Our favorite find at InfoComm 2010… SM-4neo – The perfect powered speaker!

InfoComm 2010 was a great experience, and… conveniently… only a 10 minute drive away from AVVegas HQ. So it’s no surprise that we spent a good deal of time there, browsing the plushly carpeted aisles looking for cool new gear that we can offer to our clients. There were so many great new products being offered, but we wanted to mention just a few that we either already purchased or are going to purchase in the not too distant future.

First off, if you haven’t heard of this oddly named company, you should check out Projection Screens by AV Stumpfl. Their rigid, perfectly square, unwavering structure make them rock solid installations, and the selectable aspect ratio is a big plus.

AV Stumpfl Projection Screen

We also ran into our friends at SLS, who make those sweet sounding 8695 line array boxes that we love so much, turns out… they went ahead the built amps right into the box, giving us the new SLS 8695 series Self Powered Line Array (PLS8695V2).

SLS 8695 Series Line Array SLS 8695 Self Powered Speaker

Of course, LED’s were everywhere in the Lighting partition of the show floor, which come as no surprise to AVVegas, who has been talking about our 3 watt LED wash lights for quite some time. Our LED’s are still brighter than anything we saw being showcased at InfoComm. We did find a prototype display of the soon to be released Martin Mac 350 LED Moving Light, which was real cool to see in action!
Martin Mac 350 LED Fixture

In the end, there was just one product that was so new, so cool, so innovative, and so “it’s about time” necessary, that we just couldn’t help ourselves, we bought this little gem right out of the booth, taking the demo units straight home to our shop. I’m talking about the Sound Projections SM-4neo Portable PA system. This big little system is a 2 speaker self powered PA, with batteries that go for hours, a built in mixer, CD player, and usb port for mp3 audio. It’s even got built in ducking (the music fades when you talk into the mic). Oh yea… did I almost forget the best part… two built in Shure 90 channel wireless receivers for wireless handhelds or belt packs.

Sound Projections SM-4neo Portable PA System

This past weekend I used the SM-4 system for the first time in the field, for a Grand Opening ceremony at a retail outlet. First… there was no power outside the building… so I did the ribbon cutting ceremony completely on batteries! Then I played music on my laptop, which was patched into the stereo inputs on the back of the main speaker. Later when our local 93.1 “The Party” radio station stopped by to do an on-the-air promo, I patched their radio rack right into the SM-4 and saved them even having to pull their PA out of the truck.

The whole gig consisted of two SM-4 speakers (master and slave), stands, an AC cord (that I didn’t need), a laptop, and a couple xlr’s to patch the radio station. This all fit easily into the back of my SUV, leaving our trucks behind, watching me longingly as I drove away, wishing they could come along, but knowing that… at least for this kind of small job, I didn’t need them any more.

SM-4neo Speaker back panel

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