Intercom suggestions that integrate to M1?

[fleetz]

In the planning stage for a new house. What would you suggest for a gate house and two internal station locations (one patio). Need to open two strikers at the gatehouse and front door either station.

I would like to integrate the intercom system into the M1 as I need to read the key press at the gate house so I can activate some lighting at night.

I will also have a Russound CAM66 system which would be nice to utlise when someone presses the gate house button.

I will would like to have a camera at the gate house but not absolutely essential. An integrated audio system is the target and if the video can be integrate to then a bonus.

Also have a TS-07 Elk touchscreen and a few Elk speakers connected to the M1 so I have options.

Wondering what is on the market that best fits the bill. Any suggestions....thanks

Regards,

Fleetz

 

[Armor Clad]

Take of good look at Russound's ComPoint intercom. It will integrate nicely with your CAM.

 

[pkoslow]

Hi Fleetz,

I've installed several ON-Q and ComPoint intercom systems and they both have their pros & cons.

Generally I like the ComPoint much better, but it is a higher cost system.

ComPoint supports two door strike releases where ON-Q only supports one, so this may already be the determining factor?

ComPoint also has a better quality and feel to the keypads and only requires 1-gang instead of 2-3 like the On-Q because it uses your existing whole-house audio speakers instead of onw buit into the keypad... another benefit to this is that your whole-house audio will be interrupted when the door bell is rung or when a page comes through so you're not trying to talk over the music that might be playing.

Each ComPoint door station has a relay output that can be connected to an input on the Elk-M1 to trigger automation events when the button is pressed. On-Q doesn't have this, but their door unit does just have a standard door bell button in it which could probably be wired too? Haven't tried.

What's steering you towards the CAM6.6? You may want to consider the CAV6.6 as it has audio an video paging built-in. With audio paging you can do away with some or all of your Elk speakers and just run the Elk speaker output through the line-level circuit described by Amor Clad in the other intercom post. Connecting this to the audio paging input on the CAV6.6 will override the music whenever a sound or announcement comes from the Elk M1. These sounds will even be heard in zones that are turned off unless they are in DND mode. Nice thing about the CAV paging input is that the paging volume is independantly set for each zone and is different from the slected music volume. Because of this, announcement or sounds coming from the M1 will always play at the same volume even if the music is down low or cranked really high.

The video paging circuit could be connected to a door camera and this image would be outputted to any composite display device connected to the zone video outs on the CAV for 7 seconds before switching back.

One nice thing about ON-Q intercom is that they have outdoor intercom stations which Russound doesn't offer. For the intercom station on your patio, this would need to be protected from the weather or placed in a weatherproof enclosure if you end of using ComPoint.

Cheers,
Paul

 

[fleetz]

Hi Fleetz,

I've installed several ON-Q and ComPoint intercom systems and they both have their pros & cons.

Generally I like the ComPoint much better, but it is a higher cost system.

ComPoint supports two door strike releases where ON-Q only supports one, so this may already be the determining factor?

ComPoint also has a better quality and feel to the keypads and only requires 1-gang instead of 2-3 like the On-Q because it uses your existing whole-house audio speakers instead of onw buit into the keypad... another benefit to this is that your whole-house audio will be interrupted when the door bell is rung or when a page comes through so you're not trying to talk over the music that might be playing.

Each ComPoint door station has a relay output that can be connected to an input on the Elk-M1 to trigger automation events when the button is pressed. On-Q doesn't have this, but their door unit does just have a standard door bell button in it which could probably be wired too? Haven't tried.

What's steering you towards the CAM6.6? You may want to consider the CAV6.6 as it has audio an video paging built-in. With audio paging you can do away with some or all of your Elk speakers and just run the Elk speaker output through the line-level circuit described by Amor Clad in the other intercom post. Connecting this to the audio paging input on the CAV6.6 will override the music whenever a sound or announcement comes from the Elk M1. These sounds will even be heard in zones that are turned off unless they are in DND mode. Nice thing about the CAV paging input is that the paging volume is independantly set for each zone and is different from the slected music volume. Because of this, announcement or sounds coming from the M1 will always play at the same volume even if the music is down low or cranked really high.

The video paging circuit could be connected to a door camera and this image would be outputted to any composite display device connected to the zone video outs on the CAV for 7 seconds before switching back.

One nice thing about ON-Q intercom is that they have outdoor intercom stations which Russound doesn't offer. For the intercom station on your patio, this would need to be protected from the weather or placed in a weatherproof enclosure if you end of using ComPoint.

Cheers,
Paul

Hi Paul,

Again appreciate the quality response.

I have not yet purchased the CAM so I think I with go the CAV. I dismissed the CAV as I am going to use a component matrix switcher for all the video and disn't realise that CAV had a video paging capability.

With what Spanky has recently announced about the ELK - Russound interface close to release my current thinking is go the Comport solution. I suspect when the Russound interface is released for the Elk that there might be other benefits possibly currently unknown that might appear. I will have to find a weather proof housing solution for the patio as the house I am building is in the tropics here in Australia.

On thing with a patio station and door release I suspect that the striker for that would have to go through a M1 relay to disable the front doo release when the M1 is in the AWAY mode correct? Or does the Russound system with Comport have an AWAY mode input where all stations ability to disable door/gate releases is achieved??

One of the minor frustrations here is the sourcing the rough in or weather proof components for this type of gear. It appears your 1 gang and 2 gang sizes are different indeed we don't have a "2 gang" standard here. Anyway minot issue it is just a matter of finding a source there. Of course there is additional shipping costs with two seperate purchases.

Thanks again for the input.

Regards,

Fleetz

 

[pkoslow]

Fleetz,

Russound has a matrix video switch in the works that last I heard is expected out after the first of the year. It will be available in 4x4 and 8x8 configurations and will distribute component video (up to 1080i) over a single CAT5 wire to the display location. It will also upconvert composite & S-Video sources which is really cool.

Nice thing is that it will integrate with the Russound CAV6.6, CAM6.6 & CAA66 controllers providing HD video switching in sync with the audio controllers (no need for additional programming or an external controller to keep things in sync).

If you're interested to have a look, check out page 3 of the linked PDF:
http://www.russound.com/pdf/russoundings/r...undings_5-2.pdf

Compoint only provides for an intermittent activation of the door strike when you manually press the door release button on the keypad. You should still be able to connect the door stike in parallel with the Compoint system & Elk M1 relay output which would allow the M1 to override the ComPoint and keep the door strike unlocked with rules or automation events.

Whoops, I wasn't clear from your post... so just re-read it. Sounds like the Patio Compoint keypad may be out in a non-secure area and you're concerned about someone being able to walk up and unlock your front door by pressing the door release button while you're away. If so, the opposite of what I stated above is what you'll want to do. Wire the Compoint door strike release in series with an Elk M1 relay output so that when the system is armed the Elk relay is "open" and the ComPoint door release button won't activate the door strike.

Cheers,
Paul