Loudest & Quietest Fire Alarms You Have Heard

Fire Alarm General Discussion
1

What are the loudest and quietest fire alarms you have heard? For me…

Loudest:
[]Simplex 2901-9833 + 2903
[]Federal Signal 450D + VALS
[*]Gentex Commander 2 & 3 (Mechanical Tone)

Quietest:
[]Wheelock Chime/Strobes
[]System Sensor MASS
[*]Gentex GMS & GOS

2

Loudest: Standard/Federal 30A’s in my elementary school’s original system. The Faraday/Pyrotronics electrmechanical horns (the ones with the MTL-style strobe) at Port Authority Bus Terminal in NYC are a close second.

Quietest: Simplex speaker/strobes in my college dorms. If I ever hear the chime/strobes at the library where I work, I’m guessing they may claim the title. For horns, I’d also have to go with the MASS.

3

Loudest: SPECTRALERT ADVANCE HORN STROBE
Quietest: SpectrAlert Advance Chime/strobe

5

Loudest
Space Age Electronics 2DCD horns on AV32 light plates - They were so loud I swear that they made the computers in the room strobe vertically and flicker.

Simplex 4051 horns on 4050-80 light plates - Not as loud as the 2DCDs but still you wouldn’t want to listen to them too long.

Wheelock AS - I could hear one on the other side of the school from where the horn is mounted on the exterior of another building on campus.

Quietist
Edwards 892-2B - They probably just sounded as loud as a microwave going off after it was done cooking food in the microwave.

Gentex SHG - My 1st grade mind thought that it was some kind of whistle for a few seconds when I heard it go off in that art class.

SpectrAlert Classic - It almost couldn’t be heard among the loud talking in the lecture hall where it was and I thought it was just some beep from somewhere else before I knew what it was.

6

Loudest:

  1. Wheelock MT/AS - Were used as outdoor signals at my high school; could be heard clearly from over 300 feet away
  2. Faraday 5920 - uses the same mechanism as the 2901-9846
  3. Simplex 2901-9806

Quietest:

  1. Gentex Commander2 (chime)
  2. Edwards pre-Integrity speaker/strobes from a local hospital, playing hi-lo-hi tone
  3. Simplex 2901-9838 - some are quite loud, whereas others can be stood next to without any discomfort

I don’t have any experience with AC horns or chimes (besides my Commander2), so most of these aren’t too extreme.

7

Loudest: Simplex 4040 horns (at my high school)
Older Federal Signal explosion-proof horns (at my middle school)
Simplex 4051+4050-80 horn/lights (at the school I went to for kindergarten)
System Sensor SpectrAlert Advance horn/strobes (at the Walmart I used to work at, along with at my college)
Wheelock AS horn/strobes (at the local baseball stadium I also work for)

Quietest: EST Genesis speaker/strobes
Simplex TrueAlert speaker/strobes

8

LoUdEsT!!!
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Gentex GX-90s: The worst offenders– I’ve never liked high pitched alarms, especially loud ones. It gives you this weird feeling in your ears and you hear it after you’ve gotten out of the building.

Simplex TrueAlerts when I was under 10 years: God, I was scared of these alarms. Practically the entire student body hated these things. When it went off, not only when I yelp, everyone screams.

Simplex 4903-9219s: These things were in every classroom during Elementary School and I remember someone saying way back "why are these ones (TrueAlerts) louder than those things (9219s). They were less loud than all of these though.

quietest…
———————

Wheelock ZNS or Siemens ZH: Even though these are in all the classrooms except for some near the Learning Centers (essentially chill outs/libraries), I really do not care about them. They’re all in sync so that’s a bonus.

Simplex TrueAlerts now: I go to a lot of parties with friends and it’s reduced how loud things can be since I’m used to it, because of that, I don’t mind these alarms. Now if I were to hear an Advance (which I have but it was from a farther away building, so it was really quiet), that would still be louder.

Simplex 9846s: Yes, these were said to be 100 decibels (in reality there in a range of like, 90), but just like TrueAlerts it doesn’t immediately kill me.

System Sensor MASS: I heard this at Chicago, but I don’t think it was used as an actual fire alarm. It was a remote horn since I saw the sounder but not a strobe.

9

I’m sort of shocked that anybody would think that 9846s are actually QUIET when I consider them the louder versions of the 9838.

10

I’ve never heard 9838s but they would definitely go lower than the 9846s on a scale chart. I just think they’re quieter than the other alarms I’ve heard.

11

Yeah, the 9846’s in the science wing of my high school are deafening.

12

From my experience, 9838’s do seem rather quiet as far as DC mechanical horns go. I’d imagine the 9846 is pretty substantially louder. Can either of them have their volume adjusted?

13

Loudest: MTs set to High Volume Horn. Or Advance.

Quietest: SpectrAlert Classic Chime/Strobe

14

Loudest in my school: Faraday Horn Strobe

Medium: Wheelock Exceeder

Quietest: Simplex TrueAlert

1 Like
15

Loudest: Sanjiang Electronics SG-991 and GST HX-100B (Not EST, it’s Gulf Security Technology Co.). Real ear crappers.
Quietest: LEADER Group LD1002EN. It’s officially defined as a “horn/strobe”, but I suppose it’s technically just a “mini sounder/light”

16

Loudest: Simplex 2901-9838

Quietest: A remote strobe :smiley:
Ok ok, I’ll answer the question properly…

Quietest: System Sensor SpectrAlert Advance CHSR (Chime Strobe)

17

Sorry That I Am 3 Years Late.
Loudest: Spectralert Advance (High Volume And Continuous), Federal Vibratone 350, Simplex 4030, Amseco Motor Horn (Continuous And FWR), EST Genesis (FWR), Edwards 885 (Continuous And FWR), Simplex 4903-9219 (Continuous And FWR), Gentex GMS (Continuous, FWR), SHG (Continuous, First Generation), Gentex GX-90, Siemens UMHT (UMHT-MCS), UMMT (High Volume, Continuous Horn), Any Low Frequency Sounder (High Volume, Continuous), Wheelock MT (High Volume, Either Continuous Horn, Code 3 Tone, Or High-Low, Mostly Continuous Horn, FWR Regardless Of Coding), Wheelock AS (High Volume, Continuous), Any 10” Bell (Continuous)
Quietest: Any Chime. (CH-70 For Example)

18

That’s a pretty good list!

Loudest: Any Simplex 4903 Electromechanical Horn on Continuous (Examples: 4903-9219, 4903-9215, 4903-9217, 4903-9220, 4903-9218) and any other Faraday D Series Mechanism Horn like the Siemens U-HN and Gentex GMS, Simplex 2901-9806, 9833, 9838, 9840, 9845, 9846 TrueAlerts/QuickAlerts/TrueAlert ES (Free Run, SmartSync, Addressable), Selectable 4903s in Continuous, SpectrAlert Advances, System Sensor LED L Series, Edwards Pre-Integrity & 757-7A-HS; Sometimes the Modern Integrity, EST Genesis Horn/Strobe, Wheelock MT (On Continuous Horn)

Medium: Gentex Commander 2, 3, 4, Wheelock AS, Wheelock NS, Wheelock Exceeder, Wheelock ZNS, Siemens U-MMT, U-MHU

Quietest: Simplex 4903 Electronic Horn Strobe (Examples being the 4903-9236 & 4903-9238), System Sensor SpectrAlert Classic, Gentex Commander 1, Speaker/Strobes, Mini Horns, Chimes

19

Loudest
SpectrAlert Advance on high volume
Wheelock NS on high volume
EST Genesis horn strobes
EST Genesis speaker strobes on 2 watts EST Genesis tone + evac message at my high school

Quietest
EST LED Genesis speaker strobes on code 3 air horn tone and evac message.
L-Series chime/strobe

20

Loudest:

  • EST 792-7A-006 (Pre-Integrity- Continuous. These were at my elementary school.)
  • EST Genesis (Code 3 Horn- High Volume. I heard this going off at my swimming pool once, and at my old summer camp!)
  • Edwards Adaptahorn (Continuous. These were also at my old summer camp, paired with Genesis strobes in some locations!)
  • System Sensor SpectrAlert Advance (Code 3 HIGH VOLUME Horn. These were at my middle school!)
  • Gentex Commander 3 (Code 3 HIGH VOLUME. My mother’s old office building had these!)
  • Napco/Ademco Security Siren (Warble Tone- although it’s not a fire alarm, it’s super loud! My grandmother and uncle have these with their Slomin’s systems.)

Quietest:

  • EST Genesis Speaker Strobes (playing the normal “EST Guy” message on a Kidde VM-series panel, or an EST3. This is at my school and swimming pool!)