Music In -- Can't Hear It

Jay Honeck

Jay Honeck

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Jay Honeck
Our new (to us) RV-8A has a music-in jack that enables us to plug a music source into the (sadly mono) PS Engineering intercom.

Unfortunately, it seems that it was designed for music sources with higher output than our phones, as we can just BARELY hear it with the volume (on the phone) turned all the way up.

If we turn the intercom volume up all the way, we can hear it, but it's horribly distorted. And, of course, if one of us talks, we deafen ourselves.

Any suggestions on a fix? We have our entire music collection on our phones, and would like to make use of them in the plane.

Thanks!
 
Jay Honeck said:
Whoops, I think I just found the answer here: http://www.ps-engineering.com/docs/PM1000.pdf

There is a pin jumper for "Music Input Hi" and "Music Input Lo". Methinks I know which jumper I've got to move! lol
Click to expand...

Probably not.... PS is notorious for labeling their pins Hi and Lo... All that means is Hi is the hot leg..... Lo is the ground, or common leg.... I think.
 
I've got the same intercom.

I typically have the volume on the headsets all the way up, the volume on the iPod >75% of the way up, and the intercom at >50% to enjoy the music. The intercom can be loud when a passenger speaks, but you (and they) learn. The downside of the high iPod setting is reduced battery life.
 
kyleb said:
I've got the same intercom.

I typically have the volume on the headsets all the way up, the volume on the iPod >75% of the way up, and the intercom at >50% to enjoy the music. The intercom can be loud when a passenger speaks, but you (and they) learn. The downside of the high iPod setting is reduced battery life.
Click to expand...

The RV-8A is very loud, under that bubble canopy. Basically, it's a parabolic reflector, amplifying all noise. Without ANR headsets, it would not be fun.

With everything turned up all the way, I can just barely hear the music. It's not acceptable this way.

We can always plug into our Lightspeed Zulus inputs, instead, but then Mary and I aren't listening to the same music. There must be some way to make it work. PS Engineering is an amazingly responsive company, so perhaps I will give them a call.
 
Jay Honeck said:
The RV-8A is very loud, under that bubble canopy. Basically, it's a parabolic reflector, amplifying all noise. Without ANR headsets, it would not be fun.

With everything turned up all the way, I can just barely hear the music. It's not acceptable this way.

We can always plug into our Lightspeed Zulus inputs, instead, but then Mary and I aren't listening to the same music. There must be some way to make it work. PS Engineering is an amazingly responsive company, so perhaps I will give them a call.
Click to expand...


ya beat me to the Zulu answer..:mad2:..

And yes...PS is a great company.. I think the owner is Mark and if it can be done.. he can do it..:yes:.

Or course you are gonna have to wait till Monday though..:sad:
 
N801BH said:
ya beat me to the Zulu answer..:mad2:..

And yes...PS is a great company.. I think the owner is Mark and if it can be done.. he can do it..:yes:.

Or course you are gonna have to wait till Monday though..:sad:
Click to expand...

A few years back -- okay, ten years ago -- we had our 496's XM music output wired into the back of our PS Engineering CD Player/Four place intercom.

Unfortunately, this unit was not built to accept that sort of input, but Mark -- working with our avionics shop in Iowa -- managed to figure out a way to make it work. He had our avionics tech solder into something on the back of the circuit board, where he could patch in.

It's worked great ever since. :yes:

I'm hoping it's something simple on this otherwise excellent intercom. With everyone using smartphones for music now, having the impedance of that input jack set for a Walkman (for example) is silly.
 
EppyGA said:
Don't know what model you have Jay, but look at page 9 of this document.

http://www.ps-engineering.com/docs/PMA6000B_IM.pdf

It mentions not using a speaker level output of a music device as it may cause damage to the unit.
Click to expand...

That's okay -- my phone doesn't have a speaker level output. :D

Methinks when it was installed, they set it to work with something like a portable CD player -- which was high tech back in 1999, when this intercom was built. Nowadays, no one uses anything but smartphones, which put out way less output signal strength.

I'm hoping it's a setting, or a jumper, somewhere on the unit.
 
I have the radioshack version of that headset amplifier , and used it with my motorcycle intercom system/ helmet speakers . Worked out perfect
 
Jay Honeck said:
Cool. Thanks, Spike!
Click to expand...

Be careful - I use one of those I my motorcycle with eat buds and have to have my volume set at the lowest setting and even then it's loud. Make sure you have your phone volume as low as it can go before plugging that into the audio panel.
 
There's a country song for this... "Girl you make my speakers go boom-boom..."

LOL!
 
Haha. Well, you take what you can get... Hard to find "Western" these days.
 
I've had the same trouble in my Cherokee, can't hear the music. Yeah, the iPod gets turned all the way up as do the headsets. Usually I turn the intercom volume up a long way as well and turn down the radio volume. I could see it being problematic in the RV, the ones I've flown in were on the noisy side (on the fun side too). That booster should come right in handy.
 
SCCutler said:
Here's where I learned about the Boostaroo, and I have used it to good effect.

http://www.csobeech.com/boostaroo.html
Click to expand...

Would love to crack one of those open and just see of it's just a Dallas Semi audio amp chip and some power wires. LOL.

Probably $3 in parts in quantity 1 from Digikey. Hardest part would be finding other stuff to get to the $20 minimum order. Haha.
 
Digikey doesn't have a $20 minimum. But your time is probably more valuable than hacking together an SMT amplifier, wires, jacks, batteries, regulator etc.
 
denverpilot said:
Would love to crack one of those open and just see of it's just a Dallas Semi audio amp chip and some power wires. LOL.

Probably $3 in parts in quantity 1 from Digikey. Hardest part would be finding other stuff to get to the $20 minimum order. Haha.
Click to expand...

Probably so. If I can find the one I bought, I'll look inside.
 
denverpilot said:
Would love to crack one of those open and just see of it's just a Dallas Semi audio amp chip and some power wires. LOL.

Probably $3 in parts in quantity 1 from Digikey. Hardest part would be finding other stuff to get to the $20 minimum order. Haha.
Click to expand...

The electronic parts are trivial. I think your estimate of $3 is high. HOWEVER, those parts can't be haywired together, so there is a substrate (i.e. pc board) of some sort, the plastic injection molded case, three female jacks, a double male cable plug set, a battery holder, instruction manual, etc.

How they sell it list price for ~$25 is a minor miracle. However, I see a Kitplanes article in the future for me ... :yes:

Jim
 
N801BH said:
Probably not.... PS is notorious for labeling their pins Hi and Lo... All that means is Hi is the hot leg..... Lo is the ground, or common leg.... I think.
Click to expand...
Same with many other electronix mfr's.
 
bluerooster said:
Same with many other electronix mfr's.
Click to expand...

Yup....:yes:..

I love my PS engineering intercom... The thing that rubbed me the wrong way when I was building my plane is the "fine print" in PS's warranty... I am pretty good at hearding electrons but when I called them for a clarification in their installation manual they quickly told me ..... You don't buy our wiring harness, their is NO warranty... And,, the cost of their harness was MORE then their product..:eek::yikes::mad:.....

Of course I wired my plane myself and it all works perfectly.. Even the interface between the JPI 450 and the King KMD-150... That connection alone is worth ALOT of data..:yes::)
 
weirdjim said:
The electronic parts are trivial. I think your estimate of $3 is high. HOWEVER, those parts can't be haywired together, so there is a substrate (i.e. pc board) of some sort, the plastic injection molded case, three female jacks, a double male cable plug set, a battery holder, instruction manual, etc.

How they sell it list price for ~$25 is a minor miracle. However, I see a Kitplanes article in the future for me ... :yes:

Jim
Click to expand...

Agreed its cheap as a product. As a project, dead big it, slap it into a blob of silicone caulk, and plug into it. Ha. Ugly but it'd work fine. Hide it in an Altoids tin if you're picky about looks. ;)
 
Jay Honeck said:
Our new (to us) RV-8A has a music-in jack that enables us to plug a music source into the (sadly mono) PS Engineering intercom.

Unfortunately, it seems that it was designed for music sources with higher output than our phones, as we can just BARELY hear it with the volume (on the phone) turned all the way up.

If we turn the intercom volume up all the way, we can hear it, but it's horribly distorted. And, of course, if one of us talks, we deafen ourselves.

Any suggestions on a fix? We have our entire music collection on our phones, and would like to make use of them in the plane.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Never mind, I see you have a 1000.
 
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