Thinking Outside The Beltpack: Creative Uses for Intercom Headsets

August 22, 2018 2 Comments

by Eric Eldredge, Dale Pro Audio

One of Dale's best-selling headsets since its release around a year ago, the Bose SoundComm B30 offers superior performance for intercom, thanks largely in part to Bose's proprietary active noise cancellation technology. This comes as no surprise, as the headset was originally designed for on-field use in the NFL.

But, what if you wanted to take advantage of these technologies in a situation other than intercom? This can pose a challenge - Bose designed them for use with leading production intercom systems, rating them with impedance to match common belt packs and terminating them with the 4-pin XLR female Clear-Com standard.

Nevertheless, this appeal has inspired customers to reach out to us looking to utilize headsets for non-intercom applications. One such inquiry came to us recently, looking to use them with a hard-wired, computer-based proprietary distance learning system in the medical field. Dale's Product Specialist John DiMaggio was enlisted to devise a solution.

John takes us through the process of modifying the headsets for this setup: "The first issue we encountered was that the computer mic input did not match the balanced mic output of the Bose B30. The B30 comes with a 4-pin female XLR connector, so we special wired a male 4 pin XLR using 2 separate wires out from the male connector."

Modifying the cabling was only the first step for John: "We then had to employ a Rolls MP13 mini mic preamplifier. Pins 1 and 2 went to the input of the mic pre pins 1 and 2 on one of the wires. Pins 3 and 4 from the Bose went out a separate cable with a TRS 3.5mm plug attached to it. Pin 4 from the Bose went to ground in the 3.5mm male connector.  Pin 3 from the Bose went to both the tip and ring so that the computer headphone output would feed both the left and right sides of the Bose headset. The 3.5 then was plugged into the headphone output of the computer. When done, the mic pre gain set the gain of the mic to the computer and the speaker volume in the computer adjusted the headset volume for the Bose B30 headset."

Not every situation needs to be this complex, though. Our friends at JK Audio have come up with an ingenious solution that takes advantage of the Bluetooth and HD Voice standards. The Outerloop (available in XLR Male and XLR Female variants) acts as a medium of sorts, already handling the cabling and termination concerns. However, by toggling the unit into "Phone" mode, it turns into a simple Bluetooth audio interface. If the particular application on your computer or mobile device can support this device (just about all of them do), it pairs in seconds and you're up and running, cable-free!

Have you got an application where you'd want to utilize a headset such as the SoundComm for a unique type of communications task? Talk to us - we'd love to hear from you and help solve the challenge!

Eric Eldredge is Dale Pro Audio's Director of Marketing and Brand Development. He is also a studio engineer and music producer based in NYC. He can be reached at eric@daleproaudio.com.

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