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Help! Need reference to find someone in Pa who can wire a 6 volt intercom

Started by clockman1700, March 08, 2013, 10:55:48 AM

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clockman1700

Hello To All,
                  I am trying to locate someone who can wire an intercom system on a 1939 Cadillac 6 volt. The issue is that the front speaker is very large with higher amps or ohms, due to the fact that it is a town car, but when the chaeuffeur returns the conversation, it is to a very small speaker built into the wall of the rear compartment. This would require a stepdown transformer. You would think that this would be an easy job for someone with the training in the electrical field, but it has turned out to be a very difficult task. I live in the Reading Pa area and can drive the car to the shop for the work. Thanks in advance for any help with this issue.
                                                                      Best Regards
                                                                                          Barry Torrente
BarryTorrente                                                                                                          1939 Brunn town car 75

bcroe

You can match impedance or change power level using a line to voice coil transformer,
or even a couple of them.  They have multiple taps, you can ignore the high voltage
winding.  Is this a vacuum tube amplifier system?  Bruce Roe  CLC # 14630

clockman1700

Hi Bruce,
             Thank you very much for the reply. The actual transforming system is gone so I have no way of telling what it was. I have the call buttons and the speakers, both front and rear, but no transformer. I was thinking that with todays modern technology, that there would be a system that would easily accomodate this. Can you give me any resources to purchase the one you were referring to.
                                                    Best regards,
                                                                      Barry
BarryTorrente                                                                                                          1939 Brunn town car 75

bcroe

Sorry I can't actually see what the system uses.  It could be a microphone & speaker (at
each end) running directly off 6V like a telephone.  Or it could be just 2 speakers with a
vacuum tube amplifier between them.  There would be a speaker switch to select direction. 
Do you have pictures? 

Bruce

KD

I have a 1940 V-16 limo that has a microphone in the back and a speaker over the driver. I believe it is only one way as This was an unmolested car and I 'm in the process of restoring it and there was no speaker in the rear or any way for the driver to communicate with the rear compartment.
KD CLC#26801
Ken Dennison

1935 Auburn S/C Cabroilet
1940 Cadillac V16 7 passenger Imperial Sedan (9033)
1929 Ford Closed Cab Pick Up
1960 Austin Healey Sprite

clockman1700

Hi,
    I do not have a picture of the system because it has been missing since I bought the car in 1966. From what I can figure out, the chauffeur can push a button on the dash to speak to the rear compartment and the occupants in the rear can also call the chauffeur by pushing a button on each of the arm rests. The speaker in the rear compartment is very small, about three inches diameter, but because this is a Brunn town car, the front speaker is 8 inches diameter to allow the driver to hear the occupants requests while the top is stowed in the compartment. In all it may be a more complicated system than normal, but I really feel that it is a fairly simplistic process. I own body # 1, # 2 is long gone, so I do not have a reference point from another car. Thanks for all of your help.
                                                                           Barry
BarryTorrente                                                                                                          1939 Brunn town car 75

Bob Hoffmann CLC#96

Barry,
I would you suggest you contact owners of Brunn cars regardless of what chassis they're on. CCCA, Packard & Lincoln club directories would be a good start.
HTH, Bob
1968 Eldorado slick top ,white/red interior
2015 Holden Ute HSV Maloo red/black interior.
             
Too much fun is more than you can have.

clockman1700

Hi,
     Thank you to everyone! I did find a Brunn owner who has 2 Pearce Arrow town cars and he informed me that rarely did the chauffeur respond verbally to the owner, he only nodded after receiving his insructions. So it appears that my car would be the same which makes the process much easier. I am going to use a transistor based system so that it will not be a drain on the battery or the tubes. I'll post the end results.
                                                                      Thanks again,
                                                                                           Barry
BarryTorrente                                                                                                          1939 Brunn town car 75

bcroe

There are plenty of transistor amp kits for several $, the size of a couple fingers, that
could do the job.  I would expect a push-to-talk microphone would be a good approach. 
good luck, Bruce Roe