Store PA Backgd Music Adjustment

On 22/06/2015 8:02 a.m., wrote:
> June 2015:
>
>
> The music quality had been starting to sound like a slightly mistuned
> slide rule FM radio, with static and some distortion creeping in. Strange,
> for an IP based network music player.
>
>
> Last week, it just cut out altogether, and a day later the network guys
> came in to remedy it. My next day of work, music was back on.
> Iwas able to access the closet again - a manager did not full shut
> it after turning the music on for opening.
>
>
> Now get this: the volume in the store was decent, but on the amp beneath
> the network player, the AUX, BASS, and TREBLE were fully clockwise.
> Guess this would prevent playing it too loud(!) But I backed off the tone
> controls a bit, and all was normal again.
>
>
> My question is: HOW could music fed digitally, via internet, sound like a
> staticky FM stereo tuner?? Sounds like something at the receiving(dish?)
> end - wherever that is.
>
>
> All of our stores in this district are fed the same music and POS(point of
> sale) jingles source.
>
>


Not necessarily anything to do with the feed. Probably the device
playing the stream (underpowered or otherwise stuffed-up computer ?),
or and audio problem in the amp itself.

geoff

On Monday, June 22, 2015 at 4:16:55 PM UTC-4, geoff wrote:
> On 22/06/2015 8:0.com wrote:
> > June 2015:
> >
> >
> > The music quality had been starting to sound like a slightly mistuned
> > slide rule FM radio, with static and some distortion creeping in. Strange,
> > for an IP based network music player.
> >
> >
> > Last week, it just cut out altogether, and a day later the network guys
> > came in to remedy it. My next day of work, music was back on.
> > Iwas able to access the closet again - a manager did not full shut
> > it after turning the music on for opening.
> >
> >
> > Now get this: the volume in the store was decent, but on the amp beneath
> > the network player, the AUX, BASS, and TREBLE were fully clockwise.
> > Guess this would prevent playing it too loud(!) But I backed off the tone
> > controls a bit, and all was normal again.
> >
> >
> > My question is: HOW could music fed digitally, via internet, sound like a
> > staticky FM stereo tuner?? Sounds like something at the receiving(dish?)
> > end - wherever that is.
> >
> >
> > All of our stores in this district are fed the same music and POS(point of
> > sale) jingles source.
> >
> >
>
>
> Not necessarily anything to do with the feed. Probably the device
> playing the stream (underpowered or otherwise stuffed-up computer ?),
> or and audio problem in the amp itself.
>
> geoff



The device playing the music stream looks like this: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...ic_player..jpg but without dorky antenna on top(!)

It is plugged into similar: http://store.acradiosupplyinc.com/im...ail/PVL15A.jpg which feeds ceiling speakers.

The receiver was installed about two months ago, and has always sounded like a poorly tuned FM station, fading in and out, french fry crackling. They fixed the fading in and out, but there is still some distortion.

And whoever re-configured it last week set it up so that "Aux(music level)", Bass & Treble were cranked all the way up. They must have turned down the output from the streamer to an agreeable store volume, with the amp knobs cranked. Still, it sounds crummy with the bass & treble cranked, even on little speakers.

So I know the amp is not being overloaded in anyway. This sounds like a FM reception issue somewhere in the chain - probably fed from a satellite to a dish at headquarters, then IP'd out to all the stores in the region, static and all.

On 24/06/2015 5:39 a.m., wrote:
> And whoever re-configured it last week set it up so that "Aux


Well, one get what one pays for. And then seemingly stuff it up some more !

geoff

Sighhhhh.. The very latest in our thrift-store IP-fed music system...


Two weeks ago, the music just got softer and softer, then
just faded away entirely, replaced by a nasty 60Hz hum.

A tech showed up later that week, removed and re-
connected some wires in back of the amp and the music
receiver, and got a faint trickle of music back. The 60Hz
hum remained. He showed me that "CD/Aux" no longer had
any effect on the music volume. Since I was curious, he had
me make a couple "Testing 1 - 2 - 3" pages over the thing -
A-OK. He explained all this to the store manager and me,
indicating that the aux mode was shot and that they needed
a new amp. The manager didn't want to eat into her weekly
budget to buy a replacement, so the tech examined a few
other options in the closet.

He then explained that he was going to reroute the music
receiver feed directly through the telephony box that fed
phone pages into the amp/house system. Ten or twenty
minutes later... "..USED TO CALL ME ON MAH CELL
PHONE, LATE NIGHT WHEN YOU NEED MY LUV. CALL
ME ON my cell pho... ..ate night when you NEED my luv"
He hollered at me, "How's that?" I told him, "Lower it just
a hair and its perfect".

He showed me how the music is adjusted now - it goes
through a small panel on the wall with some pots he needs
a tiny screwdriver to tweak. He rigged it so it still cuts
the music when someone pages over the PA, but now
the music plays constantly through an outdoor horn
mounted by the back loading dock. Music volume is
no longer regulated via "CD/Aux" knob on the amp,
but bass and treble still affect it. The 60hz hum persists
in the background, but the music is actually a bit clearer
and punchier. I adjusted the bass & treble on a return trip
to the closet after he left - the treble was too high again!

As a sidenote, for some time that Aux knob has felt
wobbly and turns loosely, like someone banged it by
accident or over-turned it. Either way it was already
dying or dead by the time this tech was called in.
The only catch is now the music volume can no longer
be adjusted by anyone in the store, so it is playing
constantly, unless a manager switches off the amp,
which the #1 mgr is afraid to even touch that thing,
LOL!

2017-Dec - Long-term update:


For over one and one half years, with the mods
made as described in my last post, it has largely
been 'steady as goes'. Perhaps it is better that
the music is routed through the wall pots, so
there is no volume war going on between various
store managers. (!)


Still a low-level background hum, from the same
amp with the sledge-hammered Aux. knob, but
at least Bass & Treble are about where I left
them after a glance inside a couple months ago,
when the door was left cracked inadvertently.


I did inquire of an IT specialist who needed the
closet while he was configuring new POS card
swipe terminals if he could examine the actual
music player/receiver for make & model nos.
No dice - all he could discern after gently picking
it up was a sticker on top: "My In-Store Radio".
Per a visit to that providers website, as well as
general web searchds, I was able to glean
ZERO info as to the actual make and model of
that small black box. I was trying to find a manual
for the thing, to read up on it's inner workings and
settings, just in case.


The only other significant, and sad item of note is
the gradual decrease in number of songs played
per cycle, now down to barely a dozen, and much
more recent songs of different genres. As
opposed to 15-20 songs per cycle a few months
ago, and over 30(!) songs per cycle as mentioned
two-three years ago. Guess that's why it's called
'background' music: it's not at all sbout the music
itself.

<thekma> wrote in message
...
> <theckmah's obsessively boring life story snecked>

So you’re still a retarded dumb****. LFKSN. FCKWAFA!

For the last month, the music has been all clipped and distorted.

Apparently they upgraded our MIR(My Instore Radio) receiver again,
but this time it's output at such a high level that it's distorting and
clipping the input stage on the P.A. amplifier.

I mentioned it to the store mgr, his boss, etc, and they all said
"it's not your job to fix it. We have to put in an IT ticket request."

The fix is simple: Either turn down the internet MIR receiver volume,
or, adjust the bypass pot on the wall in the store IT closet until the
distortion disappears.

Management's fix? Turn the P.A. amp's tone controls fully counter-
clockwise! So now it's not just clipped and distorted, it's clipped,
distorted, amd sounds like the built-in speaker on an iPod Touch!

They won't listen to me: I told them just a screwdriver and five
minutes, I'll have it sounding brand new again.

They just shook their heads. The store mgr. said "Even I'm not
supppsed to touch the music/PA rig in these stores"!

Theckmah < theckmah @ tardsRus . edu >
wrote in message
...
> I mentioned it to the store mgr, his boss, etc, and they all said
> "it's not your job to fix it. We have to put in an IT ticket request."

With all the time you spend avoiding your duties, to obsess about "turning
the big knob" in the "closet", your employer may end up hiring someone else
to do the job that you're avoiding. If you become so retarded that the
hire-a-retard store has to replace you, where will you turn then?