Supply-chain problems, labor shortages, and increasing cost of parts led officials at PS Engineering to develop the PMA450C audio panel, a lower-cost version of the company’s flagship PMA450B.
Since its introduction in 2014 the PMA450 series has offered advanced features such as dual Bluetooth and the IntelliAudio processing system licensed from the U.S. Air Force. While pilots may love all the bells and whistles, sometimes they don’t need all those functions. So why pay for them? PS Engineering officials thought.
First step towards lowering the price was changing the type of hardware, they said.
Next: While the PMA450B provides nine positions to place the Com 1 and Com 2 audio, the PMA450C only provides the most popular locations of 10 o’clock and 2 o’clock, officials noted.
Another cost savings was the removal of flightmate, audio streaming output, and the count-up/count-down timer. Not all pilots have the need for customizable audio alert functions, so the PMA450C does not support this function, helping to reduce the cost of the overall system, officials explained.
The PMA450C has a list price of $2,595, while the PMA450B continues to sell at $2,895.
Hey! $300 bucks is $300 bucks. A few tanks of AV gas! And fewer unnecessary features are fewer things to break in the long-run. Remembver the KISS principle: “Keep It Simple, Stupid” applies everywhere in life. Your job and marriage are complicated enough. Regards/J
Somewhat hard to believe that at that price point, $300 will make all that much difference to most folks – but it’s always nice to see companies bringing out lower cost options…