TIPS PA over existing amplifier but mute background music

[Max Power]

I am trying to help a friend set up PBX in a flash in his new shop. He has a stereo system set up in the shop and wants to be able to mute that when someone is paged. Ideally the paging would be done through the same amplifier. Does anyone know how I can accomplish this?

I use a Snom PA1 in my shop but I can't see any way to mute the stereo system.

 

[rossiv]

I know the PA1 can activate a relay when it is called. Are the speakers going directly to the stereo with a built-in amp, or is it stereo > amp > speakers?
If the latter, you could have a relay from the PA1 go to a separate device that swaps the signal from the stereo to the PA1.

 

[MacNix]

Max is looking for a device which does "ducking".. The PA1 will not do this.

I'm not actually sure what is on the market specifically for that, other than a rather complicated Biamp or some other $$$ device; you'd need the ability to communicate on IP, then trigger the ducking command, be capable of controlling a secondary audio feed, and change amplification..

There's another method for this - getting a pro-audio compressor with sidechain ducking built-in, and triggering it with the paging signal.

You'd need BOTH signals to be "pre-amp" (non amplified), and have a secondary amp AFTER the compressor...

I hesitate to use this name in the same context as "professional", but the Behringer MDX2200 is a passable example of this - you can probably get one used for $30-50, and with a little work it'll do the job as well as a $500 box..

For an actual professional part, look to DBX brand... Just make sure you find one with a sidechain ducking feature, that's the feature that drops/ducks one channel of audio whenever another channel "goes live"...

We recently did this for one of our non-profit projects in another country (a small charity school) - we ran the audio thru a compressor sidechain, ran the normal music & announcement stuff thru the main feed, and the output goes into an amp set, and the school intercomm system.. so announcements can be made from any phone anywhere, the headmaster has the ext/code to be able to do so....

 

[phonebuff]

Over the years I have used the Bogen Amplifier products in Fire Stations -- They have a relay that is used with Station Alerting to mute the "Normal" input / Local Input and prioritize an alternate input over all others (AKA: The Dispatch Voice Radio) so that Dispatch get's priority over Dinner , Phone Call and other Announcements and / or back ground Music inputs...

You should be able to do the same thing with the PA1. relay --

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