atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Wiring - Telecom Carriers - Trunks & Services Security, Alarms and Paging New Paging System

I am being contracted to add a new paging system for a new building at a school That I currently service

They currently have three separate buildings With a 70 V system in each building and they are using the Algo 8301 in each building for bells ,music and announcements

I’m just wondering if I should just go with a 70 V system or if I should go with a Valcom four wire system

The new building has two floors and I think a total of 10 classrooms obviously there’s hallways. I’m thinking about maybe 10 speakers on each floor.
There is also going to be an external paging horn on each side of the building



They are talking about upgrading the whole paging system in a few years, so I was just wondering if I should run data cable cat 5/6 as opposed to speaker cable and use the Valcom 4 wire as opposed to 2 Wire

They are basically looking for something to get by for now, but I wondering if running the Data wire would be a better choice maybe using a Valcom 6000 product down the road

Thanks

JD

Use a 70V system and don't lock yourself into a vendor.

For a school i have been using the valcom ACS 45 which replaced the v2924.
The plus about it is the good support from Valcom.
i do a lot of paging work in the Boston if you need any assistance send a msg.
jim,

This seems like total overkill for their use case.

I would vote for the 70V system myself...

I think I’m gonna go with the 70 V paging system has anyone ever used those 2 x 2 ceiling speakers ? I know Valcom makes them
I didn’t realize that Bogen makes them as well for 70 V systems. Just wondering if they would be OK for this application, they seem much cleaner than cutting ceiling tiles.

Also sounds like a stupid question as far as the speaker wire goes Should I use shielded speaker wire

In my experience due to the size and weight of those 2x2 speakers you end up with much more left over packaging that you have to manage at the end of the project then if you went with a standard speaker so in the end it's about the same amount of labor You're just going to spend it breaking down boxes and crushing styrofoam instead of cutting tiles. As for the speaker wire, no do not use shielded wire it is not necessary for a one-way paging system like this.

I have used both 2x2 Valcom and Bogen the Bogen speakers are a little heavier and sound better.

I have another question about the outside paging horns GA-15T that I will be installing
This is a brand new building and they installed conduit to a double gang flush mount box outside
I’m just wondering if there’s some kind of plate that I can put over this double gang box which is obviously needs to be weatherproof

I’m assuming I could just put a blank cover over it i with a hole or something, but I didn’t really wanna have to see the wire

I am also open to possibly using a different speaker But I thought the paging horn would be best


Thanks

JD

I don't think concealing the wire is possible with that model. I use Lowell's LH-15TA, and you can see in the second picture, if you drill a hole through the blank plate and mount the horn to the blank plate, there is a slot in the mounting bracket to feed the wire.

An alternative would be to use the LHA-15C conduit adapter, and install a whip of flex from the box into the adapter and secure it to the horn.

Normally you would mount the speaker directly to the building then use a short length of two conductor 18ga flexible cord like SJTO from the speaker terminal box to the box on the wall. For that you would mount a 2 gang Bell box extension on the flush wall box with a blank cover on it. You use one of the threaded knockouts on the bottom of the extension for a weatherproof compression connector for the cable entry. You make your splices in the box then put the blank cover on.

-Hal

We do a lot of school paging, for in ceiling speakers we were using TOA F-12CU2, (on the expensive side)
Now we are starting to use Lowell ES-52T ceiling speakers.

Just other options you may want to consider.

Dan S