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Party Grouping
Party Grouping delivers to the Suite 16 System two functional features. There are a total of
four party groups. Much like a room has command sets for selection of input 1, input 2,...,in-
put 16, each party group also has an input selection command set for input 1, input 2,...,input
16. Just like room 5 has an input selection command for source 8, party group 1 has an input
selection command set for source 8.
With this in mind, we can proceed to understand how to use the party group functions. As
previously mentioned, party grouping has two useful features. The first is the ability for sev-
eral zones to turn on to a single source with one command. This is useful for entertaining,
hence the name “party groups”. By assigning several rooms to a party group number, when
an input selection is sent for this party group, all rooms on this party group engage to that
source. If rooms are set to turn on to their acoustical preset, then all rooms associated with
this party group, will turn on to the installers preset levels.
The second feature of party grouping can be used for multiple rooms that are architecturally
open to each other. Here, the system can be set up such that when one room turns on to a
source, the other rooms open to each other also turn on to that source. As sources are
switched, these rooms will always track the same source. Because these rooms exist as
independent zones on the Suite 16, they can still have their own acoustical levels and can
turn off independently, but they will always share the same source.
The MC-5000 keypad has a feature set that permit the source buttons, instead of sending out
input commands for a specific room, to send out input commands for a specific party group. If
for example, three rooms: the entry foyer, living room, and dining room, all have a MC-5000
set to party group 2, when FM 2 is selected in the foyer, the other two rooms will also turn on
to FM 2. If later, you change the living room to CD 1, the other areas will also switch to CD 1.
To set a room to track a particular party group, simply
press the appropriate set button while on that room. To
remove a room from that party group, press the clear
button.
Page Grouping
Page grouping is set and cleared on a per room basis much like party grouping. Paging
groups 1-6 are the serially controlled. Paging group 7 is triggered via audio sensing. Paging
group 8 is triggered via low voltage.
Paging Volume Level
The volume level for pages is inde- pendent of the rooms volume level and is set by the slider
control. When a page is initiated, the
room ramps to that volume level, the
tone controls are set to flat, and the
filters are turned off. When the page
is released, the room returns to the
previous levels and input. If the room
was off, it will return to the off state.
