Customer Reviews

M & S Systems DMC3-4 Whole House Music and Communication System Master Unit - Retrofit System

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This intercom is amazing! I have a child with multiple life-threatening allergies. I need intercom in various areas of the house so that I don't have to follow him wherever he goes. I set my kitchen, office, master bedroom, and master bathroom stations on "listening" mode all the time. So I can stay in those rooms, carry out my usual chore and still be able to hear what he's doing. I can literally hear my child scratching! The sound is that clear. I max'ed out the total number of stations allowed per master and it's still that clear. The system is so versatile. I can turn certain stations off from "monitor" or "intercom" mode, but when I need to, I can still press a whole-house talk button and everyone can hear me. This feature is unique to this product. Other intercoms don't have this feature, so that I can not communicate to those in rooms where the intercom stations are set to the "monitor" mode. Individual stations can set to "privacy", then that intercom/room won't get disturbed. I've done so much research and this is the only system that has the versatility I need. The intercom system is better than the phone network system, in that, you can leave any number of stations on ALL the time. With the phone system, you'd have to "call" a particular phone to talk to that person in the room. Worse yet, you can't leave the phone off the hook ALL the time.

We just moved into an older house that had a 20 year M&S Intercom System. I saw that M&S made a retrofit unit and bought the DMC3-4 system to modernize the intercom. It has been very disappointing. The music quality is much worse due to the fact that the speakers are tiny compared to the original system. The sound reminds of a cheap 1970's transistor radio. We have also had a lot of problems with "squawking" noises and other types of noise interference that has made this system not very usable. The tech support from the company is very limited. They blame the existing wiring but offer little ideas or help on how to troubleshoot. I think the engineering quality of this product is very poor and I would not recommend this system.

First of all, I need to tell you I know this intercom system like the back of my hand after having installed it myself in my home. I have the DMC1, which is the excact same system, it's just made for new construction rather than retrofit. I actually installed the DMC1 into an existing home that did not have an intercom system. It was challenging yet fun to install it throughout my home. We are a family of 6 and the way our home is designed, even yelling doesn't get the message across (and we don't like to yell anyway). This system is well designed and unlike another review stated, the sound is AWESOME for being monoraul. You almost cannot even tell the difference. The other reviewer who commented on the lack of sound quality probably has a connectivity issue because the sound really is awesome in terms of intercoms. I have the CD player with mine and the sound comes through clear, crisp and powerful throughout all the stations. You should know before purchasing this system that it is an 'all call' system. That means, when you speak into the master station or any of the sub-stations, your voice will come out through all of the stations (that are turned on). This is especially helpful to us as we have four young children who could be in various areas of the home (including outside on the patio) so when the call for dinner is made, they are likely to be within earshot. I have stations installed in each bedroom, in the basement bathroom, in the media room, in the master bathroom, and have the master in the kitchen. I also have a station located at the back patio and a front door stations. The front door station is a must especially when my wife is home alone. She feels much more secure knowing she can speak to someone who rings the bell (which sounds through all of the stations) rather than having to approach or open the door. You can have a coversation from any station to any other station or to the master. You can also have options at the master control whether a station is turned on, whether any music goes to it or if you want just intercom only. You can also select one or more rooms to monitor (this is useful for our 11 year old who sleeps in the downstairs basement alone. We can monitor her from our bedroom upstairs (or where ever we happen to be by a stations that we have on). This system is not difficult to install. It does require some basic technical know-how and some patience, but if you can hook up an audio or computer system, you shouldn't have too much of a problem connecting this system up. You have to make CAT 5 runs from each station to the master. The cat 5 ending to the master is connected to a plug. That is then plugged into the corresponding plug-in on the master station. WARNING! Please be sure to have surge protection on the power source of your M&S intercom. We lost a master station due to not having one. Living in Missouri, lightning is notorious in these parts and our master was fried by a nearby lightning strike. It happened about a year after the two year warranty expired and so it wasn't covered. I ordered a new master and added surge protection to the power line going to it. An expensive lesson learned! All in all, this is a great intercom system that has clear, crisp sound, is very reliable and simple to use. If you don't have a CD player you can still listen to radio and (if you run a cable from the rear master) have an I-pod connection for it and play your IPOD. We use our intercom all of the time with a housefull of so many children. It saves us from having to make trips down the stairs and it's so handy, when I just step out of the shower and the door bell rings, that I can answer it from the privacy of my master bath. You just can't beat the convenience of a home intercom/music system. M&S intercoms. I highly recommend them!

I purchased this unit to replace an old 1974 intercom in my home with 12 speakers. To my surprise the old unit was many times better in sound quality of music and voice. It was difficult to install due to the connectors on the master unit. The tuner picks up a 1/3 the stations the old unit did. AM is specially bad. What a shame with all the modern technology we can't make a unit that is at least comparable with 1974!

Another thing to keep in mind is that if you have at least 4 conductors in you home, use them and don't go with the 3 conductor setup. If you do, when you make an intercom call you can't listen in after the call, so the person receiving the call has to walk to the speaker to answer.

I have been using this unit for a little over a year and it has been great. All the directions on how to set the time, individual room settings, etc... are clearly labeled on the flip out panel on the master unit. You really don't need it though, it is really easy to operate. I installed the whole thing myself when my house was built and found it to be very easy. I have the main unit and 4 room stations. I use it every single day and dont know what i did before i had it now. the instructions were a little hard to follow, but very precise and in depth.

The M&S audio systems are VERY problematic. Installation is no problem but if there is a service problem with the system, it is very difficult to get it repaired. The company relies on regional jack-of-all trades companies to do the repairs. In my region, a security alarm company is assigned the task of service but they really don't put much effort into knowing the system. Thus, after purchasing a new audio system from M&S two years ago, I've had five service calls from the alarm company and the system still doesn't work. M&S claims they are symathetic but they are not willing to do anything actively to help me. I'm ready to junk this system because of lack of technical know how once the system is in your house.

It is impossible to use! I am somewhat of a nerd. It was installed when we bought the home. It is a mess! We have been spending a few hours just trying to get the time to show the correct time! Don't even ask about when we tried to use it to the outdoor speakers when we had a party! I have a Master's in English and my husband is an engineer, but their instructions require more knowledge.