Gilderfluke&Co PA System - Manual (Page 5)

The Intelligent PA System consists of:
¥ One MA-100 PA Master to control the system and the first eight PA Stations and MA-100/200
Outputs.
¥ One MA-200 for each additional eight PA Stations or MA-100/200 Outputs needed.
¥ Any combination of up to 256 PA Stations
¥ Optionally, any combination of DR-300 or DR-400 Digital Audio Repeater / Mixer cards.
Unlike the hardwired PA systems you may have encountered in the past, in the Intelligent PA System
a ÔPA ZoneÕ is an absolutely arbitrary number. Any PA Station can generate requests for any PA Zone
number. Any output can respond to any of up to 19 different PA Zone numbers. Since any number of
outputs can respond to any individual PA Zone number, a global PA Zone can be set up by simply telling
every output in the system to respond to the same number.
As shown by the darkened audio path in the previous illustration, when a user at any PA Station re-
quests a PA Zone, an audio path is opened to any of the MA-100/200 Outputs and Digital Audio
Repeater / Mixer cards in the system which have been configured to respond to requests for that PA
Zone (in the example on page one there are three DR-300 or DR-400 cards and four MA-100/200
Outputs responding). The normal audio on those outputs is dropped to a half muted level while the
audio from the PA Station is routed to them. All other parts of the PA System and the Repeaters on the
affected DR-300 cards continue to operate normally. With sixteen trunk lines, up to sixteen such Ôcross-
zoneÕ PA announcements can go on at the same time.
There are 255 possible PA Zone numbers (00 through FE). The DR-300 and DR-400 Digital Audio
Repeater / Mixer cards can be configured to respond to as many as eight different PA Zone numbers.
Eight MA-100/200 Outputs are available from each MA-100 or MA-200 card. Each of these outputs
normally carries whatever audio is being fed into the ÔBack Ground Music (BGMÕ) input(s) on the back of
the unit. When a request for a PA zone comes in from any of the PA Stations, the BGM level on any of
the responding MA-100/200 Outputs is dropped to a half-muted level and the PA audio is mixed into the
output. Each MA-100/200 Output can be told to respond to up to nineteen different PA zone requests.
If a PA Station requests zone FF, a special high priority ÔLocal PA MODEÕ is selected. This opens up a di-
rect connection between a PA Station and itÕs corresponding Local Output (as shown in the illustration
on the following page). This bypasses all 16 trunk lines. Up to 256 such ÔlocalÕ PA announcements (one
for each station) can go on at the same time. These will take precedence over any other type of an-
nouncement.
Because the PA system can be used for safety announcements, a number of different priority op-
tions are available. The Digital Audio Repeater / Mixer cards each have one PA Station each assigned as
top and second priority. These are assigned individually for each Digital Audio Repeater / Mixer card.
Valid PA requests from the second priority PA Station override all other PA requests except those from the
top PA Station. These priority PA Stations will usually be assigned to the station from which safety an-
nouncements are normally made, and to the PA Station located closest to the emergency exit for the
area covered by the speakers attached to that particular Digital Audio Repeater / Mixer card.
If no other PA priority options are used, then the DR-300 and DR-400 cards treat all other PA requests
equally. If two valid PA requests come in to the same Repeater card, then both are honored and the
audio from both are mixed equally. The STANDARD PRIORITY OPTION allows you to give PA Stations with
higher number assignments priority over those with lower numbers. The ZONE PRIORITY OPTION allows PA
Zone requests for higher numbered PA Zones to take priority over those for lower numbered PA Zones.
The MA-100/200 Outputs' priorities are set by the order in which you enter the PA zones they will re-
spond to. The first entry has the highest priority. Any Local Mode PA requests always take priority over all
other PA zone requests.
G ILDERFLUKE & C O . ¥ 205 S OUTH F LOWER S T . ¥ B URBANK , C ALIF . 91502-2102 ¥ 818/840-9484 ¥ FAX 818/840-9485
1 of 35