I was just at the movie theater and I saw these huge panels on the wall about at least 5 feet tall. I am guessing the one on the right is the nac power extender/booster. Does any one know any more information on these besides that it’s voice evac and conventional?
MXL-IQ panel. Panel to the right is the amplifiers.
I like how the MXL has a built-in VECU. My church has an MXL-IQ with a separate VoiceCom VECU which I think is a little odd. I’ve been in one of the mechanical rooms and have seen only one amplifier, but that’s most likely because there aren’t many signals in the building anyway.
its an addressable MXLV panel.
the panel to the right is a system3 cabinet, most likely it contains the amplifiers for the speakers on the system.
The MXL-IQ was a small panel and didn’t have built in voice capabilities, so it was often used with something like a voicecom to activate a few pre-recorded messages on small systems. a lot of smaller fire alarm systems are set up similar if they want to use voice, for example a firelite could be rigged up to be a voice system with the same methods. wheelock has a safepath series of panels good for these types of setups.
Does the VoiceCom have a microphone in the cabinet? The door on the one in my church only has a cutout for the LEDs.
Nope, just a few dry contacts to initiate a few prerecorded messages.
This panel does have a microphone
Because it’s an MXLV, it’s not an MXL-IQ with a Voicecom panel…
(sorry for the double post, couldn’t edit)
Siemens bought out Cerberus Pyrotronics in the late 90’s and kept the MXLV going until a few years ago.
This is the panel:
The datasheet (PDF): Smart Information Delivery
People often get the MXL/MXLV mixed up with the MXL-IQ which is a standalone panel you can see here: http://www.sbt.siemens.com/FIS/productdoc/catalogs/5054.pdf , it’s basically a light version of the full blown MXL system, can be networked with it, uses the same field devices, etc. but really it’s just a small package with a limited set of features and basic display that couldn’t be expanded. It was a pre-built panel used for systems with <240pts or as suppression panels, whereas the MXL/MXLV are modular and can be customized/configured a million different ways and expanded into giant systems.
How well were these panels made? Like Fire-Lite quality or (As Andrew the Notifier Fan boy says) are they like Notifier quality?
They’re not even in the same league.
The MXL series came out in the early 90’s, was discontinued a few years back, and could still easily compete with the Simplex 4100ES (came out in 2010). I don’t know much about Notifier but I know they’ve never been a player in the really big systems market, and looking around their site I don’t see anything comparable except maybe the NFS2-3030 if networked with a onyxworks, but all of that is relatively new. I think the MXL spent the entire 90’s without much competition on the high end side.
Keep in mind, I might be biased because cerbpyro are easily my favorite systems, but for reference, the World Trade Centers had a massive MXLV system. 
Also, notifier and fire-lite are both honeywell companies, probably produced in the same factory. 
Problem is, the MXL series is using the same technology now as it did 20 years ago, unlike Notifier, etc. The MXL’s SLC speed is notoriously slow, slower than even Simplex’s SLC.
Still meets code requirements. The slow SLC is only an issue when you’re testing, and even then with the right equipment it doesn’t matter in the slightest. The MXL was officially discontinued a few years ago, but it was actually replaced around 2000 by the XLS. The late 90’s/early 2000’s is also when most of the other companies started finally getting addressable panels (outside of Simplex and EST).
The only reasons techs on the internet complain about it is because they aren’t factory trained on the system and probably shouldn’t be messing with it in the first place. It’s not a basic panel, someone who really knows what they’re doing needs to be working on it.
You bet they did 
World Trade Center Fire Alarm System History (This is a writeup I did on the WTC Fire Alarm System around 2 years ago, if any of the newer users here haven’t seen it).
I meant build quality. Like ms-2 would be bad because it’s built to the rock-bottom price.
Fire-Lite’s panels aren’t designed to take as much of a beating as, say, Notifier’s or Cerberus Pyrotronics’. They’re designed to be “set and forget” panels, so that a building follows code, with no frills or fancy features.