The International Cessna^® 170 Association

I thought I had posted this last night but I dont see it today-- Who makes the best intercom, and which model do you like? I am looking for a four-place with crew isolate and music input. Don't know if stereo is necessary, but on the other hand I do plan to get a nice set of Bose headsets at some point. PS Enginering makes one, the model # is 1000 II, which has dual music imputs so that the kids can listen to Justin Beiber while we listen to our "old people" music. They also make a stereo version of that one, but you have to get the six-place version of it in order to get the crew isolate. I would appreciate your opinions.
And by the way, will mono headsets work in a stereo intercom?
Greg

I have the PS Engineering in my 170 and it works great. I am not sure how to make other headsets work with different music but I have an audio jack in the paner with the installation. With this we can plug in an ipod or iphone with music. I also turned in my Bose headsets and got some lightspeed headsets. The noise cancelling is great and the music is fine with mono. You can also sync your phone to it and it is bluetooth. The bose did not work well for Beavers and Islanders and the upper padding always came loose. Check out the lightpeeds. They are very comfortable and they have great noise cancelling in all aircraft I have flown. Actually my kids who fly commercially turned me on to them. The youth always seems to be on the leading edge of what is good in new technology. Good luck

Not sure of your current radio installation, but you may want to consider an audio panel. I installed the Garmin GMA340. It has a built in 4 place intercom. I use the audio input which works great. It also has pilot/copilot isolation so people in the back can be turned off from the front seats or just the left seat (great feature if you fly IFR with passengers). This unit replaced a 10 year old sigtronics panel mount intercom which I was not at all impressed with. The garmin unit is just over 1 inch tall.

As for the mono/stereo, you cannot use a mono headset in a stereo jack, but you can use a stereo headset in mono jack (but you will only get sound through one ear. A mono plug will short the right input and ground together and destroy sound in the entire plane (and possibly damage your intercom). Because of this, I installed mono jacks throughout and even with music, all sounds good.

I have a (mono) PS Engineering 1000 which has served well for 10 years, with the following caveat:

They claim their intercom has a "fail safe" mode which will by-pass the intercom should any internal component fail and allow your avionics to work "thru" as if no intercom were installed at all. This is not completely accurate.
My setup would allow me to receive but transmited only a "carrier" (no modulation) which torqued ATC when I repeatedly tried to call for taxi clearance. This occured only in frigid weather and took about 15 mins of atttempts before transmits would work (apparently a "warm-up" issue.) PS Engineering told me it had to be the com radio because their intercom was "fail safe".

Right.

So I sent my com (Narco 810) to the factory who froze it, heated it, abused it,...and told me there was nothing wrong with it. I had it back in 8 days with a charge of $120 plus shipping ($40).
(At least Narco gave me a new 1-year warranty on it due to their bench-work policy.) I then told Narco the REST of the story (about how PS Engineering had assured me it could only be the com radio...and Narco told me that PS Engineering is correct...partially ...provided that the "by-pass relay" in the PS unit isn't what failed.

I sent the intercom to PS Engineering ...they kept it ten days and returned it to me with a $40 repair bill (plus shipping, of course) to replace the "relay" which had failed. (They also completely cut OUT the diode I'd merely "clipped" {per their previous instructions to me when I wanted "sidetone" for my broadcasts}....a common modification if you are accustomed to more "professional" avionics packages in large aircraft. I did not authorize them to remove that diode and feel they should have asked me first.)

The intercom has worked just fine now for 8 years until this winter, when I flew the airplane on an important trip after a 3 month period of inactivity....my comm unit would neither transmit nor recieve (except weakly, if I over-rode the squelch. This convinced me that THIS time it MUST be the comm unit.) I had departed my home field for a controlled field and after the enroute portion could not raise ATIS nor the tower. I was about to reverse course for home when it occurred to me to switch OFF the intercom...which cured the problem allowing the comm to "bypass" and transmit/receive just fine. Again...it was the intercom!
Switching the intercom ON again...and things worked normally and have continued to work just fine for several more flights now. (Leaving me to believe that "bypass relay" may be nearing the end of it's life-cycle again.)

Take this story to be what you wish.... I think the PS Engineering intercoms are good units, but I've found this idiosyncracy that should be shared with others.

It has an audio input and also an isolate mode, which has worked just fine, as long as you are willing to accept no sidetone during the isolate mode.

Questions to ask the mfr of any intercom you are considering for purchase:
Does it have a "by pass" mode if it should fail?
Does the "by pass" mode require the intercom to be switched completely OFF to work? (Just FYI)
Does the unit have "sidetone"? (allows a person to hear themselves as they transmit, same as when they speak to others)
Will the unit accept XM radio inputs as well as any other audio input device you plan to use?
Can the pilot isolate all his ATC communications from pax? (And can pax continure to converse w/each other when pilot is isolated?)
Does the intercom have INPUTS for audible warning devices (such as stall warning horn, gear warnings, fuel warnings, TAWS (Terrain advisories), GPS warnings, etc etc?) You might be surprised how important this function can be in certain aircraft.

Very good info so far. i have considered and audio panel, but right now i have only one working radio, and my old audio panel seems to work fine. Does anyone have the answers to George's questions above?

gparker wrote:Very good info so far. i have considered and audio panel, but right now i have only one working radio, and my old audio panel seems to work fine. Does anyone have the answers to George's questions above?

gparker...those are questions which you should ask the mfr or seller of your desired unit....
As for the PS Engineering 1000 unit... I"ve already given the answers. They are YES to each except the last, which is no.

There is perhaps a need to define some terms:

Audio Panel: A device for switching amongst various audio/radios.

Audio Amplifier: A device which amplifies the audio output of another device (necessary for many radios other than Narcos, if a speaker is to be used. Narco units have their own audio amplifier which can drive a speaker. Headsets do not need audio amplification.)

Audio Panels may or may not include an amplifier, and you should determine if your radios require amplification to drive speakers. All aircraft equipped with headsets should have speaker backup.