[TheSonicTruth]

Wow. Toa is uphill from that. And they aren't uphill from much.

It's a way for a contractor to get a job by underbidding and cheaping out on the
hardware. I'll be the speakers are work $15 each. So funny, because the cost
of a distributed system is mostly labor anyway. So if cost was saved in this case
by using cheap gear, then I'd question the quality of the labor.

It's actually a decently installed system at our place.

Long story short:
2014: Music player lined out to the above Audio Trak amp.
2015: The 'Aux/CD' level knob finally gave out(someone adjusted it with a hammer!)
2016: An outside tech was called in to restore music to the store by running the music line out into the phone buss panel on the wall. He installed a pot to adjust volume with a screwdriver, and set the volume satisfactorily.
2019: Corporate raised the global volume so loud that in our store, at least, you could not think! Store management attempted to lower the volume by turning tone controls fully counter-clockwise, not realizing that we judge loudness mainly via midrange frequencies, duh!
2019-late: One of our IT guys attempted to lower volume with a 1/4 turn screwdriver at the pot, but this lowered the level below paging threshold, so the paging amp(360) kept cutting the music during softer passages, assuming a page was being made.
2020-early: Another IT guy came down with a replacement 360(identical), and the asst. manager asked if I'd like to help.
So I hooked it up correctly, rca outs from MIR player to rca ins on 360. Music volume was easily adjusted via Aux/CD knob, like it's suppposed to. But we couldn't get the paging loud enough. IT guy called his boss back at HQ, and boss told him to hook it up the way it was before(bypass to phone buss). So he did, and I asked him what he was doing? He told me, this is what my boss said to do. I asked if I could talk to him, but either IT guy didn't want me to, or his boss said, do what I told you, not what some guy who works at store level tells you. The old AT-360(with butchered Aux knob) was hauled away

So now the system works a *bit* better, with only occasional paging cutouts.

Now that I know what that small knob on the back, next to the telephone input, does(page level threshold), I could wire the music the correct way, and setup the paging properly! But the closet is locked, and they're more careful about fully shutting the door now than they were in years past. Back then, whether intentionally or by mistake, the door was ajar half the time, and nobody noticed! I could slip in and make adjustments periodically. Not any more.

Talk about mid- and upper-level incompetence! See what I'm up against? I have IT education and audio experience, yet because I'm working at retail level I'm not "smart" or qualified enough to tune up an existing audio system??

 

[pinnahertz]

Talk about mid- and upper-level incompetence! See what I'm up against? I have IT education and audio experience, yet because I'm working at retail level I'm not "smart" or qualified enough to tune up an existing audio system??

Sounds like you gave it your best as long as you could and now the situation is confined to incompetence. Not the first time, nor the last.

It's a big leap for tech management to take advantage of on-site people with knowledge because that knowledge is hard to know and trust, and finding out takes time and trouble they're not willing to invest in, even though it could end up saving them a lot of time. When I have non-tech or low-tech people on the other end of the phone, I like to work with them because they're often more helpful observers, saves me trouble in the long run, but most techs don't want to do any sort of education with people, they just consider them dumb as a box of hammers and work around them rather that with them. Then there's the liability thing. If an on-site guy does something (directed or not) that triggers a service call or failure, there's an accountability problem. He doesn't work for the tech company, and they don't want to be responsible for anyone other than their own staff. That's not a small thing.

 

[TheSonicTruth]

Sounds like you gave it your best as long as you could and now the situation is confined
to incompetence. Not the first time, nor the last.

It's a big leap for tech management to take advantage of on-site people with
knowledge because that knowledge is hard to know and trust, and finding out
takes time and trouble they're not willing to invest in, even though it could end
up saving them a lot of time. When I have non-tech or low-tech people on the
other end of the phone, I like to work with them because they're often more
helpful observers, saves me trouble in the long run, but most techs don't want
to do any sort of education with people, they just consider them dumb as a box
of hammers and work around them rather that with them. Then there's the liability
thing. If an on-site guy does something (directed or not) that triggers a service
call or failure, there's an accountability problem. He doesn't work for the tech
company, and they don't want to be responsible for anyone other than their
own staff. That's not a small thing.

The IT manager that directed his employee "not to listen to the guy in an apron" is, along with his employee and myself, all employed by the same retailer. We're all inside. The only outsider technician was back in 2016, who rigged the bypass of the music through the telephony buss.

If my colleagues would have listened to me in 2019-2020, the system would have been restored(aside from the MIR player subscription begin in 2015) back to its proper(pre-2015) configuration and operation. And it would have sounded better. Local store management won't let me touch it, and even they - their own admission to me - aren't supposed to handle anything besides turning it off at night and on the next day. So yes, we have a replacment AT amp, but it's not being allowed to sound its best due to management both at store and IT-level.

That's why I'm glad I never made it into management at my jobs, nor wanted to. I would never have been able to make any difference of consequence.