Elk speaker configuration

[JonR]

The main floor of my house is a wide-open space the shape of a shoebox, about 1500 sq. ft. We're in rough-in stage and I'm trying to figure out how many Elk-73 speakers I need to cover that space for voice announcements. Would two speakers cover it? I plan on mounting them in the air returns which are spaced apart nicely.

The second floor is a little longer as there are bedrooms over the garage (5 bedrooms up there). There's a hallway which runs the length of the floor so I was going to mount two or three speakers there. A couple more in the basement would bring me to at least six speakers. Am I going overboard or do I not have enough speakers?

I've seen discussion of using the Elk-800 to enable using a larger number of speakers than the M1 can power on its own. How should I configure this setup? I looked at the Elk-800 install manual and it only confused me more.

Thanks,

JonR

 

[Spanky]

You may want to consider the ELK SP-12F speaker. It is 32 ohms which enables you to wire 8 of them in parallel and still have 4 ohms load to the amplifier. They are made to mount in a single gang box, but you can do other mounting or take the speaker out of the plate.

Best thing is they are low cost!!

 

[JonR]

Spanky,

I looked at those speakers but would that mean I would need to use more of them? How many can the Elk M1G power at a reasonable volume?

Thanks,

JonR

 

[Spanky]

The ELK SP12F is plenty loud for a large room with voice and siren sounds. I would plan them the same as small 8 ohm speakers.

The M1 will drive 8 of them parallel wired for a 4 ohm load for short alarm durations. If your control is heavily loaded, you may want to add a aux. power supply.

 

[123]

The ELK SP12F is plenty loud for a large room with voice and siren sounds. I would plan them the same as small 8 ohm speakers.

The M1 will drive 8 of them parallel wired for a 4 ohm load for short alarm durations. If your control is heavily loaded, you may want to add a aux. power supply.

Spanky, could you please elaborate on how the auxiliary power supply is connected to the M1G?

 

[ewiz]

I had the same question, so this information here is very helpful.

However, (and sorry for kidnapping thread ), I want to be sure I'm giving up on a good thing. Originally, I had planned to use my whole house in-ceiling speakers for Elk announcements, but if the power goes out, my nuvo concerto goes out and I'll never get the announcement. Then I thought about the A/B speaker switchers, but they are powered too, plus how does the switcher know to cut back to the Nuvo after Elk is done 'announcing' (Nuvo Mute model for intercom/tel?). Am I seeing this right?

Is there a way to avoid Elk speakers? (House is wired already).

Thanks
ewiz

 

[Steve]

I had the same question, so this information here is very helpful.

However, (and sorry for kidnapping thread ), I want to be sure I'm giving up on a good thing. Originally, I had planned to use my whole house in-ceiling speakers for Elk announcements, but if the power goes out, my nuvo concerto goes out and I'll never get the announcement. Then I thought about the A/B speaker switchers, but they are powered too, plus how does the switcher know to cut back to the Nuvo after Elk is done 'announcing' (Nuvo Mute model for intercom/tel?). Am I seeing this right?

Is there a way to avoid Elk speakers? (House is wired already).

Thanks
ewiz

How about the extremely obvious - put the Nuvo on a UPS, thats what I did. I am going to use The Grand Concerto paging feature for all Elk and CQC announcements. I just picked up a 330W UPS for $40 on sale at CompUSA this week.

 

[TakeFlight]

I'm in the middle of installing my Elk M1 and only have one ELK-SP-12F hooked up so far but I can say without a doubt it's much louder than I expected it to be for such a small speaker. I would say it's impressively loud. I have just the speaker of the ELK-SP-12F mounted in the ELK-M1KP2 keypad. I plan to mount several more standalone ELKSP-12F's. As already stated, it's nice you can hook up 8 of them in parallel and they are very inexpensive.

 

[123]

Spanky, could you please elaborate on how the auxiliary power supply is connected to the M1G?

... and we now return to our regularly scheduled progamming.

How is the auxiliary power supply connected to the M1G?

 

[ewiz]

How about the extremely obvious - put the Nuvo on a UPS, thats what I did. I am going to use The Grand Concerto paging feature for all Elk and CQC announcements. I just picked up a 330W UPS for $40 on sale at CompUSA this week.

Steve, I thought the run time on a normal ups would be minutes whereas the runtime on the ELK batteries is days. So when the juice in the UPS goes I have no announcements.
Thanks

 

[rfdesq]

... and we now return to our regularly scheduled progamming.

How is the auxiliary power supply connected to the M1G?

Until Spanky answers, here's what I do. I take as much power use as possible away from the M1 and put it on the auxiliary power supply. That means that all keypads, wireless, relays, input expanders, etc., are put on a DBH and powered by the aux. power supply. Motion sensors, glass breaks, etc., are powered off of the aux. power supply feeding a PD9HC. The M1 with a backup battery only supplies itself, some minimal SVAUX (for its switching ability) two wire smokes, and in your case the speakers attached to output 2. Don't forget to tie the negative side of the aux. supply to the negative side of the M1. Hope this helps.

 

[123]

Thanks again rfdesq, I'll definitely have to get a Power Distribution Module.

 

[rfdesq]

Thanks again rfdesq, I'll definitely have to get a Power Distribution Module.

It's really a nice device. It allows you to break out the individual wires and gives you a visual (led) indicator that all is well.

 

[Steve]

How about the extremely obvious - put the Nuvo on a UPS, thats what I did. I am going to use The Grand Concerto paging feature for all Elk and CQC announcements. I just picked up a 330W UPS for $40 on sale at CompUSA this week.

Steve, I thought the run time on a normal ups would be minutes whereas the runtime on the ELK batteries is days. So when the juice in the UPS goes I have no announcements.
Thanks

True (well Elk is not quite 'days' unless you have low current draw or multiple batteries) but I guess it comes down to what you want. Personally, if my power is out for days, announcements are the last thing I am worried about but of course I also have the option to run them off the generator for extended outage if needed. It's certainly not an important enough difference for me to install a parallel set of speakers for that when I already have high quality speakers throughout the house already. You also have the option of putting relays on your in ceiling speakers and switch between the Nuvo and Elk. Have the elk turn on an output to trip the relay to move the speaker to Elk for the announcement and then turnit back off to return it to Nuvo. There may be a little more to it than that, but that concept should work.

 

[ewiz]

Steve, I'd be more worried about the power going out after we fall asleep and not getting announcements/sirens during the night. Anyway, this discussion debate was great food for thought.
As a result, I think I'll get AB speaker switches and a separate lower power amp and either connect them to their own UPS or Elk batteries. With the sporadic and short nature of announcements, a dedicated UPS could drive these things for days/weeks.
Thanks for helping me work thru this.