Patent ID: 7664273

Claim:
An arrangement for use in a facility with a plurality of audio zones receiving at least one audio signal from a remotely-located audio distribution controller—and for controlling audio at a user-controlled speaker load located in at least one of the audio zones, the arrangement comprising: an isolation circuit for generating at least one transformed audio signal in response to receiving said at least one audio signal, the isolation circuit including an impedance-matching circuit that provides impedance-matched termination for said at least one audio signal, the impedance-matched termination adapted to provide a selection between a number of settings each setting for the impedance-matching circuit having a different maximum limit on an amount of electrical power to the speaker load and a volume control limited by a maximum limit corresponding to a currently-selected setting for the impedance-matched termination; a speaker load circuit for delivering, in response to said at least one transformed audio signal, audible signals in the at least one of the audio zones; a user-input device coupled to provide input commands; and an audio control unit located in said at least one of the audio zones and remote from the audio distribution controller, the audio control unit having a microprocessor adapted to control the delivery of the audible signals in response to the input commands.