Voice evacuation amplifiers, gateways and audio equipment
A voice evacuation system replaces a horn tone with a spoken message, and code requires one in high rises, assembly occupancies, schools, healthcare and many other buildings where a staged or directed evacuation is safer than sending everyone to the stairs at once. This line is the head end of that system rather than the field devices: audio amplifiers in several wattages and both common distribution voltages, audio transponder modules, command center and classic voice gateways, transponder voice gateways for unshielded twisted pair, paging microphone modules, replacement microphones, amplifier extender plates and the enclosures and mounting plates that audio transponders live in. The speakers and speaker strobes that these amplifiers drive are in the notification appliance line.
The governing requirement for a voice system is intelligibility. A message that is audible but not understandable does not comply, so the amplifier and circuit design has to be read together with the acoustic design of the space.
Work it in this order. Confirm the distribution voltage of the system, take the tapped wattage of every speaker on the circuit from the acoustic design, total it, and confirm the amplifier carries that load with headroom left for future additions. Then confirm the gateway and transponder types the network uses, and confirm the enclosure and plate the amplifier requires. Power ratings and compatibility are on each product page.
FSG - Fire Services Group
