PS Engineering Report

I finally got my plane out of the shop about 5 days ago, two of the
things I had installed I had no information on so I thought I would let
others know how they turned out incase anyone is thinking of upgrading
theirs.

I had the PS Engineering 7000b audio panel and the PXE7300 AM/FM/CD
player.
My last airplane, I had put in a garmin audio panel and the PS
engineering PCD7100 CD player.

From the few flights I have done so far, the PS engineering audio panel
is much better then the garmin audio panel. Crystal clear intercom and
music.
As for the Radio, its not the satellite radio, just normal AM/FM,
yesterday, I was able to receive a radio station in las vegas, the
entire way out to Lake Havasu (about 80 miles away).
I had always been under the impresion that you would lose the radio
station just outside of the city so this surprised me. But I am
impressed with the ps engineering stuff, very good, alot better then the
garmin one was. When someone would talk on the radio I would not miss a
single word, with my other setup (garmin audio panel) I would miss like
the first second of what ever someone said.

Jeff
http://www.turboarrow3.com

"Jeff" wrote in message
...
I had the PS Engineering 7000b audio panel and the PXE7300 AM/FM/CD
player.
My last airplane, I had put in a garmin audio panel and the PS
engineering PCD7100 CD player.

PSE charges a (apparent) premium that is well worth it.

From the few flights I have done so far, the PS engineering audio panel
is much better then the garmin audio panel. Crystal clear intercom and
music.

As for the Radio, its not the satellite radio, just normal AM/FM,
yesterday, I was able to receive a radio station in las vegas, the
entire way out to Lake Havasu (about 80 miles away).
I had always been under the impresion that you would lose the radio
station just outside of the city so this surprised me.

I take it you were listening to an FM station? In the White Mountains north
of Phoenix (Overgaard) I can get a few of the Phoenix FM stations in the
car. That is 113 miles from the transmitter on Phoenix South Mountain.
Overgaard is about 6650 feet MSL.

FM signals are line of sight, so from altitude, you should be able to pick
it up about as far as a VOR signal.

On the other hand, I regularly listen to KOA in Denver (a 50Kw AM station)
after midnight from a clock radio on the headboard of our bed.

But I am
impressed with the ps engineering stuff, very good, alot better then the
garmin one was. When someone would talk on the radio I would not miss a
single word, with my other setup (garmin audio panel) I would miss like
the first second of what ever someone said.

I think my new aduio panel was about the same price as the garmin, if not then
only a couple of dollars difference. Its also alot thinner the garmin one was.
The ISO mode of the PSE audio panel also will mute the radio for the pilot but
it will play for everyone else. With my garmin panel, the ISO didnt work this
way for some reason.

Yes I was listening to star 107.??
The radio works better then the VOR, we have some mountains, around 7000 ft,
between vegas and havasu, I lost the vor signal for needles but never lost the
radio signal. Sunday I go up with my commericial instructor to do some
approaches into the los angeles area, he is going to show me how to do
instrument approaches with the garmin 430 I had installed also. My last 430
didnot have an MSA data box (min safe alt), but this one does. pretty nice
feature but it seems it has a pretty wide area for its MSA.

"Tom S." wrote:

PSE charges a (apparent) premium that is well worth it.



I take it you were listening to an FM station? In the White Mountains north
of Phoenix (Overgaard) I can get a few of the Phoenix FM stations in the
car. That is 113 miles from the transmitter on Phoenix South Mountain.
Overgaard is about 6650 feet MSL.

FM signals are line of sight, so from altitude, you should be able to pick
it up about as far as a VOR signal.

On the other hand, I regularly listen to KOA in Denver (a 50Kw AM station)
after midnight from a clock radio on the headboard of our bed.

I also recently got a PMA7000B, great unit. I almost got the PXE7300 or the
PAV80 (DVD) but the panel spot I thought I had for it had my altitude
encoder hiding there. No matter, I had decided to hold off as the job got
more and more expensive (nothing to do with the audio panel) but may add it
later.
I had a question about the PXE though since you have it. Have you used it
for MP3's yet? I often make CD's full of MP3's, and depending on your
player, in my case just a car player for now, it doesnt always play the
files in order by name, date, or size. How does the PXE play them?
For now I had a couple 'entertainment' jacks put in, as well as a jack for a
traffic device (Trafficscope) and phone for COM3 (sat/cell). So the kids
can just plug in a walkman in for now, or portable dvd player/laptop.
Chris

PS: did you see the review of this panels predecessor at Avionics West
website? They put their head out the window and the IntelliVox still picked
up the voice and shut off at the right time, incredible.

The PXE gives you a choice of random play or in order (as you recoreded them)
I havnt played a MP3 disk yet..was enjoying the radio
there is a button on the front of it to select which way you want it to play.

No I did not see the review on it, but its a good panel. Love it, much better
then the garmin.
I was thinking of going flying today and should have, Michael Jackson flew into
where my plane is right now (Henderson Exe. Airport).


SeeAndAvoid wrote:

I also recently got a PMA7000B, great unit. I almost got the PXE7300 or the
PAV80 (DVD) but the panel spot I thought I had for it had my altitude
encoder hiding there. No matter, I had decided to hold off as the job got
more and more expensive (nothing to do with the audio panel) but may add it
later.
I had a question about the PXE though since you have it. Have you used it
for MP3's yet? I often make CD's full of MP3's, and depending on your
player, in my case just a car player for now, it doesnt always play the
files in order by name, date, or size. How does the PXE play them?
For now I had a couple 'entertainment' jacks put in, as well as a jack for a
traffic device (Trafficscope) and phone for COM3 (sat/cell). So the kids
can just plug in a walkman in for now, or portable dvd player/laptop.
Chris

PS: did you see the review of this panels predecessor at Avionics West
website? They put their head out the window and the IntelliVox still picked
up the voice and shut off at the right time, incredible.

Jeff wrote:
snip
From the few flights I have done so far, the PS engineering audio panel
is much better then the garmin audio panel. Crystal clear intercom and
music.

I've flown with both, and I bought the PS7000B. Guess that's as good a
review as any. :-)

As for the Radio, its not the satellite radio, just normal AM/FM
snip

Now that you mention it, I'm drooling over Avionics Innovations'
incarnation of the Sirius Satellite receiver. Assuming the subscription
is the same cost as the consumer brands ($10/month) that would go great
with a PS7000B and a few Bose X's. :-)

I'd actually prefer to send my money to Mark for just such a gizmo, but
the interface to their XM based receiver needs to GO (as does the
interface to their CD/MP3 player, while I'm on the subject). Mark, oh,
Mark...why didn't you call me for a design review? hehe :-)

Jeff...good luck with the equipment...I'm sure you'll enjoy it as much
as I have.

Safe flying,

-Doug

--
--------------------
Doug Vetter, CFIMEIA

http://www.dvcfi.com
--------------------

Was there a TFR for that? :-)

Paul

"Jeff" wrote in message
...
I was thinking of going flying today and should have, Michael Jackson flew
into
where my plane is right now (Henderson Exe. Airport).

I've had both the PSE 7000MS and the Garmin 340. Both are the same
height (1.3"). Both have many similar features (2 music inputs,
etc.). I don't feel that one is far better than the other. But, when
listening to music in the non-mute mode on the Garmin, it still cuts
out the music when ATC transmits. The non-mute only works for
intercom/cabin conversations. I was able to leave the music on all
the time with the PSE 7000MS, which can actually get you in trouble if
you don't have your ATC/music volumes set right.

Dear Dave:

When you compared the GMA340 and the PMA7000MS, (I'm assuming you had several
of hours of operation with both) I was surprised you didn't mention a
difference between the two units that many consider significant. The GMA340 has
two knobs to provide adjustment for the threshold of all 6 microphones, while
the PMA7000MS doesn't use knobs at all but employees a computer at each
microphone to automatically adjusting the VOX levels at each microphone.

Was it because you fly solo often (which is not uncommon) and setting the
single Pilot's VOX on the GMA340 is no big deal, or that the PMA7000MS
IntelliVox worked well that it wasn't something you thought about?

You mentioned that if the ATC/music volumes aren't set right it can get you in
trouble. That is what we heard from the ACO! (Aircraft Certification Office).
We convinced the engineering examiner that he weren't giving pilots enough
credit and that they would be able to make these adjustments for themselves and
it isn't a safety issue.

Reasons:
1) Karaoke mode was selectable from the front panel
2) Ability to adjust A/C radio in foreground and music in background
3) Pilot has other means to prioritize the radio (ISO mode and Mute)

Had you missed a radio call because you had the Karaoke mode on? If so, can you
describe what the conditions that allowed this to happen? If there is something
we can do to improve our system, you can count on us doing our best to do so.

I appreciate your comments, my questions are not intended as a brash sales
intrusion, but rather a fact finding mission to further our quest for the
altimate audio panel. (pilots have told us that the PMA7000B is it, but we
won't rest on our laurels)

Sincerely,
Mark Scheuer
PS Engineering, Inc.
www.ps-engineering.com

the PMA7000MS doesn't use knobs at all but employees a computer at each
microphone to automatically adjusting the VOX levels at each microphone.

Hi Mark -- glad you "intruded" here. :-)

A quick question for you -- we have Lightspeed headsets at all four intercom
positions -- a new 25G, a 25XL, and two 15s. It is our experience that the
two front seat positions (with the two newer headsets) are louder in the
intercom than the back two positions.

Obviously it's easy to adjust the headset's individual volume controls to
compensate for this, but is there an adjustment on the PS Engineering unit?
Or should this be accomplished by changing the headset's microphone "gain"?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"