Tascam launched the MA-BT240 Multifunctional Mixing Amplifier, part of the company’s new Compact Commercial Series. Designed for sound distribution, presentations and announcements in commercial environments, the product is aimed at installations in restaurants, cafes, offices, facilities, retail stores, educational facilities and similar venues.

With its compact half-rack form factor, the MA-BT240 can be placed on a table, shelf or rack-mounted with an optional bracket. It delivers 240 watts of high-impedance amplification for driving 70V or 100V loudspeaker arrays in distributed audio systems and can also be utilized with 4- or 8-Ohm loudspeakers (2 × 120 watts, selectable between Mono and Stereo).

Audio sources can be connected to a Mic/Line input with switchable connectors on the front and rear (the latter supporting paging), a stereo RCA line input and wirelessly via Bluetooth. A Ducker function is available for the mic. Hence, for environments where background music is playing, the system can automatically lower the volume of the music when an announcement is made. With the built-in mixing function, the user can control the levels of the various sources feeding the amplifier.

The built-in Bluetooth receiver makes it effortless to feed the amplifier with background music and other sources. The Bluetooth antenna can be wired for an extension to position it in a preferred location, ensuring optimal signal reception.

An EQ and high-pass filter on the output side give the user control over the sound quality. Moreover, the master volume can be adjusted from external controllers. There is also a line-level output to facilitate the addition of further zones by routing the output signal to another power amplifier.