By now, it's common knowledge that PMT ( S&T Audio Ltd) have gone into administration, never to return in pretty much any form.

This is sad for everyone, apart from those in competition with them! However it's not just the people that worked there that we feel for, it's the suppliers and more importantly the customers that may have gift vouchers or deposits on equipment, which they are unlikely to see back.

Why did they fail?

It wasn't for lack of customers. Their last published accounts showed a turnover of just shy of £50 million and a reasonable gross profit. However, every year they were making a loss.

In addition, since a management buyout, they were having to pay the lenders back. These guys don't wait around for their money!

Without a forensic deep dive into the accounts we can't know for sure what the problems were, but there were definitely problems. These include:

End of business rate relief. The post-Covid business rates relief is being phased out, so businesses have been paying substantially more.

Increase in Minimum Wage. Whether PMT were paying minimum wage / Living wage or some other hourly rate, there has been an increase in wage costs. Add to this the recent National insurance hike, pension contributions and other payroll costs against a stagnant market and it erodes your net profit.

High Rent on Retail Properties.

Rent is normally paid quarterly. That's a big chunk of cash out and there's a pattern that businesses tend to fail around the December/ January,  March/April and June/July and September/ October as the rent is due on the 25th March, 24th June, and 29th September and December. If a company can see that they may not be able to fulfil their obligations then they may consider appointing a business restructuring agent, who may suggest that administration is the only way to recover some money quickly and sell off assets. This appears to have been the case here.

Suppliers who are not customer friendly.

There are certain suppliers who will send what they want, when they want and cannot or will not give any idea when stock is on its way, despite the information been known to them.

This has a deleterious effect on cash flow as planning for bills goes out of the window.

Before the management buy out, the company was owned and run by two colourful characters who could get pretty much what they wanted by pretty much any means to their disposal. With them gone, it looks like the deals that they had then, were not as good as they got later, meaning again that cash flow and margin suffered.

There had been industry rumours for around 2 years that things were not good. These must have come from within the company as the figures from Companies House showed a reasonable business, able to weather the business climate. So it was a shock to hear of their demise. It was a shame as it was a good business and didn't deserve to fail. They did most things right.

The NEW QWM 1970 wireless mic system is a new favourite here at HW audio.It was great to see the Audio Expert at Mobile DJ Network Matt  Sol agrees with us .. Here is his independant review on this great quality and affordable Microphone system.

"In 2017 Q Audio appeared on the scene and literally blew me away with the 1960HHV2 based on the old KAM design at BPM. You may have seen my review in ProMobile at the time or seen me recommending them on MDJN on a near weekly basis since. I liked them so much I got a second pair and in 2025 I am still using them and my customers love them.

Needless to say when the 1970 HH model launched I was keen to get hold of some but in the vein of “if it ain’t broke” I kept holding off .

Well I finally have a set and as promised this is my review of the mics after I put them through the wringer of a week of gigs .

When I test kit I like to test it out in the real world as it is honestly the best way to get an unbiased opinion of them . So lets dive in .

What do you get ?

• 1x Receiver
• 2x Aerials
• 1x PSU
• 1x ¼ jack lead
• 2x Mic
• 1x Fitting kit
• 1x Manual
• 4x AA Batteries

Cost £229

First Impression

The box is huge and on opening the reason is clear: the receiver is very wide and designed to fit a 1U rack with the supplied kit .

It is a lovely brushed black colour and very sleek looking . You have a power switch on the left and the unit controls are effectively mirrored either side of the massive screen that dominates the unit .Powering it on reveals a very clean and clear display that's bright and very easy to read .

Mics like the 1960’s are a pleasure to hold and have that weighty feel of a quality microphone .

The mic has a fabulous display and it is colour and again easy to read and has all the info you need right there .

All in all they look the part and feel it .

Initial setup

The mics are preset to the receiver so will work right out of the box .

You may need to alter this but more on that in a bit . For karaoke use mics need to be clean and loud and you want the singer's voice to shine and not get lost in the mix . And the 1970’s deliver it in spades . Going on the performance of the 1960’s I stupidly set the receiver gains to halfway and was rewarded with massive feedback so clearly these are a different beast to the 1960’s so zero it all and set up from scratch it was .

These mics are superb, they are as sharp as a razor and have a brilliant pickup which will pay dividends for the singers that don't like the mic close in .

They run hot so you really will have to keep a leash on your gains . On a good system set up for karaoke with the speakers in the right place these will perform effortlessly at high volume with no feedback .

Whilst I wrestled with the eq settings to tame these I put the mic down turned on and noticed the display on the mic and receiver change . I have used many mics over the years and have never seen one automatically mute . This is awesome and will be very useful for so many scenarios . Mics also have a manual tap mute on the handset which is instant and more importantly silent . Ensure your singers or clients know not to hit the button . On manual mute the mic display changes to a red mic whilst on auto mute you get the display and a smaller red mic . Simple and effective. I love it .

If auto mute isn’t for you you can turn it off in the settings . Another welcome surprise is the mic is modular with the capsule being easily removable like you find on the Shure wireless range . Settings and displays As I mentioned earlier the receiver display is huge with the IR window separating the two channels. It shows your RF - Signal Strength and AF - Audio Level to the left of the screen with the antenna indicator to show which aerial the mics currently on as this is a true diversity set . You also have a padlock to indicate lock/unlock and battery meter . A simple press and hold of the set button unlocks that side and the up/ down buttons then allow you to scroll the options . You can use the preset Groups to easily set up multiple units or navigate to scan which will find the best channel for you to use . Once you have a frequency set you press the IR button on the unit and the IR light comes on in the centre of the display . With the battery sleeve off the handheld hold the mic near the receiver with the mics ir window facing the display and the mic will sync and lock to the new channel . You can also turn on/off the auto mute function . The display also shows the handsets transmission power HI/LO which again is toggleable in the settings .That's about it in the settings but it is what you would expect for mics in this price bracket .

Performance

This is the big one , what will happen in the hands of your average singer or in my case about a hundred of them . On turning on the mics take a couple of seconds to lock on . Handling wise there is little to no handling noise and the mics pick up well and have a nice balanced tone . With good cabs and correct speaker position you should have no issues with feedback . The system's range is excellent. It easily coped in my venues even when busy. I'm not one of those hosts that insists on singers staying within arms reach . I also have elderly and disabled customers who have to sing where they are . Signals stayed up at the top of the meter and they didn't miss a beat . From the loudest singer down to the quietest these mics really shone out . With my rechargeables fitted I have managed 10 gigs on a set of cells . This really surprised me as with the 1970s colour display and auto mute etc a small loss of battery life was on the cards for sure but my average on the 1960’s is about 7 gigs .

All in all these mics really deliver where it matters and will be a solid investment to your kit .

Concerns

Surprisingly very few . I found the output a little hot but not to the point I couldn't eq it out using the receiver and channel gains . I found the battery compartment a little loose so the batteries could shift a little side to side . Other than that the only things that I would change is to swap the shield ring to the same as the 60’s with proper detentes and maybe change the colour of the buttons and gain knobs or backlight them so they are more obvious in the dark . Conclusion These mics are insanely good . The singers love them . They cost £40-50 more than the 1960HHV2 but if you want auto mute, Preset grouping and the larger display then it is worth the money .

Both sets are more than up to the job but the 1970 is better by good leap .

Looks like I will now be recommending both . The build quality is on point with both mics and receiver feeling substantial and very well made .

It is another home run for Q Audio and that auto mute is the best thing I have seen on a mic in years .

If you can’t make a singer sound good with these then you have no business doing karaoke . I didn’t think you could improve on the 1960HHV2 without a significant increase in the price tag . Yet here we are .

If you have £230 to spend to improve your gear this honestly is where it needs to go ."Amazing real world review from an experienced DJ who is also admin of Mobile DJ Network so someone you can trust.

Available to buy HERE

Most speaker stands nowadays have more plastic than Jimmy Carr's Face and as a result they are not as strong or as sturdy as they were back in the day.

QTX have decided to do something about this with the New QTX 181.181UK stands.

These have Not only Metal pressed steel where it matters but they also supply spare parts like knobs and safety pins in the box and safety pins as many will know  are like 10mm spanners or plectrums they vanish into the ether, so QTX supplying spares could be a life saver.

Richard Harfield HW Audios expert on Stands and indeed most things has even put out a little YouTube video on our YouTube channel ( don't forget to subscribe and like) showing how good these are especially for the cost.

See video here  CLICK FOR VIDEO

 They are available to buy Here https://www.hwaudio.co.uk/Product/QTX-181181-Steel-All-Metal-Heavy-Duty-Speaker-Stand-60KG-35mm-Pole-Black-Pair-442530

Article by Bobby PA dept

Citronic stunned the colour animated laser world with this new laser with never seen before features such as App control from a Android or iphone at a cost lower than ever before!

The Animate Smart: Is a n RGB Smart Animation Laser and it mixes those colours to get some absolutely stunning colours.it is a compact, metal smart animation laser ( not cheap plastic) that produces a crystal clear array of 51 colourful patterns and animations. 5 control modes including auto, sound to light and DMX512 make this versatile, robust unit perfect for any function and event. You can also create your own text or freehand content using the smartphone application connected to the Animate Smart via Bluetooth, making it ideal for bespoke content such as names or family occasions.

• Create your own bespoke content using the smartphone application
• Produces an crystal clear array of 51 colourful patterns and animations
• 16 channel DMX512 compatible
• 5 control modes: Auto, sound to light, DMX, master/slave and Bluetooth
• Compact, robust housing for safe and easy transportationArticle by Bobby In The lighting and PA dept HW Audio

This subject is quite a wide one, and one that causes a lot of problems as there are lots of ways to connect speakers up and a lot of ways to get it wrong!

The first question we ask is "How many speakers do you want / need to run?" If the answer is 2 or 4 then it's easy as a standard 2 channel or stereo amp will work fine, and theses amplifiers like the Adastra A2 are also available in 4, 6 or 8 channel versions so that you can run 4, 6 or 8 speakers off one unit as their are 4, 6 or 8 amplifiers in one box.

But if you need to run, say 30 speakers, then what do you use? It would be relatively expensive to have lots of amplifiers for this instance, so the solution is a distributed line system, also known as a 70v or 10 volt line system.

How this works is that the amplifier output is connected inside the box to a step up transformer, and each speaker has a step down transformer with variable wattage settings, or tappings on the transformer with say 1 watt, 2 watts, 4 watts etc.

If you have a 100 watt amplifier; then with a distributed line system then you can run say 100 speakers tapped at 1watt, or 50 tapped at 2 watts. As long as you don't exceed the maximum wattage of the amplifier, you should be fine, although as a matter of good practice, you should really limit the load on the amplifier to 80% of the rated wattage, so we would recommend say 80 speakers tapped at 1 watt for instance.

With this type of system, you can also run long lengths of cable, as the resistance of the cable (all cables have a resistance) has less an effect on the volume as the voltage that the speaker system runs at is higher, but as the wattage is the same the current is less and the losses are the square of the current. So less current = less losses!

All the speakers are connected in parallel. Typical resistance of a speaker is 8 ohms, but with the transformer it can be hundreds of ohms depending on the tapping and so the load on the amplifier is lower the lesser numbers of speakers are connected. Quick fact: a 15watt tapping has an impedance of 666 ohms.

We use an impedance meter which has a chart supplied so when we check an installation, we can instantly see if there is a problem on the system as there is a direct correlation between the impedance of the system and the apparent wattage load. It puts out a tone so you can hear if there's a faulty speaker on the system, so we can see if it needs replacing.

If you need an installation or a service job in the North West of England, please call us on 01204 385199 or email orders@hwaudio.co.uk

 I know, it sounds obvious doesn't it. You would have thought that Turkish cymbals were all made in Turkey, or Turkiye as they like to be called.

The biggest transgressor in the calling their cymbals Turkish are Zildjian, the biggest manufacturer of quality cymbals in the world, who stamp their cymbals Turkish Cymbals. But, the truth is, they aren't Turkish, any more than I am! They are all made in America! Yes, the home of waffles and apple pie!

Sure, the name Zildjian, (meaning Cymbal smith) is nearly Turkish (they are an Armenian family), but most of the family left for the states a long, long time ago.

However, the reputation of Zildjian rests on the cymbals that were actually made in Turkiye, in Istanbul, by the K. Zilcan factory, who manufactured the classic K Zildjian cymbals which are revered as amogst the best cymbals ever. This factory was run by master cymbal smiths who knew the secrets of making cymbals. When the factory closed down due to Zildjian moving production to the USA, there was a huge amount of skill that would otherwise go to waste, so 2 young but experienced cymbal smiths formed a company they proudly named Istanbul. These smiths named Mehmet Tamdeger and Agop Tomurcuk trained up other smiths (who would later found their own companies).

After Agop's early death, the company split up, to become Istanbul Agop, and Istanbul Mehmet, and at the same time, Mehmet set up another sister company, Turkish Cymbals who we at HW Audio currently distribute in the UK.

But why are the Turkish cymbals so good? The secrets are in the precise alloy content for one, and the fact that each cymbal is made entirely by hand. If you watch the videos online of the cymbals manufacture of a typical £200-£300 cymbal; these are normally made by CNC machines automatically. Not so with the Turkish cymbals. They are all hand cast, hammered and lathed and fine tuned by smiths trained by those very smiths who made the hallowed K cymbals that fetch thousands of pounds! And because Turkiye is still a relatively low cost place to manufacture, the price of a totally hand made cymbal is lower than a USA made cymbal; even a machine made one.

If you want the classic Zildjian K sound, look no further that the Turkish Cymbals Classic range. If you want a rockier sound then choose Rock Beat. For more specialised sounds, Turkish Cymbals have 20 more ranges including signature ranges from amongst others, the late John Blackwell, Prince's drummer, Lale Kardes, and Jarrod Cagwin.

There's a new range out as well, the Ad Astra range designed by our friend Ozgur Can Oney, drummer of Turkish rock band maNga (runner up in the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest!).