This box seemed to be the opposite of what Bluebeard suggests actually. Rather than too much functionality with too few controls, there seemed to be far too many buttons for what I assumed was a simple task!
Not sure of the make or model, but it consists of two rows of about eight buttons and a dial on the right with about six positions. It seems the top row controls which outputs are directed to the intercom (speaker), and the bottom row controls the output to the headsets. The dial selects the function of the ptt button and/or hand mike (COM1, COM2, INT and a couple I couldn't work out). The particular aircraft has dual nav/com and adf, which some of the others don't so I guess it has to be more complicated, but why would I want to listen to COM2 over the speaker and COM1 through the headset? Do I need to be able to listen to the ID of both VOR's at the same time? Do I need to be able to talk over the internal speaker in a Pa28?
Point taken about getting to know the kit a bit better. I can honestly say that after 11 flights in this particular aircraft I had never even noticed the intercom box, let alone touched it! I always thought that spreading training across seven different aircraft, each configured slightly differently, was on the whole, a good thing as it'd make it easier for me to get used to new aircraft in the long run. I still do, but I guess, as I said originally, that I'll just have to spend that bit longer on familiarisation each time I climb into one of them.