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Residential Intercom systems

T

Teresa

TUG Member
Joined
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Location
Medina, OH
Would you want an intercom system in your home?

I did a search on 'intercom' on our local craigslist under real estate and most of the houses that came up were over $500K in price.

The reason I ask is that we bought a house that has a built-in intercom system in it. House built in 1979. Main control unit is in the kitchen and then there are units in each of the four bedrooms plus speakers in the 'Great Room' (attached to the kitchen). There is a radio in it so you could pipe music into all the bedrooms and the Great Room (also hear it in the kitchen). Each location has a volume control so you could turn it off in that location if desired. We're debating on whether we should leave it in or take it out. It's a bit old fashioned (70's face plates) but it works regarding the radio. Lots of buttons to try! Talk. Listen, Monitor. Something for the 'door' too (I think you can talk to the person outside - just haven't figured out the right combination yet).

I looked at new intercom systems - most are for businesses. But some residential ones are in the $700 plus range (most higher). Many are wireless. This one is not.

This is a rehab project so we'll be selling it after we fix it up.

So, if it was you, would you want one? Or would you pass on a house that had one?
 
To me, it is a complete neutral. I wouldn't pass on a house based on its having one ... but neither does it make my list of "desired features."
 
We had one in our last house and I loved it. No more yelling throughout the house to find some one. The radio feature was nice as well. Our system was also an old one. When the radio broke, I looked into upgrading to a newer system. The wiring was different on the new system, so I was going to have to replace the whole shebang in order to get the radio feature again. This was before the age of wireless intercoms. I opted to not upgrade. Keep this in mind if you leave your intercom in place, it breaks (from old age), and the new owners want to replace it with a new one.

I would definitely buy a house with an intercom, but the lack of one would not be a deal breaker.

Cheers!
 
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NWL - I enjoyed reading your post. We've had them in past homes as well ... but currently find that the intercom feature of our wireless phone system addresses the issue of "yelling" through the house. More importantly, it also helps keep us from yelling to find someone out in the far front/back yard, in an RV parked in the driveway, in the greenhouse, etc.

Teresa: The feature I'd love to have, and have been researching, is the ability to pipe music through the house wirelessly. This is an aspect I've truly missed since the days of "whole house" intercom systems.
 
Our Intercom Is Built Into Our EKT Telephone System.

When our house was being built, we wanted intercom but we did not want 1 of those in-wall systems that people rarely use.

We realized that the real-world intercoms that people actually use are the ones in office telephone systems. So we went for a Toshiba Strata VI EKT telephone system designed for small business. It works great. We use it every day -- a real convenience.

Click here for the story of how we got the EKT system going again after a weird power surge fried its power supply unit.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​
 
Thanks rhonda! Like you, I like having music on throughout the house. When we were building our current house, which was also before wireless audio, we went with the Audio Access system. The house was wired during construction and we have stereo speakers all over the house. We have a CD player, tuner, and cassette deck plugged in to the system. They got a lot of use up until a few years ago when we started using Airport and itunes with the Audio Access system. We can listen to our itunes library or any of the itunes radio stations throughout the house. I really love it, though my DH would prefer that I mix the music genres up a bit. :)

There are a bunch of wireless options these days, and I think they are reasonably priced. You may want to check them out.

For the intercom part, we did what Away We Go did and went with a phone system that has intercom capabilities. As long as we carry our individual hand sets with us around the house, we can call each other when we need to.

Cheers!
 
I am tempted to say that I would really like the piping music throughout the house feature - but in reality it would never work for us!! My husband and I really dont enjoy the same music, so it would end up never getting used anyway. So while I would not pass on a house just because it had one, I would not particularly want one either. Our house phone system has the intercom capabilities also, and we use that constantly - love it. We also all each have a cell phone so there is no yelling up and down the stairs like when we were kids :)
 
Would You Put Me Back On Hold, Please? I'd Like To Hear The Rest Of That Song.

laura1957 said:
I am tempted to say that I would really like the piping music throughout the house feature - but in reality it would never work for us!
Click to expand...
The whole-house radio/stereo feature doesn't get used much after the novelty wears off. Plus, it's cheaper to buy a boom box for every room than to have a NuTone or comparable whole-house stereo-intercom system installed.

Our (used) Toshiba Strata VI EKT system has an (optional) Music On Hold feature. I hooked that up to a dedicated FM radio tuned to a New Age station when the EKT system was new -- i.e., new to us (freshly installed in our house). The novelty wore off that real quick.

One day The Chief Of Staff asked me to get rid of the On Hold music & that was that.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​
 
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We have one of those old, analog intercom/music systems that I have no clue how to operate. My DW knows how to pipe the music. We could update to digital for about $600, but why bother. Our house is not so large that we need to yell, and for music, our 7-1 receiver pretty much covers it. One of these day's, I'll rip it out and cover the holes.
--------------------------
I did, however, need to update the doorbell, so I recently bought a video entry system. Press the button, a chime sounds, the camera turns on and I see your face on a receiver. I'll get up from my recliner only after I determine if you're a Jehovah Witness or pizza delivery guy.

Next Up: A few IP surveilance cameras with night-vision. I may point them at my neighbors' houses.
 
We have an intercom in our house - we don't use the music part much but I use it to answer the door. When we built the house they were surprised that I didn't want a window in the door but I had a bad experience when I was home alone in our old house. I went to the window in the door and didn't recognize the man who was there - he was selling something and I wouldn't open the door - he became quite angry and starting banging on the window. I told him I was calling the police and he went away but it freaked me out. Now I ALWAYS ask through the intercom who is at the door and can go to the door or not as it is my choice. I also had the door made to open in so I could shut it on someone without them being able to grab it - I'm really not paranoid, just careful. Linda
 
Who Is It? It's The Plumber. I've Come To Fix The Sink.

lvhmbh said:
We have an intercom in our house - we don't use the music part much but I use it to answer the door.
Click to expand...
Our Toshiba EKT system has a doorbell & door talk-box feature. The bell actually rings through (all) our phones (except any that are set to Do Not Disturb). We can answer the door via intercom just by picking up the phone, or by using speakerphone (although we usually pick up).

We can even answer The Chief Of Staff's sisters doorbell, & vice versa. If nobody's at the door, we can intercom Channel 66 to hear what's going on outside The Chief Of Staff's sister's front door & we can use Channel 67 to hear outside our own front door.

Our door bell only rings on our phones & The Chief Of Staff's sisters door bell only rings on The Chief Of Staff's sister's phones. But if we see somebody over there, we can use Channel 66 to ask who it is.

If I'm out in front working on an electric dryer or some such, The Chief Of Staff can beep me on Channel 67 to say lunch is ready.

Is this a great country or what ?

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​
 
Since your system is an older model that is likely to break in the near future (and you probably could not easily replace it), rip it out during your rehab. You can always add a wireless alternative later. There are some good ideas for alternatives in this thread.

Cheers!
 
lvhmbh said:
We have an intercom in our house - we don't use the music part much but I use it to answer the door. When we built the house they were surprised that I didn't want a window in the door but I had a bad experience when I was home alone in our old house. I went to the window in the door and didn't recognize the man who was there - he was selling something and I wouldn't open the door - he became quite angry and starting banging on the window. I told him I was calling the police and he went away but it freaked me out. Now I ALWAYS ask through the intercom who is at the door and can go to the door or not as it is my choice. I also had the door made to open in so I could shut it on someone without them being able to grab it - I'm really not paranoid, just careful. Linda
Click to expand...

Don't all doors open In? I can't think of a single place I've lived where the door opened Out.

Regardless, sorry for your scary experience. would sour me on windows in the doors forever!!! Seeing out is great, but I don't want people seeing in!

Intercom? eh, never had one, don't care. If I have to get up to cross teh room to use it, I might as well go talk to whoever I was looking for. Would not sway me into or out of buying a house.
 
We bought our house before it was built in 2002. We bought every builder upgrade and some custom upgrades that included a built-in intercom system. Our system has a control unit in the kitchen and speaker units in 4 bedrooms, on the patio, at the front door, and in the garage. It has a radio and CD player. We love it and use it a lot. If we were to buy another new home, which we won't, I would definitely get another intercom system.
 
geekette said:
Don't all doors open In? I can't think of a single place I've lived where the door opened Out.

Regardless, sorry for your scary experience. would sour me on windows in the doors forever!!! Seeing out is great, but I don't want people seeing in!

Intercom? eh, never had one, don't care. If I have to get up to cross teh room to use it, I might as well go talk to whoever I was looking for. Would not sway me into or out of buying a house.
Click to expand...

Our doors opened out on our home in Florida. None of our other 12 houses did in other states.
 
Our last house had a builder intercom (Nutone) with radio/CD (not stereo) that we enjoyed.

We just moved and this house has stereo speakers with volume control in most rooms, but no intercom.

We don't miss the intercom much and really enjoy the stereo music much more than the old intercom sound.

In today's real estate market, I would not spend money on anything not necessary - you might not get it back during the sale.

Best of luck with the project! :)
 
Thanks for your input

We're going to rip it out. Too many better alternatives and leaving it in will just put someone in the position of having to repair/replace it later (grin).

Thanks for everyone's opinion. I always appreciate getting 'real' advice from TUG readers/members.
 
Teresa said:
We're going to rip it out. Too many better alternatives and leaving it in will just put someone in the position of having to repair/replace it later (grin).

Thanks for everyone's opinion. I always appreciate getting 'real' advice from TUG readers/members.
Click to expand...

That's the best way to go. You can enjoy it yourselves until you need to rip it out. :)

Cheers!
 
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