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AVL is
the agent for Eurotruss, Nivtec, Gerriets, CLS,
Avid (previously Digidesign),
ShowLED, Doughty and Esca-3000. We
supply trussing, roof systems, stages, screens,
theatre equipment, LED equipment, LED curtains,
Venue digital mixing consoles, Pro Tools, rigging
solutions and access gear.
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News |
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AVL Distribution
Completes Technical Installation for SABC M1 Music Studio |
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April 2011
AVL
Distribution, based in Bryanston, was proud to be
appointed technical provider for the SABC's new music
theatre, M1. AVL is the SA distributor for Gerriets
Theatre Equipment, Avid VENUE Live Mixers, Eurotruss
and Nivtec Stages. The theatre, which has been a
defunct space in the SABC for some years, has been
completely revamped and fully equipped. It is now
perhaps the premier music performance studio / theatre
on the African continent.
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AVL
was most proud to be appointed to handle the acquisition
and installation of audio, trussing, sound-absorbing
curtains, automated track system and automated HD projection
screen for the venue.
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following equipment was provided by AVL: |
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28-metre Gerriets Electric Curtain
Track System. This track system
is the finest of its type in the world,
and controls many of the curtains in the
world's finest performance venues and opera
houses. It is DMX controlled. |
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Two
enormous Gerriets Soundmolton curtains (sized
14m x 12m each). These flame-retardant curtains
not only provide a hugely attractive backdrop
and act as central curtains to reveal M1's enormous
pipe organ when opened, they also importantly
provide sound-absorption and acoustic features
that have made the M1 theatre into an audio-friendly
environment. Gerriets Soundmolton, manufactured
in Germany, is a technically superior and highly-attractive
sound-absorbing curtain that meets international
flame-retardancy standards.
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A
huge Gerriets Runway automated video
projection screen, sized 8m x 4,5m for
HD format. The Gerriets Runway roller screen
system is equipped with motors and a superior
reinforced fire-retardant PVC screen surface
that meets the highest international demands
of gain and viewing angle. The screen may be
lifted or dropped with a wireless remote control.
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An
imposing Eurotruss FD34 trussing structure,
measuring 14m x 12m with centre bars. Eurotruss
FD34 is the world's leading 30cm square trussing,
is compatible with other structures within the
SABC and is used by many leading rental companies.
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An Avid
VENUE Profile live mixing console (capable
of 96 channels), packaged with a Pro Tools
HD4 128-track recording system. VENUE is the
world's best-selling high-end digital live
console and appears on eight out of ten US
top-ten tour riders.
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The
launch of this prestige venue took place on 31 March
2011 and was a huge success, with artists like Stimela,
Ringo and Futuresound testing out the new equipment.
The launch went off without a hitch.
AVL Distribution would like to thank the SABC and, in particular, Junior
Qwabe and Rob Lens, for their unwavering support and positive input. AVL
Distribution and its suppliers, Gerriets, Eurotruss and Avid, are proud
to have been involved with this momentous project.
See
this story on the 'Pro Audio Middle East' site too
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Avid VENUE
Live Mixing Consoles... Good Enough for You Too |
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March
2011
At
the recent U2 360 Concerts held in South Africa, Avid
VENUE Live Mixers dominated once again. With
no fewer than six VENUE Profiles in attendance
at the U2 gigs, VENUE once again proved itself to be
the go-to console for FOH, monitors, broadcast
and
recording integration (direct to Pro Tools). The
consoles were provided by various VENUE stakeholders
including SA distributors AVL Distribution and
SA's official VENUE training institute, Academy of
Sound
Engineering. |
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U2's
Adam Clayton with one of the six VENUE Profile consoles
used at the Cape Town 360 Concert
Top of Page
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Gearhouse Chooses Avid VENUE Mixing Consoles |
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November 2010
AVL Distribution is proud to announce that
Gearhouse SA, Africa's biggest and most respected rental
company,
has recently purchased two Avid VENUE Profile mixing
systems. The addition of these two consoles to Gearhouse's
audio
department undoubtedly re-enforces Gearhouse's position
as the leader in South Africa's live, digital console
market. |
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Avid VENUE consoles appear on
no less than eight out of ten American top-grossing
music tour riders - obviously a factor that helped Gearhouse make their decision. |
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Following the delivery of the consoles last week,
Gearhouse has already received bookings for the consoles
from the following artists still to come to SA this
year: Duran Duran, AR Rahman and 30 Seconds to Mars.
(In addition, AVL's demo VENUE consoles were used this
year by Gearhouse, in the lead-up to the purchase,
on Crowded House, Bryan Adams, Ne-Yo and the FIFA World
Cup Kick-off Concert.)
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From left: Llewellyn
Reinicke (Operations Manager Audio); Dave
Tudor (Head of Operations Delivery); Andreas
Furtner (Senior Audio Technician)
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Said Dave Tudor, Head of
Operations Delivery at Gearhouse SA:
"We had noted that VENUE was coming up
more and more often on overseas riders and we
knew the guys from AVL Distribution, who are
the agents for VENUE. So we started interacting
more closely with them in order to start understanding
and working with these great consoles, with a
view to purchasing some when the time was right.
We ended up using VENUE on shows like KoRn, Counting
Crows, most artists on the Fifa Kick-off Concert,
Bryan Adams and various others.
As our technicians got to work more and more closely with VENUE,
we came to understand why these consoles are so popular overseas."
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"They sound fantastic.
The pre-amps are studio-grade, the quality and quantity
of the third-party plug-ins on VENUE are beyond compare
and the "virtual sound-check" feature is
just a pleasure (who needs the artist to sound-check
when you've got full Pro Tools integration?) We could
EQ the room, set up snapshots and just about everything
else - without the band!" |
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Above all, the design of the work-flow on the console
surface is just stunning. I noticed many of the overseas
engineers that worked with us kept on emphasising that
VENUE's workflow removes the complexities, so they could
concentrate on what matters most - the mix. Also, they
kept praising the rock-solid reliability, sound clarity,
I/O flexibility, scalability and integration that VENUE
is known for."
"Well, overseas engineers rave about VENUE, but only after working with
them a few times ourselves did we actually believe the hype, so the decision
was made to place the order for two VENUE Profile systems in October. The systems
were delivered to us a couple of weeks later and we are already very excited
about them. Our technicians are getting ready to use them on no less than three
international acts that are not-negotiable VENUE users, between now and Christmas,
with more to come next year. These consoles are going to be very busy indeed."
Said Nick Matzukis of AVL Distribution:
"We are absolutely delighted that Gearhouse has joined the VENUE family.
As Africa's leading rental company and a world-player, we never had any doubt
that Gearhouse would become a VENUE user. The consoles sell themselves and the
choice might have been an obvious and natural one for Gearhouse, but we would
like to thank and congratulate Dave, Ofer and the other guys at Gearhouse for
their warm and professional reception to our products." |
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"They
made this sale an absolute pleasure for us and, in
true Gearhouse style,
they didn't just go for a basic system - they purchased two, state-of-the art
VENUE Profile systems with maximum power and flexibility." |
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"The systems purchased by Gearhouse have two
stage racks each (to enable 96 channels), extended
analogue and digital outputs to ensure that they can
handle just about any artist's I/O requirements, and
four MADI option cards which will make not only recording,
fibre-optics and redundancy simple, they will also
enable an easy digital split, whereby all stage inputs
are automatically routed to the MADI card outputs.
All-in all, two fabulous, state-of-the art systems
as good as any in the world, in keeping with Gearhouse's
reputation as a world-class audio company."
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AVL Distribution and Avid Live Sound would
like to take this opportunity to officially welcome
Gearhouse
to the VENUE family and to express their thanks to
the management and staff of Gearhouse.
Top of Page |
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VENUE Live Consoles Dominate
at FIFA Kick-Off Concert |
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June 2010
Tens of thousands of revellers filled Soweto's
Orlando stadium on Thursday, 10 June for Fifa's first-ever
Kick-Off
Concert - and were treated to top-notch performances
by a galaxy of international and local stars. |
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Various SA artists were featured including Vusi Mahlasela
and BLK JKS, and a host of international superstars including
Alicia Keys, Shakira, K'naan, John Legend and the Black
Eyed Peas. |
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The concert line-up was laden with more international
acts than ever before seen at one event in SA, and
the event ran flawlessly. The concert has been dubbed
as
the greatest entertainment event to take place on African
soil,
according to the FIFA website. |
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| Naturally, at a concert as important as this one, only
state-of the-art equipment was used. And as far as the
mixing consoles were concerned, no fewer than EIGHT of
the nine mixers used at the entire event were Avid VENUE
consoles. From FOH to monitors, from broadcast to recording,
VENUE was everywhere at this event. Talk about a mixing
console making its mark! To have one brand providing eight
of the nine mixing consoles at the greatest entertainment
event seen in Africa is a true testament to the quality,
purity of sound and sheer dominance of VENUE. |
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VENUE - A Revolution in Live Sound. For a
demo of VENUE, the world's greatest digital mixing
console, phone 011 463 5804.
Top of Page |
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Legendary International Sound
Engineer Gives SA Workshop - Receives Huge Acclaim! |
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June 2010
Robb Allan, one of the world's
most accomplished live sound engineers, gave a live mix
workshop
in Jozi on
25 May 2010, hosted by AVL Distribution and Academy of Sound Engineering. Also
in attendance was Ravi Ravisankar, Avid's Manager of Live Sound in emerging markets. |
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Robb, who hails from Scotland
and now lives in Spain,
has mixed many of the world's premier acts, including Coldplay, Manic Street
Preachers,
Natalie Imbruglia, Richard Ashcroft and Lisa Stansfield. |
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He has also handled broadcast sound on David Letterman,
Jay Leno, Saturday Night Live, the Brit Awards, the
MTV Music Awards and many other productions. Because
Robb has toured the world and provided sound reinforcement
at most of the world's great venues, his workshop was
hotly anticipated and the event was fully booked very
early on!
The workshop, which was held at Academy of Sound Engineering, was for established
sound engineers and attendance was by invitation only. Nevertheless, despite
its technical nature, the workshop was also peppered with hilarious anecdotes
and amusing stories about Robb's experiences on the road.
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Robb's visit to South Africa was sponsored by his
favourite brand of digital mixing console, Avid's VENUE
Live Mixing Systems, three of which were used during
the workshop. Arrangements were made before the workshop,
for delegates to download the VENUE software for free,
so that they could follow Robb's training on their own
laptops while Robb worked on the consoles themselves.
The software, as well as a live camera feed of the console
surface, were also shown on a large screen, in order
to maximise interactivity. Delegates were, in this way,
able to construct their own show files.
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After the break, an excellent
young SA band, Allegra, performed three songs, after
which they went and sat in the audience and literally
watched Robb mix them. |
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| This was done by way of VENUE's Virtual Soundcheck feature,
with which the engineer is able to work on the live sound
without the band even being present. (Since VENUE requires
no interface to feed into Pro Tools HD, the band can be
recorded directly from VENUE into Pro Tools and those tracks
used to set the EQ's and effects for the live mix. This
is just one of VENUE's great features.) |
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Delegates were then given the opportunity to get their
hands on the three state-of-the art VENUE consoles: a
VENUE SC48, a VENUE Profile and a VENUE D-Show. VENUE
is the leading digital live mixing console in the world
and appears on eight out of ten American artist riders.
The workshop was an enormous success, with no fewer than 65 established
live engineers in attendance, mostly from South Africa, but some from as
far afield as Nigeria, Namibia, Zimbabwe and the UK. Comments made by various
delegates included...
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"The
best audio workshop I've ever attended - please sign
me up for the next
one!" |
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| "Fantastic - a great console presented by a great
engineer"; "What a legend. I'm hugely impressed
- thanks so much for inviting me!"; "VENUE consoles
are amazing and Robb is an incredible engineer - well done". |
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AVL Distribution, the SA distributors for Avid VENUE
Live Sound, would like to thank Ravi Ravisankar, all
AVL staff for organising the event and above all, the
legendary
Robb Allan, for this incredible workshop. As Ravi said
after the event: "This was very cool. I think we
should do it again..."
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SA's Largest Aluminium Roof
System Purchased by The Sound Corporation (TSC) |
June 2010
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Huge Eurotruss
ST Roof System (36m x 16m with 20m x 14m stag area) arrives
in SA |
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Finally, it's here... After five months of design,
manufacture and shipping, the largest aluminium roof
system ever seen in South Africa has been delivered to The
Sound Corporation, based in Randburg. The roof
system was manufactured by the world's largest trussing
manufacturer, Eurotruss, whose distributor in Southern
Africa is AVL Distribution.
Mark de Klerk, Managing Member of
The Sound Corporation, tells the story:
"We have been using Eurotruss products for some time and have recently created
two Eurotruss hung roof structures of 12mx10m for the FIFA Fan Fest Parks. The
equipment is exceptional and we are very happy with it. But it has also become
obvious that, as The Sound Corporation has expanded its audio, lighting, AV,
backline and other in-house departments, it has become necessary to purchase
a large roof structure, to satisfy the ever-increasing festival market. We have
been approached to tender on bigger and bigger shows, most of which need a large
roof and LED rear-support structure. So, via AVL, we purchased the Big Brother
of all roof systems: the Eurotruss ST Pro System."
The roof is designed around Eurotruss' legendary TD35 towers (eight of
them in all), with Eurotruss ST truss in the horizontal grid. The TD35
towers, which can run up to 16m in height, are made of square 350mm heavy
duty truss, which integrates horizontal bracing on one side, for easy climbing,
heavy-duty multi-functional tower-tops, 100mm hinge sections, sleeveblocks
with bolted sleeve plates / receivers for easy construction and steel bases
with wheels and outriggers. ST trussing, which is used in the grid, is
Eurotruss' mammoth-strength square 500mm truss that can run for a free
span of up to 24m, at high load. Clearly, this roof system is made of the
BIG stuff!
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"In
fact, TSC have purchased two roof systems in one;
and perhaps even four,"
explains Nick Matzukis, a director of AVL Distribution. |
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"Mark has had the foresight to order two canopies
with this roof - one in size 16mx12m and one in size 20mx14m.
This provides TSC with great versatility because the roof,
as a modular system, can be configured into various sizes
for different shows and can later also be converted into
two equal systems of 14mx12m," said Nick.
In its biggest configuration, the roof is in fact over 36m wide (including the
extended 8m PA/LED wall wings) and almost 16m deep - a very impressive sight
indeed! The system also includes an easy-to-erect FD34 rear support system for
a large LED wall. |
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| As a visible sign of their commitment to good training
and back-up service, Eurotruss and AVL arranged for Eurotruss'
Technical Director, Henk Tiekstra, to visit South Africa
to train the TSC crew fully on the system. Mr Tiekstra
spent four days in the country and facilitated the training
of TSC's crew at the Mandeville Sports Club. |
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It can now safely be said that
the crew of The Sound Corporation have been trained
to the highest possible roof safety standards. |
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The roof was truly put to the test on the third day
of training, when a violent Highveld thunderstorm struck
at about 14h00. Those who were there will attest to
the fact that this was one of the roughest storms of
the year. The roof, of course, remained absolutely
stable and didn't show any signs of moving as much
as a centimetre. Safety personified...
As Mark de Klerk points out, this massive roof system is expected to be
very busy and bookings have already started rolling in. The advantages
to clients of this roof system are:
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Unlike its older, steel counterparts which can
take up to seven days to erect, this aluminium roof
system is quickly erected in about one day. Promoters,
therefore, do not have to hire venues (or the crew)
for extended set-up times; |
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The roof is much cheaper to hire than other, more
obsolete systems, due to its lower manufacturing
cost. This is a result of the use of modern technology
in design and manufacture; |
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The roof is extremely attractive to look at, with
a hi-tech aluminium structure, aesthetically-pleasing,
modern grey PVC covering and stylish black gauze
side and back walls; |
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The system is relatively light and easy to transport,
thereby reducing transport and trucking costs; |
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The roof's safety specifications are highly impressive.
Clients can rest easy in the knowledge that this
is a tried and tested system, with optimum safety
levels, fully certified and complete static reports
to German TuV standards. Engineers’ certificates
and general safety matters will never be a problem; |
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Unlike other, older systems, sub-rig trussing does
not have to be added for the hanging of lights and
other equipment. The roof truss itself is designed
to carry this equipment to high load capacities.
This represents further savings for the client; |
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The roof has been specifically designed to accommodate
new audio-visual technologies such as large-format
line array systems and LED walls. |
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For the first time in
South Africa, an affordable, international-standard,
large aluminium roof with PA wings, LED wings and
LED rear-support is now available for major events. |
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For more information about this remarkable
roof system, please phone The Sound Corporation on
(011) 462 1170 or AVL Distribution on (011) 463 5804.
Top of
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The Phenomenal Growth of Nivtec
Customers in SA |
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July 2008
The family of Nivtec users has grown phenomenally since
the introduction of the product to South Africa some three
years ago, and the list just keeps on growing. We are proud
to add the following respected companies to the Nivtec
staging family. Welcome!
• Gearhouse
• Sound Stylists
• Shattered Glass
• Fancourt
• Grand West Casino
• Sound Projects
• Keystone Productions
• Function World
• Logo Ads
• Promo Launch
• Academy of Sound Engineering
• Presentation Staging
• Blaque Flava
• Vertical Events
• Pebo Productions
Top of Page |
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Creative Lighting Solutions
Introduced to the SA Market |
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| June 2006 |
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| AVL Distribution is proud to announce that it is introducing,
to the South African market, one of the world's leading
brands of LED lighting products, Creative Lighting
Solutions (CLS).
The CLS range of products is truly impressive and
CLS's quality and service is already well-known in
the European market. AVL Distribution intends to
launch this range of products from June 2006.
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Nivtec DVD Available! |
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| June 2006 |
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| Nivtec, the world's finest staging system, has just
released a DVD that shows the amazing ease of use of
this system. It will amaze you how easy and quick the
Nivtec staging system is to operate. AVL Distribution
has copies in stock. For a free copy of the DVD, please
click here.
Top of Page |
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Eurotruss Introduces a New
Range of Heavy Duty Truss Systems |
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| May 2006 |
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Eurotruss has created a full new range of heavy duty
truss series with bigger load capacities. Examples are
the HD34 range (290mm square) and the HD44 range (400mm
square). The HD range has a 3mm wall thickness in the
main tube. Other examples of heavy duty trussing from
Eurotruss are ST (50cm) and XT Truss (80x 57cm).
Eurotruss has also recently introduced new heavy duty
roof systems. Roofs of 12m and bigger, all made modular
and all based on the ST Truss with the new, strong,
35cm heavy duty Tower. The grand master of them all,
the TT roof, has also just been introduced in 2006.
This huge structure is 25m wide and 17m deep, built
with the Eurotruss XT Truss Series, with a wall thickness
of 5mm. Mammoth trussing indeed!
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The Massive Growth of Eurotruss Customers in SA |
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| May 2006 |
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The family of Eurotruss users has grown massively
since its introduction to the South African market in
2004. South
Africans just can't seem to get enough with more customers
contacting us every day!
We are proud to add the following
respected companies to the Eurotruss family:
• SABC
• Grand West Casino
• The Sound Corporation
• LP Unlimited Productions
• Shattered Glass
• Sound Projects
• Etron Sound
• AV Direct
• Keystone Productions
• Techrig
• Black Coffee
• DNG
• Merseysound
• Stage Effects
• MJ Event Gear
• XGX Productions
• PRS
• Avstage
• Impro-vision
• DB Audio
• Academy of Sound Engineering
• The Cradle of Humankind
• Topshow
• Todwil
• Avstage
• Laser X Top of Page |
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ShowLED Star Curtains Glitter
at 'Strictly Come Dancing'! |
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| April 2006 |
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| If you watched Strictly Come Dancing on SABC recently,
you couldn't help but notice the ShowLED Chameleon
multicolour star curtains on display at the show. Impressive
enough on TV, the magnificence of these Star Curtains
can really only be appreciated in real life. If you
would like a demo of these amazing curtains, click
here.
Top of Page |
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Eurotruss Leads SA Market
in Stage Roof Sales |
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| March 2006 |
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| There can be no doubt that Eurotruss is now the leading
brand of aluminium roof systems in the South African market.
No fewer than eight major roof systems have been sold to
South African staging companies in the last year! This
is a quite phenomenal achievement, bearing in mind the
size of the South African market. Every client who has
purchased a Eurotruss system has confirmed that their systems
are busy and that the bookings are flowing in.
The reason for Eurotruss' dominance of the roof market is quite simply this:
Eurotruss roofs are better in design, easier to erect, more reasonably priced
and safer than any other roof systems available. Eurotruss has made a science
of the stage roof market and it shows.
From huge TT and ST roof systems (as large as 25m x 16m) down to small Beetle
Roofs (8m x 4m), all Eurotruss roofs offer the following advantages:
• Adherence to, and exceeding of, all worldwide safety regulations
• Roof designs that contain a reasonable number of standard
truss types, to ensure use for the trussing when the
roof is not being used
• Roof systems are built on to existing Eurotruss ground support
systems
• Very high loading capacities
• The easiest assembly and disassembly possible, due to superior
design
• Extremely impressive looks
• Exceptional value for money
Top of Page |
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Eurotruss Races to No. 2 in
World Trussing Sales! |
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| March 2006 |
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| It's official! Eurotruss has rapidly grown and now
occupies the No. 2 position in world trussing sales.
Watch this space - the top spot beckons...
Specialising in trussing, roof systems, PA towers,
ground support systems, motors, lifts and winches,
circles, accessories and specialised constructions,
Eurotruss is now one of the most respected brands
of aluminium truss systems on the international market.
The secret has been Eurotruss' great expertise.
This, together with superb quality, modern production
technology,
a comprehensive product range, higher load capacities
and the most efficient fast-connect system, are
the pillars on which Eurotruss has been built.
Eurotruss
knows that quality pays off and cannot be compromised,
particularly in this time when so many "knock-offs" and
cheap copies exist. Time is also an issue in staging
and Eurotruss understands this. Eurotruss' modularity
and fast-connect system guarantees fast and safe
mounting that saves time and money. All these efficiencies
and Eurotruss' reputation for reliability and quality
have led it to the commanding position it now holds,
with more to come!
Eurotruss' international clients include Audi, Martin
Professional (France) and Winkler Switzerland.
Top of Page |
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Safety Reaches New Levels
- Eurotruss is Recognised |
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| January 2006 |
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Eurotruss is recognised as the trussing with
the highest international certification and approval.
Certifications
and approvals are a vitally important part of the trussing
industry. All Eurotruss products
are fully approved and certified by the recognised
European safety bodies and quality assurance organisations,
namely
RW TuV (Germany) and SLV (International Welding Standards).
RWTuV
The TuV is the world famous German institute that
tests and approves load capacities of trussing and
other
products.
SLV (Verification for Welding Aluminium)
Eurotruss is one of the few manufacturers with approved
welders and a verification certificate. This means
that construction approvals can easily be obtained
when Eurotruss is being used.
The Static Report
This is a very important document that is provided
with every Eurotruss roof system (and other constructions.)
This document is vital for the correct and safe operation
of any construction system and ensures that the requirements
of structural engineers are easily adhered to. Eurotruss
provides full static reports with every construction
sold, in German or English, reflecting all load and
force calculations, diagrams, DIN adherence, loading
results and ballast / stabilisation specifications.
Top of Page |
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Africa's Largest Aluminium
Roof System Lands in SA! |
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| November 2005 |
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It's here... After several months of design, manufacture
and shipping, the largest aluminium roof system ever
seen in South Africa has been delivered.
The huge Eurotruss ST Roof System, measuring 28m x 16m (with a 20m x 14m
stage area), was sold to LP Unlimited in Pretoria. The roof is already
heavily booked and is proving to be a major asset to the client. Leon Pheiffer,
the Managing Director of LP Unlimited, tells the story:
"We had been using one of Eurotruss' mid-sized
roof systems, the 12m x 10m FD roof, for some time.
That roof system is extremely busy and we are very
happy with it, but towards the middle of last year,
we realised that if LP Unlimited was serious about
breaking into the international artist market in South
Africa, we had to prove that we meant business with
a larger roof system. We had also just been awarded
the Hansa Roadshow contract, which required a complicated
18-tower structure with a 50-metre span. So the time
was right. We spoke to AVL and did the deal to purchase
the Big Brother of all roof systems: the Eurotruss
ST Pro System."
The roof is designed around Eurotruss' legendary TD35 towers (ten of them
in all) and Eurotruss ST truss in the horizontal grid. The TD35 towers,
which run up to 14m in height, are made of square 35cm heavy duty truss
that integrates horizontal bracing on one side for easy climbing, heavy duty,
multifunctional tower-tops, 100mm hinge sections, sleeveblocks with bolted
sleeve plates / receivers for easy construction and steel bases with wheels.
ST trussing, which is used in the grid, is Eurotruss' mammoth strength
square 50cm truss that can run for a free span of up to 24m at high load.
Clearly, this roof system is made of the BIG stuff!
"In fact, LP Unlimited have purchased two roof systems in one," explains
Nick Matzukis, a director of AVL Distribution. "They have had the foresight
to order two canopies with this roof - one in size 16m x 12m and one in size
20m x 14m. This provides them with great versatility because the roof, as a modular
system, can be configured into various sizes for different shows."
In its biggest configuration the roof is, in fact, over 28m wide (including
the PA wings) and almost 16m deep - a very impressive sight indeed. The
roof was delivered in two shipments: the first shipment contained the towers
and other components required for the Hansa Roadshow and the second contained
all the other parts of the roof, just in time for a large music concert
staged at Medunsa University in December.
As a visible sign of their commitment to good training and back-up service,
Eurotruss and AVL made arrangements for Eurotruss' Technical Director,
Henk Tiekstra, to visit South Africa for this show. Mr Tiekstra spent a
week in the country and facilitated the training of the customer's crew,
on-site. It can now safely be said that their crew have been trained to
the highest possible safety standards. This was verified by the fact that
when one of South Africa's most senior structural engineers visited the
site to inspect the roof, there were no problems whatsoever and the structure
was signed off almost immediately.
The roof was truly put to the test
on the day of the concert when an incredibly
violent Highveld thunderstorm struck at about
4pm. Those who were there will attest to the
fact that this was one of the roughest and
windiest storms of the year. The roof, of course,
remained absolutely stable and did not show
signs of moving so much as a centimetre. Safety
personified...
The advantages of this large roof system are as follows:
• Unlike its older steel counterparts that can take up to seven
days to erect, this aluminium roof system is quickly-
erected in about a day. Promoters therefore do not have to
hire venues (or the crew) for extended set-up times.
• The roof is much cheaper to hire than other more obsolete
systems, due to its lower manufacturing cost. This is a
result of the use of modern technology in design and manufacture.
• The roof is extremely attractive to look at, with a shiny,
hi-tech aluminium structure, aesthetically-pleasing
modern grey PVC coverings and stylish black gauze side and
back walls.
• The system is relatively light and easy to transport, thereby
reducing transport and trucking costs.
• The roof's safety specifications are fantastic, like all Eurotruss
roofs. Clients can rest easy in the knowledge that
this is a tried and tested system with optimum safety levels,
full certificates and complete static reports, to
German TuV standards. Engineers' certificates and general
safety will never be a problem.
• Unlike other, older systems, sub-rig trussing does not have
to be added for the hanging of lights and other
equipment. The roof truss itself is designed to carry this
equipment. This represents further savings for the client.
• The roof has been designed to accommodate new audiovisual
technologies such as line array PA systems and LED
walls.
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