Need a Paging mic that can page to 2 locations that can be individually toggled.

[TheEpicTen]

I have 2 “zones” that I need to page to. I need to be able to page to “Zone 1” OR “Zone 2” OR both. Ideally these would be wireless, but I have wireless TX/RX boxes that can be placed by the mic and in the zones. I can find lots of expensive options, that contain matrixes, but I need one that’s fairly cheap, and runs standalone, i.e: 2 outputs on the back of the mic that can be connected to the speakers, or built in transmitters.

 

[microstar]

A friend of mine was thinking about using a JBL CSPM-4 four zone paging mic in a project. I had not seen this product before. It is discontinued but can be found on eBay.
Important to note that the four zone switches are dry contacts, they do not switch audio. I suppose the audio output of the mic could be wired to the switches, but there would
probably be some loud "pops" generated. I believe there are simple circuits to solve that involving just a few components. The mic is designed to go work with JBL's series of paging mixer/amplifiers.

 

[TheEpicTen]

Thanks, will look into this! Do you know what the model of the mixer is?

 

[microstar]

JBL CSMA series in various output wattages.

 

[TheEpicTen]

Thanks

 

[Jay Ashworth]

I've been thinking about this topic myself lately, in a couple of contexts.

I work pretty regularly in 3 theatres, all of which have some sort of announce/talkback facility, with an LS9, a QL-5, and an SQ-7 (which has the finest-grained control of talkback), and what I'm thinking about is a rig with an XK-12 keyboard (or larger), and an RPi, that I can configure so that I can push some momentary button, and have the TB mic patched through to where I want it, restoring anything after that had to be manhandled out of the way.

It's a much more complicated approach, but also much more flexible, allowing you to talk to any or all monitors, backstage, house, lobby, dressing rooms... and sub-all-call and master-all-call combinations, even if those are -- as they are in all those houses -- handled in different ways.

 

[TheEpicTen]

Do you have any ideas about how this would be implemented, eg what software running on the pi? Presumably any kind of macro pad would work, like because I only need two locations, possible with room to expand, this might work? Also how are you thinking the outputs would be connected?

 

[Jay Ashworth]

Do you have any ideas about how this would be implemented, eg what software running on the pi? Presumably any kind of macro pad would work, like because I only need two locations, possible with room to expand, this might work? Also how are you thinking the outputs would be connected?

Well, in my case, it would be manhandling the mixing desks to route the audio -- and in one case, some relays on the 70V output routing that I would have to install -- but that might* be overkill for your 2 zone solution.

[ * would definitely be ]

I think you could get by with the mechanical switching in those mics, possibly with some passive components (resistors and capacitors) to soften switching pops. I'm not a component-level guy, but there are people around and about who eat that stuff for breakfast...

 

[FMEng]

The simple and pop-less way to mute a mic is to switch a short across pins 2 & 3. Addressable paging is sometimes accomplished using relay control on the 70V line. There are even 70V zone volume controls with relays to override a control that's turned down, to ensure the page is heard.

 

[TheEpicTen]

I think until I find something that is exactly what I need, I’ll run a Mumble server (self-hosted), have 3 channels: zone1, zone2, none,+the root channel. When I need to page to zone 1, I’ll join zone1 channel, same for zone2. I’ll link both zone1 and zone2 to the root channel, so that when i need to call both, I join root channel and they can both hear me. The none channel is for when I’m not paging.

 

[TheEpicTen]

Thanks for all the suggestions, though!

 

[TimMc]

Really all you need is a one of the little mic switching boxes (Rolls brand? CBI? Rapco?) that switches a mic output between 2 inputs. In music concerts often these are used to switch a performer's mic between the PA system and the band's "talk around" IEM channel so they can communicate without the audience hearing.