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Best location for audio panel?

pazmanyflyer

Well Known Member
Ladies and gents. I've changed up the panel a bit (shocker right?) and I'm looking for those that have experience with locations of the audio panels. I've never had one and this 7 will have more equipment than I have ever had in a panel before. So my question is if it would be better to have the audio panel at the top above the Dynon equipment or below them? It works either way for me and since I have never had this setup I do not know which works best or most efficiently. Keep in mind that I am looking ahead in adding IFR equipment. Your 2 cents gladly accepted.

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option #3 for me also. Bottom of stack, once it's set for audio levels you don't use it much so get it out of the way. Just my 2 cents worth.
 
You want the IFR navigator as high as you can get it. If you find you have room for the shorter audio panel after you get the IFR navigator as high as it will go, them put it above the IFR navigator. If not, then it goes under the IFR navigator.

You want the Dynon Knob Panel as the easiest thing to touch - this is because it gets used far more than anything else. The second most used panel is the autopilot module. Consider moving one of these to the left of the left of the pilot?s EFIS display. So an option becomes having the autopilot module to the left of the pilot?s EFIS, the Knob Panel and the Dynon Comm #2 mounted horizontally below the center stack - the Knob Panel on the left for your right hand.

Carl
 
behind panel clearance a consideration

The audio panel is likely less deep than other boxes you might want in the stack. With a sliding canopy, putting the audio panel at the top allows the stack to be located higher in the panel and still clear the significant structure behind.
 
The audio panel is likely less deep than other boxes you might want in the stack. With a sliding canopy, putting the audio panel at the top allows the stack to be located higher in the panel and still clear the significant structure behind.

+1 why mine is mounted high.
 
The audio panel is likely less deep than other boxes you might want in the stack. With a sliding canopy, putting the audio panel at the top allows the stack to be located higher in the panel and still clear the significant structure behind.

Same here, this is why both mine are located at the top to the radio stack. While the RV10 is not a slider, it fit better at the top of the stack there also.
 
The audio panel is likely less deep than other boxes you might want in the stack. With a sliding canopy, putting the audio panel at the top allows the stack to be located higher in the panel and still clear the significant structure behind.

Not true in this Dynon Skyview case. The three Dynon boxes shown are only about 2 inches deep + connector space - way less than the depth of a standard rack audio panel.

I vote for option 2 at present, and then move it down to below the IFR Navigator when that device is added in the future (aka Option 3) ...:)
 
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Your plan looks a lot like my panel.

My audio panel is up high. It almost never gets touched, except when swapping Comm1/Comm2 or listening to Nav for ID.

My GPS/NAV/COMM is under the audio panel where it is very visible and on the same visual level as the pilot's EFIS. This allows my eyes to travel back and forth from the EFIS to the GPS without having to visually search for the GPS. It may sound silly, but it's a fact that the eye goes back and forth horizontally a lot easier than going diagonally.

As others have mentioned, you will use the Knob Panel the most, so it goes right next to the EFIS. All adjustments to the Knob Panel are indicated on the EFIS, so it is convenient to have the EFIS and Knob Panel right next to each other.

Next to the Knob Panel is the Autopilot Panel. You will use this panel often to set up your navigation method, so it should be easy to reach.

I put my Comm2 radio (the Dynon) on the far right of the three panels. I can push frequencies to the Dynon Comm2, but usually I just dial frequencies in as ATC gives them to me. The freqs are indicated on the radio panel, so visually, my hands are operating where my eyes are looking at the freq screen. I use my Dynon Comm2 as my primary radio, and use my GPS/NAV/COMM1 as my backup radio and for picking up ATIS while staying on COMM2 with ATC.

I built this panel about two years ago. It's the third panel I've had in this plane, and is the result of all of the good and bad things I've found with my prior two panels. I've been really happy with the current set-up, and will probably build an exact replica of this panel for the RV-14 I'm building now.

New%20Panel_zpsinx7t8jk.png

New%20Panel.png
 
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I went thru the same thought process. But what sunk it for me was the audio panel box shape itself - the garmin 240 actually has an angled top, so its designed to fit to the sloping glareshield. And its the shortest of all the boxes you'll have for sure. That puts it up top in a space that mostly cant be filled by any other box.

Then put your IFR navigator under it - like many have said, you dont want to be looking down to see what its telling you. And if its a 430 etc, it'll have radio in it anyway, and up high is also good for that.

Finally your Dynon/AFS speed boxes fit nicely under all that and are at the same hand height as the lower half of the EFIS, where most knobs and buttons usually are, esp baro. If one is your second radio, then under the GPS is the logical place.
 
IFR GPS and AP on top

As others said, if you plan to fly IFR you may want to consider putting the Autopilot controller or the IFR GPS on top similar to your #2 option. I have my audio panel on the bottom in my -7 and I really like where it is. I use it all the time to monitor, switch back and forth, etc and like that it's closer. With that said, if you are in IFR and it's bumpy you want to use the glare shield to stabilize your hands as you work with the autopilot and GPS.

I have a Garmin panel but this is what I went with.
 
Thank you all for the input. This is what I have come up with from all the suggestions. This version has the PSE above the Dynon for now then can move up to the top above the NAV/COM if/when that upgrade occurs. Dynon com moved to far right and will become com 2 later.

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Your plan looks a lot like my panel.
It almost never gets touched, except when swapping Comm1/Comm2 or listening to Nav for ID.

NOT what you asked, but: Have you considered a good intercom, with lots of unswitched inputs, instead of a full blown audio panel? Plus a single DPDT switch to move from com1 to com2? "switch" everything else (VOR audio, unused com) with the volume controls. It works just fine. Of course, you lose marker beacons (what's that?!) but little else. I rarely touch my intercom, so I'm happy locating it anywhere within reach.
 
PDA360EX

NOT what you asked, but: Have you considered a good intercom, with lots of unswitched inputs, instead of a full blown audio panel? Plus a single DPDT switch to move from com1 to com2? "switch" everything else (VOR audio, unused com) with the volume controls. It works just fine. Of course, you lose marker beacons (what's that?!) but little else. I rarely touch my intercom, so I'm happy locating it anywhere within reach.

I think I'll chime in. To wire an intercom so more than one radio can be connected to it, requires switches (mic hi, mic low, ptt, audio hi, audio low) that will take just as much wiring as wiring an audio panel.

There is lot to gain with an audio panel vs an intercom (this coming from a company that has been designing and building intercoms since 1985). True dimensional sound (IntelliAudio) for the aircraft radios, the flexibility of multiple entertainment sources, distribution of the entertainment, Bluetooth connectivity, 10 watt USB charger, and an extremely easy to use interface, makes the system very capable while very easy to use.

To hear audio alerts, a summing amplifier would have to be incorporated. Another thing to power, mount, and maintain. And if you ever want to hear two radios at the same time, with mechanical switches, at best, you will have two output amplifiers driving into each other, and that just is bad practice.

At the price of the PDA360EX, the benefits when compared to an intercom with external switching, are abundant. The continuous loop digital recorder is also really nice to have when you missed that last call to you.

Bob, I know you are very technical and I totally respect what you have done for the aviation community. I also very much appreciate all of the kind words you have given PS Engineering over the years. But being in the intercom/audio panel business I think taking short cuts in a system that connects to communication/navigation systems probably will present the home-builder with a less than optimal final solution.

Thank you Carlos for considering our audio panel, I would be very proud to be your audio controller provider.

Sincerely,
Mark Scheuer
PS Engineering, Inc.
 
Hi Mark,
Don’t worry, I still think PS makes the best audio equipment out there. (There have been times when the competition was so bad, I don’t understand why anyone would buy their stuff. But that’s a different tale.)
I think I need to clarify my idea of an ‘good intercom’ for this use. It really differs from an audio panel only in the use of volume controls instead of switches (I do have one switch, for com 1/com2 mike and PTT selection.) Yes there are lots of wires, yes there are mixers for all the inputs and to keep two com outputs from bucking each other. Yes, there’s a fail-safe relay to route com 1 audio direct to my headset. I certainly do not have the excellent, digital frequency filtering that I think you use; I have to live with analog. There are a couple of reasons I like this approach. (1) I do a fair number of checkouts for the local flying club, and it’s not unusual to see someone select nav2 when they wanted nav1. The buttons are small and right next to each other. But I rarely see someone grab the wrong nav volume control. I have actually seen some pilots, who learned with 1970’s Cessna/ARC system, get into an airplane, punch every audio panel button to ‘on’, then turn down all the volume controls. It worked for them. (2) Passengers, especially my wife, seem to like this approach. I suppose, in the past, I discouraged her from touching the panel. But now she has 3 volume controls (radio, intercom, music) right in front of her, labeled “copilot-passenger”, which she feels free to adjust as she wants. In my ideal world, every passenger would have a small box like a TV remote, coupled via IR to the audio box, and they’d adjust all the volumes/choices from their seats. Way beyond my capability, but easy for PS?
 
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Here is a similar layout in a 10. I like that the radio stack is not centered. It is shifted to the pilot side along with the second screen.
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