Orlando, Florida, June 17, 2009: Electro-Voice has been building the world’s most trusted touring sound systems since the industry began. Tour X condenses every ounce of EV’s tour-proven engineering expertise into a complete line of multi-purpose loudspeakers designed to deliver the ultimate audio experience for portable or installed applications. Read on at The Briefing Room

More InfoComm 09 news from The Briefing Room

I’m always fascinated to hear about the unique development histories of various products, I learned the decade-long background today of JBL’s new CBT Series Line Array Columns. Chatting with Rick Kamlet, Senior Director of Commercial Installed Sound for JBL, I found out the new series, personified by the CBT 50LA (50cm high compact column relying on a line of eight 2-in. drivers), CBT 100LA (100cm high with 16 2-in. drivers), and CBT 70J speakers (two-way coaxial line array with 16 soft dome tweeters and four 5-in. woofers that is 70cm high) on display at the JBL booth was 10 years in the making. The technology is based on the research of former JBL and longtime audio engineer Don Keele, an inventor of constant directivity loudspeaker horns, who started publishing papers on the concept back in 2000, when he was still with JBL. more…

Press release

Symetrix, a leading provider of audio signal processing solutions for the commercial, broadcast, and studio markets, announces the release of the Room Combine 788, the latest addition to its Integrator Series line of products. The Integrator Series now consists of four purpose-built processors, and is based on Symetrix’ SymNet platform for network audio DSP. Read on at The Briefing Room

More InfoComm 09 news from The Briefing Room

It’s a legitimate question. And yet Shure decided to have a go at building a better headphone. “It’s so personal,” Shure’s Chris Lyons offers. “People are looking for subtleties of sound and comfort, and they need reliability … ” he trails off, but I’m distracted by all the people lined up at the listening station on the booth. People seem to be shopping for headphones. And XLR to USB convertors (more on that in a minute).

Shure never made headphones before, but felt qualified to try. In another twist on the theme, Shure has also returned to the ribbon microphone business, a business they had long ago left behind. more…

Partners Brian McCormick and Sean O’Malley, owners since 2007 of Stewart Audio, were eager to discuss this afternoon the fundamental remaking of their company over the past two years. The company still serves its original live-sound amplifier clients, but the new owners, who bought Stewart after lengthy stints in the semiconductor industry, decided to “re-engineer the company and seek new markets,” according to O’Malley.

Thus, today at InfoComm 09, they debuted the company’s new portable (palm-sized) power amps—the AV25 (2-channel Class D amp at 35W and 25W) that weighs less than .5lbs. and is plenum-rated, and other versions of similar size and different power capabilities. Both men say the technology is aimed at the education market—new for Stewart—and is the first of many upcoming moves into new vertical markets. O’Malley suggests that in a difficult economy, the education market is particularly ripe, at least for a certain period of time, as bond and TARP funds for modest infrastructure upgrades begin to circulate in major districts. more…

Bosch brands Midas and Klark Teknik announced at a booth press conference that effective July 1, Midas Consoles North America has been appointed as the exclusive distribution channel for Midas and Klark Teknik in the U.S. and Canada. Based in the Los Angeles-area, Midas Consoles North America is a wholly owned subsidiary of JAM Industries.

The move gives Midas and Klark Teknik direct control of its U.S. distribution channel as it markets the XL8 and PRO6 digital systems in the U.S. market. Midas’ David McNutt said that the existing Midas rep force in North America would be retained. more…

As InfoComm 09 launched this morning, I immediately ran into an old friend, Marc Lopez of Yamaha. Marc pointed out how big a deal digital audio networking is to a manufacturer like Yamaha, and said as of InfoComm 09, that most new Yamaha hardware is now networkable with Audinate’s Dante protocol. A formal press conference at the Audinate booth (5842) Wednesday will have more details, but Yamaha will start distributing a new Dante nework format card in September. It’s a format Marc says Yamaha “sees a lot of potential in. We are now fluid in the langauge of Dante.”

As is Yamaha with all other legitimate network protocols. And Yamaha has a variety of other software news going on this year, such as its new DME software update (DME v. 3.5). The boys in Yamaha’s labs, he admits, spend much of their time these days on software design and development even though the company will always be known first and foremost as a hardware manufacturer. These days, those two missions are hopelessly, and permanently, intertwined. more…

Once again this year, at InfoComm 08 in Las Vegas, SVC’s editorial team fanned out to find some of the most important, leading-edge AV-related products debuting at the show, investigating if they might be deserving of our annual InfoComm Pick Hit awards. Read on at The Briefing Room