I used to have a vendor that sold used PA systems at "a buck a watt". Harder to find, but if you can, it's easy to use a small amp, even for small jobs. About 10 years ago, I inherited a Valcom job. They added on to the building and now I had a problem. We added a remote power supply and 4 more V-1030's, but last year, when one of the old trumpets died, it took down the whole system.
In constant voltage, when the grid dies, you can just listen for the probable failure and, of course, my trusty impedance meter works better.
Carl
