Wired Comm System

[Murphb1220]

Hey,

I need a Comm system for the theatre I work in. It needs to be as cost effective as possible, so wired is ok. There only needs to be 5 outstations (+ the base), as it is a small theatre. What brands do you recommend?

PS. I'm located in America. And yes, I have tried walkie-talkies, it didn't work.

[mackerr]

The 2 major systems in the US are Clear Com and RTS. If you are buying new, CC is less expensive than RTS, but is generally single channel per station. RTS is 2 channel per station. Both can be found used from pro audio and broadcast used gear sites. There are also some lower cost alternatives from R-Colombia, and EarTech, although I have no experience with either of those. Production Intercom is also a little less money than Clear Comm. In the theater industry, Clear Com is the standard, in broadcast, it's RTS.

 

Mac

[Murphb1220]

Cool, thanks. Now for Clear-Com, what would I buy? I saw there were many different main stations available, I not to knowledgeable about that.

[mackerr]

Every system needs a power supply. With Clear Com, if they call it a "Main Station", it includes a power supply, if they call it a "Remote Station", it does not. There are also power supplies that do not include a user station, like the PS-702. So, for a 6 user system, you need either an MS-702 rack mount master station plus 5 belt packs, or a CS-702 portable master station plus 5 belt packs, or a PS-702 and 6 belt packs. You then need 6 headsets, and enough cable to run to each position. There are also speaker stations, also sometimes called "biscuits" that are essentially a desktop beltpack with a speaker built in. You can still plug a headset into and turn off the speaker during a show, but the speaker is sometimes nice during rehearsal. There is often comm gear available used at sites like this one, scroll down to the bottom of the list.

 

Mac