Working closely with a long standing customer together we supplied a fully compliant BS5839 Public Address/Voice Alarm system.

The project involved replacing the existing system which had seen better days. The re-wire was complete by other sub-contractors; our task was the design and commission of the system

Our design used the Signet Integrity Voice Alarm System is a feature-packed, fully integrated Voice Alarm (VA), Public Address (PA) and Background Music (BGM) system suitable for use in applications of up to sixteen loudspeaker zones. Combining a voice alarm system with a high specification public address system, Integrity can be connected to virtually any manufacturer’s fire detection system via monitored links from its sounder circuits.

At the heart of Integrity is a 1U 19” rack mount mainframe containing all the logic, routing and prioritising components for the system in a 17-slot card frame. Slot one contains the central processor card, leaving eight audio input and eight audio output slots. Cards fitted into the eight audio input slots can provide a variety of functions including zoned fire microphones, fireman’s microphones, messages, contact inputs, zoned PA inputs and zoned music inputs. The audio output slots can accommodate either contact input cards or two zone audio output cards, allowing up to sixteen audio zones. A single paging console can control up to four Integrity Mainframe units allowing paging to up to 64 zones, ideal for high rise buildings, office blocks, sports stadia, etc.

One of Integrity’s main advantages is its revolutionary simulator software that allows the routing and priorities of multiple audio sources to be set up and tested on a PC before assembling the hardware. This is especially useful as it allows the evacuation cause and effect scenarios to be checked and approved before any equipment is purchased. Different audio inputs, such as fireman’s microphone, alert and evacuate messages can be triggered simultaneously, although the Integrity software allows only the highest priority to be played in a zone. The flexibility of this approach allows normally complex voice alarm systems to be easily realised, providing both the customer and designer with unrivalled confidence and control over site evacuation management.