What is your favorite Audio Panel?

WDD

WDD

Final Approach
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Vintage Snazzy (so my adult children say)
What is your favorite Audio Panel to drive two coms? Simplicity is appreciated, outer/middle/inner markers not needed, blue tooth nice to have, and plays well with GARMIN mandatory. I will probably never in my life ever listen to a nav frequency. Don’t have a speaker in the plane or a separate hand held mic. My pilot isolation function of choice is to tell people to be quiet.

GARMIN or PS ?

GARMIN 350, 345?
 
RussR said:
You discount this, but in my experience this is one of the best, most useful, and safety-enhancing features of any audio panel.
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That … I would not have guessed. Do you use it for mostly when people are in back seat or when significant other is in right seat?
 
WDD said:
What is your favorite Audio Panel to drive two coms? Simplicity is appreciated, outer/middle/inner markers not needed, blue tooth nice to have, and plays well with GARMIN mandatory. I will probably never in my life ever listen to a nav frequency. Don’t have a speaker in the plane or a separate hand held mic. My pilot isolation function of choice is to tell people to be quiet.

GARMIN or PS ?

GARMIN 350, 345?
Click to expand...
Hi WDD! While this post is 2 years old, I think it is still relevant. Being focused on audio control only has allowed us to provide solutions that don't have any "surprises" and an easy to use interface.
www.pilotsofamerica.com

Garmin GMA 350/35 vs PS Engineering PMA 450

My 310 has a GMA 340 now. I’m not entirely happy with the audio quality. I’m going to overhaul the panel soon, so now is my chance to go with a remote audio panel or stick with the panel cutout and slide in a new audio panel when my bank account heals a bit. Can anyone here give a PIREP from...
www.pilotsofamerica.com www.pilotsofamerica.com
Thanks for asking the question WDD
Mark Scheuer
PS Engineering
 
WDD said:
That … I would not have guessed. Do you use it for mostly when people are in back seat or when significant other is in right seat?
Click to expand...
All of the above and more.

Wife is trying to comfort young daughter who is crying/fussing/etc while on final. Isolate pilot.
Passengers want to talk about the game/movies/beer/whatever and keep stepping on ATC. Isolate pilot.
Passengers want to listen to XM's Prime Country channel while you're more of a Hair Nation type. Isolate pilot.
(Stereotype warning) You and a buddy in front, wife and buddy's wife in back, neither gender wants to listen to the other. Isolate with crew/pax split.

I have more than once just turned on isolate so that I could concentrate or hear ATC instructions.
 
What panel do you have?
 
PMA 450 in a heartbeat. Agree with all that isolate button is a key feature. Also don't need a BT headset, has a USB C charger port, tons of other features. All the rest of panel is Garmin, no issues compatibility wise.
 
WDD said:
What is your favorite Audio Panel to drive two coms? Simplicity is appreciated, outer/middle/inner markers not needed, blue tooth nice to have, and plays well with GARMIN mandatory. I will probably never in my life ever listen to a nav frequency. Don’t have a speaker in the plane or a separate hand held mic. My pilot isolation function of choice is to tell people to be quiet.

GARMIN or PS ?

GARMIN 350, 345?
Click to expand...
If you want the thing where you can talk to your panel, Garmin 350c. It's what I've got, and it's cool to be able to say "Show Traffic" and have the GTN 750 switch over.
Also, if you have a GTN and you don't want physical buttons, you want to control the audio panel from the touchscreen on the GTN, that will require Garmin.

For anything else, PS Engineering is the way to go. They do only one thing, and they do it very well.
 
love love love my PMA8000G, could see a PMA450c but i still haven't used all the capabilities of the 8000
 
Shoot - PS seems to be everybody’s favorite.
 
RussR said:
Passengers want to listen to XM's Prime Country channel while you're more of a Hair Nation type. Isolate pilot.
Click to expand...
PMA450B has 4 different music inputs, 2 wired plus 2 Bluetooth. Each seat can have its own music source.
RussR said:
Passengers want to talk about the game/movies/beer/whatever and keep stepping on ATC. Isolate pilot.
Click to expand...
PMA450B has a mode where the pilot can hear everything but passengers can't hear the radio. And with HRTF (dimensional audio, IntelliAudio, 3D audio), it's easier to listen to 2 different conversations.
 
What music source would you hard wire in?
 
I just picked my plane up from a major avionics upgrade. 10" and 7" G3X Touch, G-5, GFC-500, GTN-750Xi and GTN-650Xi, GTX-345R, WX500m'

My choice for audio panel. PS Engineering 450B.
 
Pinecone said:
I just picked my plane up from a major avionics upgrade. 10" and 7" G3X Touch, G-5, GFC-500, GTN-750Xi and GTN-650Xi, GTX-345R, WX500m'

My choice for audio panel. PS Engineering 450B.
Click to expand...
We recently did similar in our R182. 2x 10" G3X touch, G5, GFC500, GNX375, GTR20, GNC255... and a PS Engineering PMA 450B. I've barely touched a lot of the functionality of it yet. So far my only very minor squawk is the auto squelch is a bit higher than I'm used to on other gear I fly. Minor thing to get used to really.
 
DreadPirateWill said:
We recently did similar in our R182. 2x 10" G3X touch, G5, GFC500, GNX375, GTR20, GNC255... and a PS Engineering PMA 450B. I've barely touched a lot of the functionality of it yet. So far my only very minor squawk is the auto squelch is a bit higher than I'm used to on other gear I fly. Minor thing to get used to really.
Click to expand...
Hi Dread Pirate Will, thanks for the kind words. You can adjust the IntelliVox from the front panel. If you can give me a call, I'll be happy to send you the instructions. You simply take the audio panel out, flip a switch, reinstall the 450B and then use the document I will send you to adjust the sensitivity and the trip level. This is typically never necessary but in this case, it sounds like it is.
 
WDD said:
I guess the question is PMA 450B or C?
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Basically comes down to whether you think you would tweak the 3D audio settings (450B) or if you think the factory got it right and want to save $200 (450C).

Remember, the "C" stands for "cheap".
 
asicer said:
Basically comes down to whether you think you would tweak the 3D audio settings (450B) or if you think the factory got it right and want to save $200 (450C).

Remember, the "C" stands for "cheap".
Click to expand...
Lower cost, not cheap (LOL). The is a $400 difference in Minimum Advertised Price (MAP).

When I was a young engineer with Hewlett Packard back in the 80's, HP stood for High Price. Cheap to me makes me think of something that lacks quality. So thanks to your text....I thoughtfully came up with what PS could stand for "Premium Solutions" at a reasonable price. OK, so I'm not a marketeer!

Couldn't resist in chiming in Asicer.....appreciate your kind words (and dropping the YouTube SoCal Flying Monkey video!)
 
I was always fond of my old KMA24 with all the buttons.
 
mscheuer said:
Hi Dread Pirate Will, thanks for the kind words. You can adjust the IntelliVox from the front panel. If you can give me a call, I'll be happy to send you the instructions. You simply take the audio panel out, flip a switch, reinstall the 450B and then use the document I will send you to adjust the sensitivity and the trip level. This is typically never necessary but in this case, it sounds like it is.
Click to expand...
Thanks Mark! Sent contact@ an email.
Cheers, Will
 
So...... PS Audio Panel ..... Fan club, or .....

 
mscheuer said:
Lower cost, not cheap (LOL). The is a $400 difference in Minimum Advertised Price (MAP).

When I was a young engineer with Hewlett Packard back in the 80's, HP stood for High Price. Cheap to me makes me think of something that lacks quality. So thanks to your text....I thoughtfully came up with what PS could stand for "Premium Solutions" at a reasonable price. OK, so I'm not a marketeer!

Couldn't resist in chiming in Asicer.....appreciate your kind words (and dropping the YouTube SoCal Flying Monkey video!)
Click to expand...
Ha! Sorry. I meant "C stands for Cost-reduced". :)
 
I have installed the PMA6000B in the company Cherokee. At the same time I installed a GTN650 and both play nice together. Didn’t need BT since I train teenagers and didn’t need them to have an extra distraction.
 
One that works.

Mark understands.

Update: Until this week, I had an Apollo SL10 (which looks amazingly like the PMA 6000) installed back in 2000 (or 2001). It died a rather fast death this week. So this morning, the replacement PMA 7000M-BT and life is wonderful again, at least on the ground. Might be able to try it out in the air tomorrow. Or sometime this week. I still don't understand why the marker beacon lights are there. I don't think there's anything in Colorado that will trigger the marker beacons. Besides, I had the receiver removed years ago.

Yes, PS-Engineering all the way.

Update #2. Shop managed to get the PMA7000 installed after a lot of wiggling and sweat. I'm writing up the logbook entry and lo & behold the tag on the SL30 states "Manufactured by PS Engineering for UPS Aviation Technologies". Always wondered why the SL10 looked exactly like the PMA 6000.......Looking inside, there's row upon row of little orange capacitors. On the 7000 - all solid state.
 
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