atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums TDM Business Telephone Systems Panasonic Telephones & Systems KX-TA624 Music on Hold is distorted

I have a KX-TA624. I have tried several sources for music-on-hold but with all of them the sound becomes distorted long before the volume is high enough to hear comfortably. Has anyone experienced this problem and found a fix for it? Thanks.

Sounds like you're using the wrong jack from your source. Most stereo jacks use two hots and a sleeve, you want to use one of the hots and the sleeve, unless your input to your system is stereo.

Bill is right as usual, you can get an adapter that "Y"s the left & right together.
The input is also designed for a "line level" input, not a headphone or speaker out.
Not only do you probably have the wrong connector but it's probably being over driven.
Just a couple of things to check
MrG

I didn't think about the adapter. Thanks for the info Wayne.

What does the Panasonic MOH call for? 8 ohms or 600 ohms or is there a switch or program you can run?

I don't do Panasonic but that is a standard question for all phone systems.

If it calls for 600 ohm input and you have an 8 ohm output (NORMAL) from the radio or cd player or what, you go to Radio Shack and buy an 8 ohm to 1000 ohm (close enough) audio transformer.

The output of the device is connected to the 8 ohm side and the input of the 624 is connected to the outside wires of the three wires on the 1000 ohm side.

This is quite probably a case of mismatched ohms. The Toshiba has a switch usually (can't think of one off hand that doesn't) that goes between 8 and 600 ohms.

At Radio shack you ask for an 8 ohm to 1000 ohm audio transformer. That is an audio transfromer. It will set you back about three dollars.

8 ohms, non switchable Bunnie.
MrG

So all you have to work with is 8 ohms, which is fine,and it is programmed to MOH, not tone, and it is the MOH jack, not the paging jack. (I cheated and downloaded a manual to peek at.)

How long is the cord? The manual says not more than ten feet.

Do you have a very thin cord like the little headphone cords that come with cheap radios? I know they can have too little current to work correctly. Do you have or can get easily a mono cable from Radio Shack? It could be the stereo to mono connection that is a problem or it could be a very thin weak cord.

Have you tried any other music sources? What if you put a toner on the cable instead of a radio or cd, that should come out super loud.

I'm not a Panasonic guy either, but as Bunnie said it sounds like a mismatch. You have to watch some of the cords from Radio Shack. Some of the cords are attenuating and will dampen the sound for lack of a better word. Also, I may have missed it above but does it take a Line Out or a Speaker feed?

I would suggest posting this in the Panasonic Forum? Maybe one of the General Mods will move the thread for you so you can get some help from the Panasonic Techs.

Moving as suggested, thanks MacGyver.

I am using a Nel-Tech Sonorous I:
Audio output:
Mono RCA jack
Adjustable digital volume control
Impedance-6V p-p @ 8ohms or 12V p-p @ 1Kohms

I have two identical Panasonic systems, purchased about a year apart, and both have the same problem.

I suspected an impedence mis-match, also, so I rigged up a multi-tapped matching transformer I had from when I worked in the radio business and tried sources ranging from a paging amplifier to a headphone amplifier to a professional broadcast mixer, all with the same result. I had no probem with any music source working with an old Panasonic KX-TA1232. Does anyone know of a KX-TA624 on which the music on hold is loud enough and sounds good?

Thanks to all for your suggestions.