[Bill Boyd]

Just got a 10k avionics package from GRT (excited!) for upgrades to my RV-6A's 20year old vintage panel, but I may have made one minor mis-step. I went with the Trig comm, the most expensive of the options, because I wanted remotability with the HXr and it has a built-in intercom. What I didn't realize until I started perusing the install manuals is that the Trig has a monaural aux input channel that is described as "a low-fidelity monophonic input" "to allow audio annunciations or ident tones to be routed to the headphones."

Accustomed as I am to listening to music in flight through nice ANC headsets and a stereo intercom, it looks like I will end up keeping the ol' PS Engineering I/C in the new panel, which complicates the install a bit and reduces the number of bits I can sell to help finance this project. Just a heads-up to others who may have gone through the same thought processes I did.

 

[BobTurner]

Many of the newer ANC headsets (e.g., Lightspeed) allow for a direct input of music, either via Bluetooth or a cable into the control box. That may mean more wires in the cockpit, but it also might allow different volumes and/or sources for you and a passenger.

 

[Bill Boyd]

Well, of course!

My LightSpeeds (Zulu) will do just that, although I haven't had to use the feature with the intercom I have always had. I didn't think of that, and I might not've, even after getting home from the office. Thanks for the reminder

I suppose the way to wire this would be to enable the intercom function on the Trig as a vox-actuated mono intercom and to feed the music in through the headset controllers via BlueTooth. I wonder if there's a way to do this without losing the stereo feature of the headsets. Probably so, although I bet it means having the crew intercom audio play in only one ear instead of two. Are there work-arounds?

 

[BobTurner]

My LightSpeeds (Zulu) will do just that, although I haven't had to use the feature with the intercom I have always had. I didn't think of that, and I might not've, even after getting home from the office. Thanks for the reminder

I suppose the way to wire this would be to enable the intercom function on the Trig as a vox-actuated mono intercom and to feed the music in through the headset controllers via BlueTooth. I wonder if there's a way to do this without losing the stereo feature of the headsets. Probably so, although I bet it means having the crew intercom audio play in only one ear instead of two. Are there work-arounds?

IIRC the Zulu manual says that music (via the headset box or Bluetooth) will always play in stereo even when the input is set to mono. That's my memory, better double check.
Otherwise, just buy stereo jacks, and wire the tip and ring connection together, send one wire (plus a ground return - float the jacks off ground) to the intercom, set the headset on stereo. The music inputs will be internally isolated from the intercom inputs.