A paging system lets one person reach the whole building from any phone — announcements in a warehouse, class-change bells in a school, "line 2 for service" in a shop. The pieces are simpler than most people expect.
The three building blocks
A paging amplifier takes the audio from your phone system and powers the speakers. Bogen amplifiers are sized by wattage — match the amp to the total wattage of your speakers, and leave headroom.
Speakers come in ceiling, wall and horn styles. Ceiling speakers suit offices and classrooms; horns carry outdoors and across noisy warehouse floors. Valcom's one-way and talkback speakers are the most common picks we sell.
An interface connects paging to the phone system so any extension can dial a page. Viking makes the controllers and door phones that tie it together — including emergency phones for elevators, parking lots and building entrances.
Talkback vs one-way
One-way paging is announcement-only. Talkback speakers let the person paged answer hands-free from the room — worth it in schools, clinics and anywhere a phone isn't within reach.
Planning a layout
Count your zones first (office, warehouse, outside), then speakers per zone at roughly one per 500–800 square feet indoors, then size the amplifier last. Our Viking, Bogen and Valcom collections cover complete systems.