"Richard J." wrote in message
...
Robin Mayes wrote:
"Richard J." wrote in message
...

My complaint today was partly about the excessive volume at
Gloucester Road, and was logged with the station supervisor there.

The main trouble with 'excessive volume' on P.A. systems on the
Underground is station staff have no way of altering the volume
levels for different parts of the station. A recording that is
audible for a platform with a train arriving will be booming within
the ticket hall, a recording that sounds suitable at 5am will sound
too quiet at 5pm. There is no way for the staff who are doing the
recording to know that the volume will be too loud, as over the years
P.A. zones have had the volumes turned up or down by engineers so
it's a case of trial and error, sadly.

Yes, I was given that excuse at Bank a couple of years ago. It was a
reason then, perhaps. After 2 years, it's an excuse. Can't you fit an
adjustable resistor (volume control) to the speakers that are too loud, or
is that too simple?

The problem at Gloucester Road, I was told today, is that broadcasts from
Earl's Court are much louder than announcements made by station staff, and
the engineers haven't managed to balance them properly, or perhaps claim
that this isn't possible.

When Peter Ford was doing a station visit 8 years ago at Bank I ensured he
realised the problems we had with the P.A. system. I was assured then that
'something would be done to sort it out', looks like it's still totally out
of balance. Perhaps if you know so much about P.A. systems you should
contact Metronet and Tubelines offering to be a consultant for free ;-0