What are the HTD limitations for your situation? I didn’t see any mentioned based on your requirements.

 

The 8 zone limit is a bummer - 10 or more would be ideal for us - and we'd be forced to create 'sub-zones', only one (or two?) of which can have their own keypad, seriously diminishing the usefulness of the intercom. And we will have a home theater/surround sound room in the house, which would have to have extra speakers wired into the room just to use the intercom in that room (which we would want to be able to do). Also, it looks like integrating the doorbell could be a little tricky, since all I have is a cat5, and no chime wired in.

If there is no better option, I think we'll have to make the HTD work, but I honestly would prefer a separate intercom system.

I noticed the Control 4 has "intercom", but it is all using smart phones and tablets, which the defeats the point for me - I'm trying to keep devices out of bedrooms.

 

another option is 2n. They sell doorstations for the front door/doorbell: Intercoms and then "answering units" for indoors: Answering Units - i mean you'll always need some sort of answering device in the bedrooms.

 

another option is 2n. They sell doorstations for the front door/doorbell: Intercoms and then "answering units" for indoors: Answering Units - i mean you'll always need some sort of answering device in the bedrooms.

I had never seen the 2n system. Do you have any experience with it? It is hard to tell if it could work as an in-house intercom system - can units call each other selectively (rather than broadcast)? It does not look like it has to be connected to the internet, which would be good.

 

Thanks, @ezlotogura. I will look into the used C4 components option. I would rather not buy into an online service from C4 (that 'putting the house on the internet' problem), but if the system can be used without connection to the internet (other than music streaming components), that would make it a contender.

 

C4 is not internet dependent for intercom - the controller is a local SIP server. so you do not need 4sight nor internet connection if you want to use C4 for intercom purposes local in the house. Is there an issue though with putting the house on the internet? the good thing about c4 is the core stuff - lighting, alarm, tv control, etc is all non cloud/internet based so it does all work without the internet. streaming audio - yeah ya kinda need internet for that one - cannot really help there though if you have local music say on a computer or a NAS c4 can stream that in your house - without internet.

I had never seen the 2n system. Do you have any experience with it? It is hard to tell if it could work as an in-house intercom system - can units call each other selectively (rather than broadcast)? It does not look like it has to be connected to the internet, which would be good.

I have experience with 2n integration into C4 - as I have a 2n doorstation and Control4 touchscreens. 2n has great support - just fill out the form and contact them and ask your questions. based on this screen shot I'd think they could call one another: 4.2 Call Log - 2N® Indoor Compact User Manual - I also have the 2n mobile apps and from the mobile app (on my phone) i can call my front door, c4 touchscreens or my wifes mobile app. so I would be shocked (but I've been wrong) if some of these indoor units cannot call each other.

- at the 1:30 mark it shows bringing up a call log of previous intercoms it spoke to and you can see a few different ones listed....

 

You can always use wall mounted iPads or iPhones for this and lock them down in guided access mode.

If you can't find an all in one solution, you should be searching for "sip intercom" type of stuff as at the end of the day that's what these are.

It's not hard to setup FreePBX on a micro PC or raspberry Pi and find some SIP endpoints to get this done. Quick search found this: GSC3570 | Grandstream Networks

They're around $100 and from a quick glance I would assume you could register these to any PBX as a generic SIP device. Though I've never touched that device so I would recommend doing your homework. There should be a plethora of similar devices I would think.

For $10-20 a month you could connect your PBX to a trunk service so you could make emergency calls if needed.

Could check Panasonic too, I think they used to make a lot of intercom products

 

Saw it coming, but still sad to see it go. Intercoms were a tough sell these days and this was probably the best out there. I have them in my office building so we can answer the front door and unlock it without having to go to the door.

It also had relays that made it easy to integrate with other home systems.

Everything is moving to wireless though.


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You can have 2 touch keypads for a single zone which is something I do in large rooms. I installed one sub-zone so that the same source being played in the main room can be heard in an adjoining bathroom. The volume in the bathroom is controlled independently by a rotary volume control. You could absolutely have another keypad there, but it will control the volume for both the main and sub zone simultaneously. You could not control the volume independently that way, hence why I installed a separate volume control.

On another note, something I did was to install optical input panels behind all TVs. TVs are then sources for the system which is really nice. They have Bluetooth input panels if you are not wired for that.

 

Another question for you: do you have a doorbell that has any connection to your Lync system? If so, how do you have that wired? I ask because I am trying to sort out the doorbell piece as well. I was originally hoping to have an audio door unit connected to my intercom. I'd be satisfied with a chime at this point, though I'm not sure how to set it up, as I have only a cat5 cable running from the door location to the mechanical room (where all my racks and panels will be). I'd love to have the music pause when the chime rings, at least.

Thanks!

 

Legrand still makes the Radiant intercom system

Discontinued - radiant® Selective Call Room Unit, Light Almond | Selective Call Intercom | Intercom Video and Voice | Audio/Visual

The radiant Selective Call Intercom Room Unit delivers convenient room-to-room communication in up to 32 locations, all from an in-wall control point. The IC7001's high-resolution LCD screen and customizable room naming offer intuitive navig

legrand.us

 

That is indeed the system I was planning to use, but they discontinued it in December, and all of the key parts seem to have been bought up already.

 

@brantmacga and @probablecause , that is basically what I heard too. Apparently they have no direct replacement planned.

 

Here is another option... If you still have a landline or don't mind having a phone for each intercom station, Norstar phone systems work great as an intercom. They can call from one station to another with a two digit extension either as a hands free voice call or as intercom call where the receiver must be picked up. They can also page (like in a store) where one phone pages all the other phones and your voice is heard from the phone speaker in each phone.

Examples of a system bundle (No endorsement of this firm, and it might be cheaper to buy individual pieces on ebay):

The 6x16 KSU can do 16 extensions with up to 6 incoming phone lines

Norstar Package #261 - 6x16 System with 4 Phones

Norstar Package #261 - 6x16 System with 4 Phones

www.tsrc.com

You can also use the smaller/newer phones seen in this package

Norstar Package #162 - 3x8 System with 6 Phones

Norstar Package #162 - 3x8 System with 6 Phones

www.tsrc.com

For the wiring, you just need a single twisted pair copper phone line home-run to each station from the KSU.

 

Thank you @brantmacga and @casey_b for the reply. That would be great brantmacga, report back if you learn anything please. Back in 2007, I did a complete retro install in my home of greyfox/on-q intercoms and LyriQ audio among the other structured wiring. I eventually upgraded four of the rooms with HP keypads. I have a huge (to me) set up with the intercom module completely full including patio, and around 11 audio keypads. We have moved into our guest house and have begun renovation to our main home. I was all excited to upgrade all the keypads and such and started researching what they now offered and was like "where did all the products go". I did not even know they discontinued the unity stuff. I'm a geek on this stuff like you guys and it was fun to build the system back then. I even got an impromptu tour of the on-q tech offices about the time Legrand bought them. Now I'm not sure what to do. I might pull out all the intercoms and upgrade the Lyriq keypads but not sure. I figure we will sell the home in 10 to 15 years and figure this stuff will clearly be outdated then so I'm keeping that in mind as well.

 

Lyriq & Unity have been discontinued since 2014-ish, but you can still get a few parts for each. Unity was replaced with Intuity, which has been discontinued for going on 2/yrs. It was a neat system it just never got traction. Im in Georgia, and Legrand told me back then I was the only person outside Atlanta selling it.

Lyriq was replaced with “On-Q Digital Audio” which is very similar to Lyriq, but all keypads require external power other than PoE and it lacks IR control options.

The intercoms are internally identical, Legrand just changed the buttons to match the new audio keypads.


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Lyriq & Unity have been discontinued since 2014-ish, but you can still get a few parts for each. Unity was replaced with Intuity, which has been discontinued for going on 2/yrs. It was a neat system it just never got traction. Im in Georgia, and Legrand told me back then I was the only person outside Atlanta selling it.

Lyriq was replaced with “On-Q Digital Audio” which is very similar to Lyriq, but all keypads require external power other than PoE and it lacks IR control options.

The intercoms are internally identical, Legrand just changed the buttons to match the new audio keypads.


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Wow, I've been under a rock. Thank you for the information. I loved the cat 5 backbone to on-q but time it seems time is moving on. I'm in another industry but my wife and father n law own an electrical contractor business on the NW side of Atlanta. They are all Legrand through AED but no longer work with low voltage. I hate to mess up this thread with audio talk but what suggest for future proofing my audio replacement? On-Q Digital Audio or Nuvo?

 

We built a new house recently and installed a Russound Compoint intercom. It uses the speakers that are in each room for music, though can also have a small keypad mounted speaker if needed. It works pretty well, and lots of units are available on EBay for significant discount. It's still in production: Russound - ComPoint Intercom

It's a little hokey to set up through a keypad, but not that hard.

We do have Google home hubs in many of the rooms, and often times we'll just use that for broadcasting. But the intercom is pretty cool, and allows you to select a specific room, and allows to to listen to a response without the person having to get up and push the talk button.

It seemed a lot more useful than the Onq ones, etc...

 

We built a new house recently and installed a Russound Compoint intercom. It uses the speakers that are in each room for music, though can also have a small keypad mounted speaker if needed. It works pretty well, and lots of units are available on EBay for significant discount. It's still in production: Russound - ComPoint Intercom

It's a little hokey to set up through a keypad, but not that hard.

We do have Google home hubs in many of the rooms, and often times we'll just use that for broadcasting. But the intercom is pretty cool, and allows you to select a specific room, and allows to to listen to a response without the person having to get up and push the talk button.

It seemed a lot more useful than the Onq ones, etc...

Awesome, I will research that now. Thank you

 

Did you want a intercom or an integrator driven whole house audio system?

 

That RussSound option will be interesting for those that have a Legrand Intercom for sure. Legrand seems to have largely forgotten about the OnQ brand having exited the intercom market completely.
Digital Audio works, but hasn't had a meaningful feature improvement in a considerable time.

 

That RussSound option will be interesting for those that have a Legrand Intercom for sure. Legrand seems to have largely forgotten about the OnQ brand having exited the intercom market completely.
Digital Audio works, but hasn't had a meaningful feature improvement in a considerable time.

They no longer offer a system like Unity or Intuity to integrate those On-Q systems.

They’re focused on 3rd party control systems; Apple HomeKit, Alexa, & Google
Home.

Audio focus has moved to Nuvo, with the P600 players taking the place of the digital audio system. And the P600 has apple airplay 2.

Apple homepods have an intercom feature now, and Legrand released the Netatmo video doorbell; these combined replace the on-q intercom.

They’re about to release a new Zigbee lighting control system in the US that is HomeKit compatible, as well as Alexa and Google home. It will compete with the lutron caseta line.


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Although I’m not a fan of Legrand, I’m slightly bummed that the On-Q selective intercom was dropped. The killer Feature that On-Q provided IMHO was the ability to turn on the microphone of the target room for a few seconds after you broadcast a message, Allowing the respondent to acknowledge and verbally reply to the message without having to get up to work the controls of the intercom.

Is there another system that has that feature?

 

My Russound Compoint has that same feature (at least if the DND in the selected room is not on). It turns the mic on and you can hear the person respond when you page an individual room as opposed to a broadcast. Works pretty well if the person is reasonably close to the keypad.

 

Thanks all for a helpful thread. We have a circa 2003 Legrand IC1000 series system that is starting to fizzle out. I'd rather keep replacing parts, but that doesn't seem to be workable as it was 3-5 years ago. We love having a simple wired intercom in the house, but it seems that not enough people agree.

Are there really no good options out there (don't seem to be)? If not, any ideas on where I might find a reservoir of old Legrand parts?

 

I am in the same boat with the Legrand obsolescence, with the IC5000 series intercom modules, new with my home about 2010. My distribution module (IC5001) powers up, but doesn't register any of the room or door units. It doesn't look like replacement parts exist anywhere.

 

There are three distribution modules that will feed IC5000 series room stations:
IC5001, IC5010, and the HA6001 integration module.
The IC5010 can feed any selective call intercom door or room station.
The IC5001 can only feed IC5XXX series room and door units.
The HA6001 is overkill but will work if you can find one. It requires two LAN connections to work even for intercom (they need an IP, but don't need internet necessarily).

I've heard rumor that RusSound was planning on discontinuing the Compoint system but have not received confirmation either way.
There is also the IST Retro intercom system, but to me they look hideous.
Anyone have any good insight on these last two points?