Ozark, Missouri-based SLS Loudspeakers (slsaudio.com) has released a single enclosure that can serve as a full-range lounge cabinet, a dancefloor fill, or a stage monitor. The 8290 multipurpose portable PA loudspeaker is equipped with the company’s PRD500 planar ribbon driver, which is contained within a 90-degree, die-cast aluminum waveguide. The cabinet’s dual 8-inch woofers provide increased control in the vertical plane.

The compact, multi-angle cabinet design allows the SLS 8290 to be quickly configured for different uses, making it ideal for venues that host special events or corporate functions on a frequent basis. The enclosure can be pole-mounted, ground-stacked, or simply set on the stage for monitoring.

Trust us: DJs love mixers with built-in effects. Now you can give your superstars even more of what they want with the PMC-280 mixer from Agoura Hills, Cali.-based Vestax (vestax.com). This four-channel unit boasts 16 effects with adjustable parameters, as well as a bevy of fancy features.

The effects section of the PMC-280 includes a Ring Modulator and a Vocoder, as well as digital delay, echo, reverb, flanger, auto pan, phaser, pitch shifter, vocal canceller, low pass filters, band pass filters, and high pass filters. The mixer also is equipped with rotary controllers to adjust two different parameters for each effect.

Dimmers have been an essential element of nightclub lighting for as long as there have been nightclubs. Modern clubs, however, need modern lighting, and modern lighting requires modern dimmers. So Virginia Beach, Va.-based Lightronics (lightronics.com) has introduced the XC Series, a line of compact dimmers that offers clubs sophisticated, 21st century dimming performance.

The XC Series models feature full DMX-512 control, dimmer limiting, curve/relay selection, built-in chase function, “set and forget” intensity, an LED digital display, and a wireless DMX option. These new dimmers can control either four or six channels, and can handle loads of up to 1,200W. The XC Series dimmers are also equipped with an architectural interface and an AMX/Crestron interface. Like all Lightronics products, the dimmers are covered by a full, five-year warranty.

To maximize the return on your intelligent lighting investment, you need the right controller. The SmartFade ML console from Middleton, Wis.-based ETC (etcconnect.com) is for smaller systems. The newest member of ETC’s Smart Solutions series, this controller boasts big-console features in a compact unit.

With a capacity for up to 24 moving lights and an additional 48 intensity channels (dimmers), and the ability to patch to two DMX universes, the ETC SmartFade ML provides complete control for smaller rigs. The console also provides professional features like palettes, parameter fan, and dynamic effects. Color-coded backlit keys and built-in LCD screens make it easy to use without an external monitor, even in the darkest corner of your nightclub.

Atlanta, Georgia-based Kaltman Creations LLC (kaltmancreationsllc.com) has unveiled the world’s first handheld motorized cable coiler. For venues that host live performances, the KCC50-5 coiler will simplify load-ins, speed up load-outs, and eliminate those annoying tangles of microphone cables that seem to plague every backstage area.

According to Kaltman Creations, the KCC50-5 cable coiler will neatly wrap up to 50 feet of medium duty cable in less than five seconds. Once the cable is on the unit’s spool, the perfectly coiled cable simply slides right off for storage. Besides offering a ten-to-one speed advantage over hand wrapping, the uniform coils produced by the KCC50-5 cause less stress on internal conductors. The Kaltman Creations coiler can be used with light to medium microphone, instrument, speaker, lighting control, and electrical power cables.

Some speakers can be arrayed horizontally. Other speakers can be arrayed vertically. The new SH-25 from Gainesville, Georgia-based Danley Sound Labs (danleysoundlabs.com) can be seamlessly arrayed both ways, thanks to its perfect 25° x 25° audio beamwidth.

Each SH-25 enclosure is fitted with a 1-inch tweeter, four 4-inch mids, and eight 6.5-inch woofers, allowing the speaker to cover the frequency spectrum evenly from 80Hz to 18kHz, with no equalization. When four of the cabinets are packed together, the low-end drops smoothly to 50Hz. Sensitivity is rated at 104dB, and maximum output is 140dB.

Tired of microphone hum, static, and dropouts? Check out the MIPRO ACT 81 and ACT 82 digital wireless microphone systems from Kansas City, Mo.-based Avlex Corporation (avlex.com). Featuring full-color vacuum fluorescent displays, 24-bit digital audio, on-board DSP, and 128-bit encryption, these mics will definitely keep your divas happy.

Both of these MIPRO microphone systems are fully digital, so transmission quality stays constant and the signal-to-noise ratio never deteriorates. Avlex maintains that the ACT 81 and ACT 82 virtually eliminate saturation and distortion at high SPLs. The systems can be used with either the ACT-8H handheld transmitter or the ACT-8T bodypack transmitter. Both boast an LCD indicator that shows channel settings, transmitter battery status, input levels, and error codes.

LEDs are the “it” lighting in clubland, but most of the products on the market are strictly for static wash applications. New from Hollywood, Fla.-based Chauvet (chauvetlighting.com) is the Vue line of intelligent LED beam effects. Using Fresnel-type lenses, these luminaires produce individual moving light beams and spots, similar to a standard moonflower effect, but with much more control.

Weighing less than four pounds, the Vue I is the smallest and lightest in the series, fitted with 84 LEDs. The Vue II features 183 LEDs and a larger frontal lens, making it suitable for larger rooms and high-energy applications. The powerful Vue III has seven individually controllable clusters of 67 LEDs, each projecting an individual beam. The units can be daisy-chained to simplify installation and to reduce electrical cable clutter.

Petaluma, Cali.-based Furman Sound (furmansound.com) has introduced the new-and-improved Elite i-Series of power conditioners. Offering both protection and enhanced performance, these “AC power management solutions” feature sleek styling and advanced 12V triggering capabilities.

The new Elite Series units will be designated with a letter “i” at the end of each model number to differentiate them from the original Elite series. This family of power conditioners boasts Furman’s proprietary Linear Filtering Technology (LiFT) and virtually non-sacrificial surge suppression, as well as 12V triggering for remote control convenience.

Designing and configuring in-ceiling loudspeaker systems just got a lot easier, thanks to Northridge, Cali.-based JBL Professional (jblpro.com). The company’s Ceiling Speaker Configurator (CSC) software allows designers and installers to quickly identify the appropriate JBL in-ceiling loudspeaker models and overall system design for any clubland environment, depending on a few simple parameters. JBL Pro’s CSC software lets users input the characteristics of a venue in layman’s terms and immediately renders the right ceiling speaker design. Installers simply enter the kind of background or foreground music, the floor space, and ceiling height. From there, the CSC software calculates which JBL in-ceiling loudspeaker models would work best, where to tap them (if it’s a 70V/100V system), how many to use, how far apart to space them, and the maximum volume available with each particular design.

Nightclubs tend to be noisy, so noise-canceling headphones make sense for some DJs. The RacketBlaster QH-30NC and QH-50NC from Emeryville, Cali.-based Nady Systems (nady.com) feature clever noise-canceling circuit designs, which eliminate almost all background ambient noise.

The QH-50NC is fitted with 50mm drivers for accurate low-end response, while the QH-30NC is features 30mm drivers, a compact folding design, and leatherette transportation and storage pouch. Both models operate as standard passive headphones when noise-canceling circuitry is inactivated, and both use AAA batteries.

Amy Winehouse, “Back To Black” (Smack Mix) (Island UK)
First, drop whatever you’re doing and purchase the album from whence this single came. Next, thank heavens that someone – in this case, Rhythm Master Steve Mac – realized that the divine Ms. Winehouse’s boozy alto could slay with a clubby background. Pete Tong is playing it, and you know what that means in the U.S. – nothing! So cane it yourself. Please.

Tiesto feat. BT, “Break My Fall” (Ultra)
Rare that epic trance gets a non-embarrassing male vocal, in this case from the ever-reliable – and quite smooth – BT.

Hanna Hais, “(Je Ne Veux Plus Être) Ta Reine” (Defected UK)
This is your usual breathy French femme oration, with unusually strong mixes: DJ Pierre, Mikael Delta and Jamie Lewis all contribute lush reworks that opt out of the formulaic style game. The fave is Lewis’ old-school-by-way-of-new Monster Phunk cut, which manages to use vibes and not sound lame.

The Migrants, “I Thought That” (Boris Dlugosch mix) (Lowered UK)
Squelches up and spits out the riff from Juliet’s forgotten “Avalon,” then sticks a weird-ass Knife-ian vocal over it. We predict a WMC smash.

Tracey Thorn, “Grand Canyon” (Astralwerks)
The danciest cut on Thorn’s recent solo album is an organic kind of minimal, based on the melody and the Everything But The Girl leader’s treasured pipes. “Down among the heretics, the losers and the saints / You’re here amongst your own / You’ve come home,” she sings. Could get clubby with a remix…but with lyrics like that, it already is.