An Evolutionary Upgrade Keeps This Audio Panel Series At The Top Of The Game While there is no end of news concerning the major companies that populate the GA world, sometimes its the quiet little companies that really deserve more of the attention. A case in point is PS Engineering... a little company that decided it could specialize in one aspect of avionics and try to be the best in the field... and to many, that's just what they've done. One of their latest efforts is the PMA8000B -- a new audio panel coming that should go a long way towards making those long cross-country flights speed by a little quicker. PS Engineering has added a new player to its product line, the PMA8000B-MP3. This Audio Control Panel incorporates all of the capability of the popular PMA8000B, but adds an internal MP3 player that stores up to one gigabyte of music... which means pilots can leave their iPods secure in their flight bags. Pilots may upload files to the panel using a portable USB Thumb drive. Once the Thumb Drive is connected to the audio panel by the supplied USB cable, pressing the Function and Transfer Keys automatically starts the transfer process. The PMA8000B-MP3 provides audio annunciations to keep the pilot advised of the status and the completion of the transfer. Front panel buttons accomplishes MP3 On/Off, Skip Forward, Pause, Random, Sequential, and Volume Up/Down. The music is distributed to the crew and passengers according the pilot controlled configurations, also easily changed 'on-the-fly.' The user interface is accomplished with secondary functions on the standard audio panel keys, with a female voice feedback that announces the modes. This is the same method introduced by the PMA8000-SR in 2005, which proved to be a very successful way to add functions, without making the everyday controls more complicated. The PMA8000B MP3 is a slide-in replacement for the existing PMA8000, PMA8000B, and Garmin GMA340 audio control panels. The PMA8000B with internal MP3 will add about $150 to the cost of a ...
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