The worst/loudest horn I’ve ever heard, with only a Vibration 350 and a SpectrAlert Advance coming close, was a Cerberus Pyrotronics MC-S17-F. My middle school has eight of them scattered throughout the office/media building complementing the original three Wheelock 34 horns, and DEAR. LORD. They drowned out any and every other sound, including the 34’s running on FWR. You couldn’t even hear the 34’s unless you got close enough to pick up the sound under the screech of the MC-S17-F’s.
The MC-S17-F is rated at 100 decibels at 10’, and the horn tone sounds like a TrueAlert with a sinus infection. Also, when you have 2 of them on Continuous in a single-hallway office wing (with a Wheelock 34 halfway between them), you literally can’t hear yourself think.
Wheelock AS horn/strobes at school. They’re everywhere - even in most restrooms!
The areas that have voice-evacuation have a lot of speaker/strobes so the voice won’t get drowned out - for instance, the media center (mini-auditorium which is only a little larger than a typical classroom), has 4 speaker/strobes.
The worst/loudest horn I’ve ever heard, with only a Vibration 350 and a SpectrAlert Advance coming close, was a Cerberus Pyrotronics MC-S17-F. My middle school has eight of them scattered throughout the office/media building complementing the original three Wheelock 34 horns, and DEAR. LORD. They drowned out any and every other sound, including the 34’s running on FWR. You couldn’t even hear the 34’s unless you got close enough to pick up the sound under the screech of the MC-S17-F’s.
The MC-S17-F is rated at 100 decibels at 10’, and the horn tone sounds like a TrueAlert with a sinus infection. Also, when you have 2 of them on Continuous in a single-hallway office wing (with a Wheelock 34 halfway between them), you literally can’t hear yourself think.
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i googled the model # up and cant find anything so im assuming the horn component is the same as a -9846?
The worst/loudest horn I’ve ever heard, with only a Vibration 350 and a SpectrAlert Advance coming close, was a Cerberus Pyrotronics MC-S17-F. My middle school has eight of them scattered throughout the office/media building complementing the original three Wheelock 34 horns, and DEAR. LORD. They drowned out any and every other sound, including the 34’s running on FWR. You couldn’t even hear the 34’s unless you got close enough to pick up the sound under the screech of the MC-S17-F’s.
The MC-S17-F is rated at 100 decibels at 10’, and the horn tone sounds like a TrueAlert with a sinus infection. Also, when you have 2 of them on Continuous in a single-hallway office wing (with a Wheelock 34 halfway between them), you literally can’t hear yourself think.
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i googled the model # up and cant find anything so im assuming the horn component is the same as a -9846?
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No. The MC series is a multitone horn/strobe. Here’s an MC-S17-S which is the same thing except that it’s designed for surface mounting. (no tapered edges)
Here’s a video of MC-series horn/strobes.
[YouTube=ZdYvE78SsMQ][/YouTube]
It’s nearly impossible to hear the Vibratone that’s used as a door alarm.
Also note how almost everyone left - probably because of how loud those horn/strobes are.
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Ohhhh, the memories of so many middle school fire drills just flooded into my mind. The media center had 4 of them (plus a Wheelock 34), the administration//guidance office wing had 2 of them (plus a Wheelock 34), and the front office area had 2 of them as well.
I was tempted to put the SpectrAlert Advance as I own one and it is quite loud, but my upper elementary school (5th-6th grade) has a 4903-9252 on CONTINUOUS in a stairwell with concrete walls. Man, I loved fire drills back then, but my goodness that thing murdered my ears.
My Faraday Type 512 horn is the new heavyweight champion. Hearing protection is a must with the thing because it’s easily over 100 decibels. If I thought fire drills with -9838’s were scary as a kid, I can’t imagine what it would be like with large vibratory horns, resonating horns - or the poor Oregonians who have Federal Model A and B-9 sirens…
[YouTube]jOTYBErL7zk[/YouTube]
I never thought about this before, but the famous agent-release Exceder at Tunxis Community College (set to high volume) was able to penetrate through:
The brick wall separating the 600 and 300 wings, with closed fire doors
The walls and doors of my dad’s office
The pair of headphones I was wearing
Were it not for that “little Exceder that could”, my most popular video would likely have never gotten made.
A couple of honorable mentions:
The exit from the gym at Linden Street School was a very narrow corridor that had a 2903-9101 + 2901-9838 combo. A nice, healthy one, too https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4MWVZ1hCS4&t=41s - Imagine this, but with brick walls. That line couldn’t move fast enough.
At Sedgwick Middle School, the gym had a 2901-9806 on a (burnt-out) 4050-90. It wasn’t painful since the gym was gigantic, but it was certainly awe-inspiring how loud a single horn could be. The outdoor alarms were also -9806’s, which were somewhat sickly but still carried far.
Out of all I’ve heard, I’d say it’s an easy tie between the National Time 411 and the IBM 4030-2, but that’s just from my collection. In person, probably either the Spectralert Advance or the Edwards EG1-VM. Especially the EG1-VM, those used to terrify the heck out of me in elementary school.
Wheelock NS, 7002T and Spectralert Advance.
-Seen and heard a few Advances
-Had MOSTLY 7002Ts and a few other types of alarms in middle school
-ALL 7002Ts in both my elementary schools
-Wheelock NSs in High School
During fire drills or any alarm activation for that matter; I would have to cover my ears, I would get stomach cramps and I would sweat. Twice I forgot to stick my fingers in my ears and they were ringing as a result. Luckily it took less then 2 minutes to leave and then I would unplug my ears when outside.
The loudest I’ve ever heard were these Federal 450Ds + VALS (ADT rebranded) that were at my old elementary school. Unfortunately, I don’t think they’re there anymore; a lot of spots where they used to be now have Edwards Integrity horn strobes and horns.
I had 4051s in my elementary school. We had an open classroom layout, with 2 “bays” on each of the 3 sides of what essentially was a giant square. On the left side of the leftmost bay, and the right side of the rightmost bay, was a 4051. Sparse, but quite loud. These were in continuous, running off a very old Notifier panel, before that got axed in favor of a 4007ES with TrueAlerts in 2019.
Middle school had Adaptahorns in most places. I didn’t find these loud at all. Merely annoying.
High school, we had TrueAlerts, but only remote strobes in most classrooms.
The loudest alarm I ever heard was in my elementary school with ear piercing Wheelock NS-24MCW. My ears! I just couldn’t stand it! Piezoelectric Buzzers amplified to an ear shattering 103 dBA! I just wanted to run. When I came to my middle school, I heard fire bells in a weird coded pattern of 2-2-1. Thank God it was quieter than the horn strobes in my other school. It was 86 dBA.
