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  #1  
Old 01-01-2012, 11:53 AM
Leland's Avatar
Leland Leland is offline
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Livermore, California
Posts: 146
Default Intercom with mis-matched headsets

My SL-40 has always had a marginal intercom, but now that I have a Zulu headset with a non-ANR Peltor headset for the passenger, the PAX sound levels are almost inaudible. Has anybody on this list had good-enough luck with two Zulus connected to the SL-40? Or, has anybody had good luck with a Flightcom, Sigtronics or PS Engineering intercom and two severely mis-matched headsets? I am trying to keep from installing a new intercom and buying another Zulu.
Leland
RV-9A
590 hours
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  #2  
Old 01-01-2012, 02:35 PM
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Pmerems Pmerems is offline
 
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Location: Tucson, AZ
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Default Flightcom 403, clarity aloft, Zulu, Generic, Flightcom Denali

I have a SL40 but us a Flightcom 403 intercom.

My headset is a Clarity Aloft. My temporary passenger headset (borrowed) is a Flightcom Denali. The Denali has a very sensitive mike and causes some issues with the squelch when using the Clarity Aloft. I have had two different passengers with different headsets. One with a generic non-ANR and it worked fine with my headset and intercom. Another used a Zulu and we had no problems.

You can pick up a Flightcom 403 intercom used on ebay every now and then for a $50 bucks. I bought mine off ebay and it works fine. Couldn't see myself spending a fortune on a expensive intercom. Now if I can find a DRE 244 intercom used I might consider to upgrade.
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  #3  
Old 01-01-2012, 03:23 PM
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Neal@F14 Neal@F14 is offline
 
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Default

PS Engineering intercoms are fantastic. They have separate amp circuits for pilot and copilot so you don't have such issues with mis-matched headsets. They are not cheap, but you get what you pay for. We run a PM3000 stereo unit in the RV-8 and I also had one in my old Cherokee. It outclasses the cheap Flightcom 403 by a huge margin IMHO. The music input with "karaoke mode" on the PM3000 is the best I've ever experienced on an aviation intercom. I had a Flightcom 403 in the Cherokee for a while and the PM3000 was a very worthwhile upgrade for me.
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Last edited by Neal@F14 : 01-01-2012 at 03:25 PM.
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  #4  
Old 01-01-2012, 03:36 PM
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Jamie Jamie is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Pmerems View Post
You can pick up a Flightcom 403 intercom used on ebay every now and then for a $50 bucks. I bought mine off ebay and it works fine. Couldn't see myself spending a fortune on a expensive intercom. Now if I can find a DRE 244 intercom used I might consider to upgrade.
I have a DRE-244 intercom and while it is a fantastic little intercom, it does not have independent amp circuits for headsets or independent squelch. Mismatched headsets can cause problems with it as well. I've seen more issues with different mic impedance levels than I have with volume levels.
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  #5  
Old 01-01-2012, 04:05 PM
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Mel Mel is offline
 
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I use the PM1000II. It has separate amps with individual volume and squelch for pilot and co-pilot.
It's great with any combination of headsets.
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  #6  
Old 01-01-2012, 04:24 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Neal@F14 View Post
PS Engineering intercoms are fantastic. They have separate amp circuits for pilot and copilot so you don't have such issues with mis-matched headsets. They are not cheap, but you get what you pay for. We run a PM3000 stereo unit in the RV-8 and I also had one in my old Cherokee. It outclasses the cheap Flightcom 403 by a huge margin IMHO. The music input with "karaoke mode" on the PM3000 is the best I've ever experienced on an aviation intercom. I had a Flightcom 403 in the Cherokee for a while and the PM3000 was a very worthwhile upgrade for me.
I can back this up. I have mismatched headsets as well, Bose X and Nordicas. The plane had a Flightcom 403 when I bought it, and I could never find the magic squelch spot to make cockpit conversation comfortable. No problem with levels, just squelch. The Flightcom also opens both microphones when either headset breaks squelch, so when anyone is talking, there is twice as much background noise as there needs to be.

I upgraded the Flightcom to a PS3000, and the difference is amazing, my wife even noticed immediately. Now we can have comfortable conversation without constant fiddling. The PS3000 only opens the microphone that actually broke squelch, which increases intelligibility drastically.

Also... I'd wired in music inputs to the intercom, and my ipod nano sounded horrible through the flightcom. There were clearly gain staging issues, at decent levels the music clipped pretty obnoxiously. Low end response was nonexistent, completely rolled off, and high end not much better. In contrast, the PS3000 sounds immaculate... plenty of gain, actual low end content, clarity on top, no clipping.... it's night and day.

Both the Flightcom and the PS3000 use 25pin dsub cables, so rather than dive into a full intercom rewire, I just made up a short adapter cable. Works fine, and it let me very quickly switch intercoms to A/B compare.

-jon
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  #7  
Old 01-02-2012, 12:35 PM
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Leland Leland is offline
 
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Default Thank you

I'm glad I asked the question. PS Engineering is what I will order tomorrow.
Leland
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