want to wire 1 external speaker to our nortel system. i have wired to the black/slate tip ring pair .then from there to a transformer then to speaker. have also used the yellow/blue pair .do i need to go to a self amplified speaker or am i just out of luck

I'm not a Nortel dealer, but I'd assume you need some type of amp. I don't think there's any systems out there with built in amps. The main reason I put it here is so the folks who know Nortel can see if you're using the correct pairs for your speaker.

thank u for your help justbill

you are going to need a amplifier for the speaker. The output from the phone system (Black/slate pair) is 100mV across 600Ω.

Which system is it? That'll make a difference on which pair and how to connect.

Bad memory, but I think the 824 had paging tip/ring on black/slate. If we trust you had picked the correct pair, then you could run it to an amplified speaker.

There are people who would run the output of black/slate into an amplifier (Hi-Z if I am correct would be the 600 to 1000 ohm input) and then it goes out on a thick pair of wires with 25 volts AC or 70 volts AC and then you connect the common and the full wattage, half wattage, quarter wattage, etc as the second wire.

I use only amplified speakers. One pair of wire from the page tip/ring to the amplified speaker. Three other pairs carry -24 VDC from an inexpensive power supply to the two power terminals on the horn or ceiling speaker. The dial is adjustable from zero to 100% of volume.

The other paging pair is for controlling a relay that would switch from music playing to paging voice. You don't need that pair if you are not switching music to voice and back.

the system is a nortel m-ics. we are going to pick up an amplifier or amplified speakers which ever is more cost efficient. i also believe that the operators station is already punched down on the black/slate. can/should i piggyback?

???

The operators station (assuming 21/221) is on the white/blue pair.

Black/slate on the middle amphenol is External Paging Audio. Yellow/Blue on the middle amphenol is External Paging Relay. Buy a paging controller w/appropriate speakers and be done with it (www.vikingelectronics.com).

From Viking Electronics (like Danny has indicated) you can purchase a Viking PA2A plus an 8 ohm speaker. They come together. The PA2A will run at least 3 of those speakers, I believe.
We put one in on a Nostar 308 the other day---went in quick and works fine. Does ring over page, too, if you want.