automated lighting manufacturer High End Systems, Inc. announced the departure of Grif Palmer, vice president of sales, who has decided to pursue interests outside the lighting industry. Palmer stayed through June at the company's Austin, TX headquarters to ensure a smooth transition.... Harman Pro Group North America, a unit of Harman International Industries, Inc., has reached a preliminary agreement to acquire audio manufacturer Crown International, based in Elkhart, IN. The acquisition is subject to ratification of a definitive agreement; once the acquisition is completed, Crown's president, Richard Newbury, will continue to serve in that capacity, reporting directly to Harman's president, Mark Terry. Other companies under the Harman Pro Group North America umbrella include: dbx, Digitech, DOD, JBL Professional, Johnson Amplification, and Lexicon....Altman Stage Lighting and Altman Architectural Products are now represented in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East by Kaytel Lighting of Leicester, UK.... Michael Coomey, whose recent projects include the Academy of Music in Philadelphia, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, and Carnegie Mellon's Purnell Center, has joined Pook Diemont & Ohl, Inc. in its expanding project management division...SoundTube Entertainment, the Park City, UT manufacturer of Omni360-degree speaker systems, recently added two people to its staff. They are Reid Kimball, who is purchasing and inventory manager, and Clayton Shaw, who is installation support manager. Kimball, who has a decade of materials purchasing and production management experience to his credit, will handle the company's growing inventory needs; Shaw will spearhead SoundTube's new tech support program and assist dealers and reps with installations and speaker placement engineering....Wireless communications manufacturer Phonic Ear has chosen AVWest to represent its commercial product line in Arizona and New Mexico. The company will assist Phonic Ear in promoting products such as its StarSound(R) infrared systems and the OnWave direct digital synthesis FM system. AVWest is located at P.O. Box 17479, Fountain Hills, AZ 85269; phone: (480) 837-1833; fax(480) 837-7160....Audio manufacturer QSC Audio Products recently named Naperville, IL-based Spoiled by Technology (SBT) as its new sales rep firm for the northern Illinois/eastern Wisconsin territory. SBT's address: 8S 341 Indiana Ave., Suite B, Naperville, IL 60540; phone: (630) 357-7742; fax: (630) 357-7831....There are several new hires at Cuningham Group in Marina Del Rey, CA: architect Kevin Newman, who will serve as project manager for the Hotel D'Orsay and the Marriott Hotel in Long Beach, CA, and director of marketing Rebecca Martinez...Listen Technologies Corp. has hired Kathleen Moore as office administrator at its headquarters in Park City, UT....Richmond Sound Design Ltd. has moved. The new address is 205-11780 River Rd., Richmond, BC V6X 1Z7; phone: (604) 718-0860; fax: (604) 718-0863....London's Moving Light Company, along with its entire stock of moving lights, has relocated to a larger space in the same complex it occupied previously. The address: Unit 8, Parsons Green Depot, 33-39 Parsons Green Lane, London SW6 4HS. The new space has a dedicated area for WYSIWYG preprogramming service and a larger demo area that will allow visitors to experience more "real world" theatrical applications; phone numbers stay the same: 020 7731 3291; fax: 020 7731 0806....Lee Filters has added Mauricio A. Guzman, a 23-year veteran of the lighting industry, to its team. Guzman, who studied theatre design at the University of Chile and previously worked at Colortran and Strand, will develop new markets in the areas of theatre/architecture in the US and theatre, TV, cinematography, video, architecture, and photography in Latin America....Vari-Lite, Inc. is moving into the maritime tourism industry, offering cruise ship operators the opportunity to own and permanently install advanced Vari*Lite automated stage lighting equipment for onboard theatres and entertainment venues. In other Vari-Lite news, the company has added Geralyn Harvey to its sales staff as marketing communications manager. Among other responsibilities, Harvey will help promote the new Vari*Lite VL2400(TM) and VL2201(TM) luminaires....Rose Brand has added Renee Hughes, a scenic artist who has worked with the New Jersey Shakespeare Festival and Baltimore's Centerstage, to its sales force in its New York office....New Century Lighting, the exclusive US distributor of Italian manufacturer SGM's line of intelligent lighting and the West Coast distributor of Studio Due, has hired Reginald Roark to its staff as director of marketing. Roark's responsibilities will include the expansion and management of New Century's national dealer network, the development of more creative and effective marketing tools, the redesign and management of the sgm-usa.com website, and increasing brand recognition of SGM and Studio Due products in the US....Landry & Bogan Theatre Consultants has moved, to 3194 De La Cruz Blvd., Suite 18, Santa Clara, CA 95054. The phone and fax remain the same: (650) 969-5165 (phone) and (650) 969-4965 (fax)....