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Three useful channels, for speakers and an induction loop
As an installer, I am frequently required to generate a feed for a hearing assist induction loop as well as speakers circuits. I have now purchased two of these units and a third may be on the way. The format usually ends up by being something like Zone1: front speakers, Zone2: rear speakers (if a large hall) or lobby, or separate room and Zone3 : The loop.
For this purpose, this unit is absolutely ideal. I would say a couple of things though.
The two mic channels which have parallel inputs on front and rear (nice touch, if you've got a rack mounted radio receiver to plug in with balanced O/P) should be the channels with faders and the music inputs, the ones with rotaries. In this vein, the three Outputs would be better with faders for Volume, or at least a bigger knob to differentiate from the tone controls. (In an installed situation, music sources tend to be "static". Its the mics that are more likely to vary and benefit from a fader.)
To my mind the fact that you can have 10 inputs for the 5 phono input channels is way too many for this device, the A/B input choice is unnecessarily complicated , something I cant see many people using (Who has that many phono terminated devices to plug in. A tablet, a phone, a laptop, a CD player and a spare?. Most folk would probably use the same dangling 3.5mm jack lead for the first three anyway)
The push button, illuminated zone selectors are great, particularly for choosing exactly what gets fed into the hearing loop, but the rubbery buttons, not so. The machine tolerances seem a little tight and on one unit I bought, I had to (very carefully!!) file the paint off the inner edges of the hole so the rubber wouldn't bind. It was a small fix, but annoying and I didn't want to have to send it back just for that. Solid switches could still have LED illumination, or use transparent perspex.
The rubber buttons just dont feel nice!
There could be an improvement in headroom (gain) as when used with a tablet and a phone, with the source volume flat out, the gains had to be turned up full to get a reasonable output (and bargraph signal) out of the the three "Masters"
All this being said, its a tidy and useful unit, fits nicely into a wall mounted rack frame that can then have its door locked and if they got rid of the unnecessary alternate inputs and switches etc they could probably shave a few pounds off the price and make it even more attractive.
It sounds like I have a down on this unit but I dont. For the price it is very good, but with a little extra attention to detail, it could be outstanding!
For this purpose, this unit is absolutely ideal. I would say a couple of things though.
The two mic channels which have parallel inputs on front and rear (nice touch, if you've got a rack mounted radio receiver to plug in with balanced O/P) should be the channels with faders and the music inputs, the ones with rotaries. In this vein, the three Outputs would be better with faders for Volume, or at least a bigger knob to differentiate from the tone controls. (In an installed situation, music sources tend to be "static". Its the mics that are more likely to vary and benefit from a fader.)
To my mind the fact that you can have 10 inputs for the 5 phono input channels is way too many for this device, the A/B input choice is unnecessarily complicated , something I cant see many people using (Who has that many phono terminated devices to plug in. A tablet, a phone, a laptop, a CD player and a spare?. Most folk would probably use the same dangling 3.5mm jack lead for the first three anyway)
The push button, illuminated zone selectors are great, particularly for choosing exactly what gets fed into the hearing loop, but the rubbery buttons, not so. The machine tolerances seem a little tight and on one unit I bought, I had to (very carefully!!) file the paint off the inner edges of the hole so the rubber wouldn't bind. It was a small fix, but annoying and I didn't want to have to send it back just for that. Solid switches could still have LED illumination, or use transparent perspex.
The rubber buttons just dont feel nice!
There could be an improvement in headroom (gain) as when used with a tablet and a phone, with the source volume flat out, the gains had to be turned up full to get a reasonable output (and bargraph signal) out of the the three "Masters"
All this being said, its a tidy and useful unit, fits nicely into a wall mounted rack frame that can then have its door locked and if they got rid of the unnecessary alternate inputs and switches etc they could probably shave a few pounds off the price and make it even more attractive.
It sounds like I have a down on this unit but I dont. For the price it is very good, but with a little extra attention to detail, it could be outstanding!
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