How to handle a circuit switched by ground

woody_unreal:
So. you have a Regulator outputing 4.5v one one unit, but when u hook it to more that one it drops ?

No, sorry, not at all must be my description.

JimG:
The switching transistor for the speaker is in an open collector configuration. That is, the switch is between -speaker and ground.

Jim - interesting. I take it that diagnosis matched my symptoms, so to speak? Where do I go from here? The only way I could effectively measure the voltage of each doorbell independently was to group the speaker positives - but can that work??

THANKS

Grumpy_Mike:
Sorry can't follow the words on what you did, do you have a schematic?

I've drawn a crude diagram of my setup. Does this help?