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Ireland’s Booming Leisure Sector Fuels Demand For Harman Products
Churches, live music venues, theatres and dance societies are just some of the venues that have installed PA equipment supplied by Harman Pro UK’s main dealer in Ireland, Reynolds of Raphoe. Reynolds, based in the North-West of the Irish Republic, have notched up an impressive list of recent sales, supplying installation companies in Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic with equipment from the Harman portfolio such as JBL speakers, Crown amplifiers and dbx processing units.
“The Celtic Tiger has slowed, but the Irish economy is still very buoyant and this naturally has an impact on leisure and entertainment. As a result, plenty of new bars, clubs and venues have opened around the country, while others have upgraded their sound systems to compete with the newcomers," says Reynolds sales manager Brian McGrath. "Our pro-active approach to the PA market, combined with the strength of Harman’s product range, has helped secure us a number of important sales."
Alan Nolan & Sons is one of Ireland’s oldest PA installation companies. Based in the country’s Midlands, the company supplies fixed installations to bars and discos and also carries a range of hire equipment, which is used in larger venues such as hotels and conference halls.
Alan Nolan & Sons director Jim Fox says: “We recently increased our hire stock, adding a new JBL VRX system comprising two VRX918 bass bins, two VRX932LA tops, two VRX-AF frames, and 12 SRX718 bass bins. We use Crown power amps to drive all of this — we ordered three I-Tech 4000 and three I-Tech 6000 models — and we got three DriveRack 260 processors at the same time. Our system is flight-cased and very light and portable, making it ideal for cabaret bands and hotel functions. We chose the JBL system because it sounds good and is so easy to put together. I can literally have it up and running within 10 minutes of arriving at a venue and because it is so light it doesn’t hurt my back!”
Another satisfied Reynolds customer is Matt Cordner, who along with fellow director Ian McKeown, runs installation company Absolute Technologies. The company is a regular user of Harman UK products and recently ordered a 40-channel Soundcraft MH4 console, Crown Xs-series amplifiers, and dbx DriveRack processing to upgrade the sound system at Ballymoney Elim Church.
“Our customer was thinking about buying a digital console but we recommended the MH4 after seeing the smaller MH2 at PLASA,” says Cordner. “These are cracking boards and because they are so easy to use and maintain, they are ideal for venues that don’t employ full-time sound engineers.”
Ballymoney Elim Church is among a growing number of religious venues that are installing high-quality AV equipment to record services for subsequent DVD release or for streaming onto the internet.
“We have handled a number of these installations and we tend to use a lot of Harman equipment because it is tried and proven,” says Cordner. “Reynolds always have a fantastic stock – usually just what we need – and if there’s something they don’t have, they make sure they got hold of it quickly.”
Alan J Dunne, whose eponymous company installs sound systems into theatre and live music venues, echoes Cordner’s comments. “I’ve always liked JBL systems, so when Reynolds took over as Harman’s main dealer, I immediately switched to them,” he says. “The great thing about the Harman range is that it has everything you could possibly want – and it’s all great quality. You literally don’t need to go anywhere else.”
Dunne’s latest theatre installation is the Solstice Arts Centre in Navan, County Meath. This is a new facility that officially opened in April 2006 with a 32-channel Soundcraft GB-series mixer, and a JBL PA based around AE-series speakers — AM6215/64 full-range tops and ASB6128V subwoofers. Crown CTs 2000, CTs 3000 and XLS602 amplifiers are used, with dbx DriveRack 260 processors and a Lexicon MX200 effects unit between the mixer and the power amps.
Also on the cultural circuit, Comhaltas, the Association of Irish Traditional Musicians, has recently revamped a number of its centres with new lighting and sound solutions. The sound systems were specified by County Kerry’s McElligott’s Sound Systems, a complete audio solution company that covers a broad range of clients including theatres, hotels, gyms, bars, restaurants, clubs, churches and conferencing rooms. In total, four centres were re-equipped with a selection of JBL, Crown, Soundcraft and dbx products, all supplied by Reynolds.
“I chose Harman because I had visited a road show in Dublin where I viewed the complete range,” says John McElligott, the company’s managing director. “The equipment complemented the projects. I also consider JBL to be well respected within the industry and I find it a high-quality reliable product. There is also the convenience of obtaining a complete system from one supplier – Reynolds of Raphoe – with whom we have been conducting business over the last few years. I consider them to be one of the best suppliers we have. They are efficient, helpful with sales or technical queries and a very trustworthy company all round.”
Dave Budge of Harman Pro UK comments: “Reynolds of Raphoe are a great company to deal with, and I hope we’ll continue to work together to increase the market share of all of our brands in Ireland. I also look forward to doing more training with them, like our successful sessions last year on BSS’s Soundweb London systems.”
In picture: part of the new flight-cased JBL VRX hire stock at PA company Alan Nolan & Sons, with Brian McGrath from Reynolds of Raphoe, and directors Alan Nolan and Jim Fox from the PA firm; the new Soundcraft MH4, centrepiece of the new sound system installed by Reynolds and Absolute Technologies at Ballymoney Elim Church with Ian McKeown and Matt Cordner of Absolute, Brian McGrath from Reynolds of Raphoe and Dave McKendry, technical supervisor at the church.
26th September 2006
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