audiovisuais in Portugal. ‘This is just another of a long list of beneÀts that will give this great new product a real standing in the market.’ Per Oystein Berglund of Njal Hansson AS, Norway reported that in his opinion, the T12 compares ‘incredibly well’ with brands which cost considerably more. ‘dBTechnologies is playing on the big stage now – literally!’ he exclaimed.
UAE: Datasat has become the latest brand to be represented by Dubai-based distributor Venuetech in the GCC. The satellite and cinema equipment manufacturer will be represented in both the home and consumer market. The companies have been in contact for a couple of years now but the activity between the two only stepped up in the last couple of months with some of Datasat’s servers and AP20s taken for a cinema chain.
www.dbtechnologies.com
www.venuetech.ae
www.virtualsoundlab.com
20 PRO AUDIO MIDDLE EAST November–December 2011
Datasat has joined Venuetech’s roster of brands
SHOW REPORT
InfoComm MEA 2011 Would the Àve day show’s debut outing in the Middle East be an event too far for Dubai’s busy calendar? And how would the tie up with Gitex work?
InfoComm MEA was held at the Dubai World Trade Centre
Gitex was a big draw
‘FIVE DAYS IS A LONG TIME FOR a trade show’ some people pointed out. ‘The footfall will be high, but will they be the right people?’ others asked. ‘Three trade shows in a year is too many for the local industry,’ some warned. But despite these initial concerns, the Àrst outing of InfoComm MEA can largely be judged a success. Bringing the InfoComm brand to the Middle East is something people have been crying out for over a number of years and by co-locating it with Gitex, a big crowd from the technology super-show was expected to visit. However, the timing of the announcement of the show caused some issues, as marketing budgets for the year had already been allocated to the other two regional events. So while success was not guaranteed, there were high enough levels of interest to suggest the show would be supported. The level of support was particularly highlighted by the standard and scale of some of the booths in Hall 8 of the Dubai World Trade Centre. The likes of Sharp, Samsung, Mitsubishi Electronic, Hitachi, UBMS and NEC all took extensive stands which gave the show the professional feel it needed. Added to this, products being premiered in the Middle East and a few even being shown for the Àrst time anywhere made certain there was enough to keep the visitors interested. One product being shown for the Àrst time was the TPI5 from Dynacord. This full colour touchscreen provides a brandable interface to the manufacturer’s IrisNet software, allowing a Àne level of control over different zones in a system. For its Àrst outing, the TPI5 was connected
to a colourful display of Dynacord cabinets in their various RAL colours on the AVL Electronics stand, where it was also joined by RTS Telex headsets. Over on the extensive Venuetech stand, another product making its premiere at the show was the new power supply and new software features for Sennheiser’s ADN conferencing system. The added power supply offers power for up to 400 units in a complete system and the Àrmware update offers users the ability to record audio and statistical information to a hard drive. ‘The reaction to the recording facility has been excellent,’ said Sennheiser’s Ryan Burr. ‘And the addition of the power supply is something people had been requesting for a long time.’ Elsewhere on the Venuetech stand, equipment could be found from L-Acoustics and Televic, whereas a new relationship with Datasat was also being celebrated. On the Electro-Voice section, it was a Middle East debut for the EVU installation series speakers that was the particular highlight. ‘Being an install product, we’ve been able to show it to the right people at the show,’ noted EV’s Tony Sawyer. Also making a regional debut were Midas’ Pro2 and Pro2C consoles. The desks had been shipped over to Dubai following their launch at Plasa and took pride of place on the NMK booth, well located by the entrance from Gitex. ‘The show was not bad, we got to meet a lot of new people, especially from the spill over from Gitex,’ said NMK business development manager Chicco Hiranandani. ‘The Pro2 has gone down well and I’ve been showing it to
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Diana Teng on the BXB stand people from the rental companies.’ From the audio perspective, one of the largest sectors covered was conferencing. ‘Talking to my competitors I can see that everyone is quite enthusiastic and we hope that the show will grow next year,’ said Televic’s Herman Geerinck. ‘All the big players are around, so that’s good’.
Products from this segment could be found from DIS, BXB, Beyerdynamic and Creator, each of which had a dedicated booth at the show, as well as Sennheiser and Televic on the Venuetech stand. Away from conference units, there were a number of other audio products on show on the booths
of their various distributors. Oasis Entertainment displayed RCF speakers as well as broadcast and lighting equipment. GSL Professional had its Harman brands out with Crown amps and AKG mics on show on a smaller than usual booth designed to judge how worthwhile the event would be. One of the particular highlights came from the new relationship between d&b audiotechnik and its new local representative Lightbox, which saw the Xs series of point source speakers featured prominently on the booth. Two of the distributors took a different approach from usual with their presence. For Thomsun it was only Beyerdynamic products on show with a booth highlighting the range of the manufacturer’s conferencing options. While VV & Sons and Australian Monitor also paired up on a dedicated stand to display the
A busy DIS both
Christie showed a range of visual solutions
Greg Collins and Richard Hulston from by Sanal Das from VV & Sons