That’s a shame, I don’t know why they did that if the SAFEPATH worked fine for music.
Another Walmart in my area also got a new PA system. This Walmart did not have SAFEPATH. They had L-Series horn/strobes and remote strobes and a PA system separate from the fire alarm system. The store got new Bosch PA speakers throughout the store. The old PA speakers are still up, disconnected.
Yeah some Walmarts have horn/strobe systems instead of voice evacuation systems for some reason, with the horn/strobes usually being either Spectralert Classics or Wheelock ASes. I think I’ve been to more Walmarts that didn’t have voice evacuation than to ones that did.
Really old Walmarts that were built in the earlier 2000s or earlier don’t typically have voice evac, but horns.
The Walmart in Latham, NY only plays background music outside, the inside has no music playing at all, and only paging comes out of it, as well as general alarm obviously. They also switched the paging device from a Wheelock SP4-TZC, to an Algo SIP paging controller. So ig they just ordered the EV pendant speakers, A. or B, they don’t know how to work the muting revisions for paging to make the music stop, which is funny because the SIP device has a controllable relay that’s configurable on the web interface of the controller.
Either all that, or the NFPA is finally doing something about BGM on an alarm speaker in newer codes 
I honestly don’t get why it seems Walmarts are switching from playing background music through the fire alarm system to a separate music system: if they continued doing the former it would save them money as they wouldn’t have to purchase, install, & maintain a separate music system.
I don’t know why they would, background music has no effect on the system’s operation: the music automatically shuts off when the system goes into alarm (or an announcement is made through one of the microphones).
The Walmart stores here seem to just be doing a trend of putting in new PA/music systems, whether the original system was using the fire alarm speaker/strobes or the original system was totally separate from a fire alarm system that uses horn/strobes. These new PA systems include outdoor speakers by each of the three entrances (grocery, general merchandise, and garden).
I still don’t get their logic: like I said it would save them money just using the fire alarm system to play music.
Fire alarm speakers don’t give as good quality of sound for music is something I have read.
Really? I’m surprised given that I’ve heard such systems & the audio quality seems pretty good to me (though I’d say most voice evac systems seem to have good audio quality).
To these giant companies, it’s probably cheaper in the long run to just install a simple speaker system in each building and say “OK, manager, here’s the microphone key and here’s the music key” rather than deal with the added potential liability of giving the revolving door of employees any kind of training on the fire alarm system.
Even if it is as simple as “open this cabinet, press this button, here’s the microphone,” most untrained people are naturally skittish about touching the fire alarm for any reason. Others are idiots, and will want to see what the “drill” key will do. Or accidentally hit a bypass key. I’ll bet you there are multiple service invoices that read “Staff complained of ‘Disabled Zone’ trouble. Technician found the ‘disable’ key was pressed. Technician pressed again to re-enable the zone.”
Well here in Canada, we do it with safety in mind. I always found it ironic with the more advancements with the US and fire safety, they allow this.
Which I can see the benefits of the cost… or is it really? You think, the fire alarm system has to be up to UL code, with UL devices and what not. Having those speakers on all the time for music, I would imagine more would die faster, and the fire system, more so the amplifier, would be working pretty hard. Small systems alone draw so many amps as it is, I couldn’t imagine a large store like Walmart.
So if speakers die, it would cost far more, as a UL speaker is probably expensive. Versus having a regular music system, that needs little to no maintenance. Unlike the fire system, the music system doesn’t need annual testing. A regular speaker will cost far less as well. That’s just my take on it.
I just went in the Walmart store today and things were strange. They were playing music out of the Bosch speakera, however they were doing PA announcements out of the fire alarm speaker/strobes. I kind of like this, however. A good song never gets interrupted by a PA announcement this way.
my walmart has those wheelock speakers too and has a bosch dual action pull station
Mine does and was built in 2011. This is the only one that I have been to that does that though I know there are plenty others. Main store and stores inside Walmart like the banks and McDonald’s use S8 ceiling speakers. Bathrooms have Red E70s and outside in the Garden area has a Red ET70WP (possibly due to waterproofing) Pulls are standard Bosch t bars with a few annunciator sprinkled. Panel is a Wheelock Safepath and it does T3 then a English and Spanish message.
To the microphone issue, my dad has been in the store when they tested the fire alarms. They specifically tested this by having a worker speak then setting off the alarm while they do that, to see if the signals would override, which they did.
Sounds like a pretty standard Walmart voice evacuation system to me. And yes, that’s why they use such notification appliances outdoors: the “WP” in the model number stands for “weatherproof”, meaning it’s specifically made for outdoor applications.
An English & Spanish message huh? Interesting… (thought it might make sense if a good portion of the local population only know Spanish)
What do you mean by “microphone issue”? (though it is a good idea to test the microphone(s) as much as the rest of the system)
Up in the forum, people were asking if the fire alarm would override the microphone.
Ah, okay. No: the microphone on a voice evacuation panel or remote microphone station will override whatever tone &/or message is playing so that whoever’s at the microphone can talk over all the speakers in the system (to make an announcement such as informing occupants that the alarm is a false one for example).