My Favorite Fire Alarm out of any, is the Wheelock AS.
My second favorite is the Gentex Commander 3.
Lastly, The Simplex True Alerts! Speaker and horn strobes. 
I mostly pay attention to Wheelock AS’s tbh!
Also Wheelock AS’s are everywhere, I’ve seen them in tons of public places! 
My favorite fire alarm is the Wheelock AS!
The model number of my AS, is the
AS-121575W
Anyone else have it?
I’m going to put down a pull station and notification appliance for each company:
Wheelock: NS-24-MCW
Gentex: 1st Gen. SHG
Simplex: Anything from the 1980s-1990s such as the 2901 and 2903 series but I also like the TrueAlerts and the 4903 series, Pull Station: 2099-9795
Siemens: UHN-MCS, Pull station: MS-151
Edwards: EST Genesis, Pul station: 278 series
I think that’s all the major companies, let me know if I’m missing any
Simplex: 2901-9833 on a 2903 light plate
Gentex: Tie between GOS and Commander 3
Wheelock: 7002T
EST: Integrity horn/strobe
Pull Stations
Simplex: Any T-bar
Firelite: BG-10
EST: SIGA 278 dual action pull station
Since when is the System 3 a discontinued product?? I just checked the Siemens Building Technologies site, and it’s still on there as a current production product.
Mine would be the Simplex 2901-9846 and the 2903 strobe and 9838 combo. The -9846s are accompanied by 4903-9104 strobe plates. Yes, that is a model number according to a data sheet (it’s a more rare version of the -9105 with a reflector and a 15/75cd strobe instead of a 100cd strobe). My school has (and has had) an all Simplex system since the 1960s. Of course the original alarms were gone, but the 2903s and 9838s that were installed in 1974 or 1982 are still there to this day. They do the classic 90’s 120 BPM march time, which I love. You can check out a fire drill video I made a while back for some audio:
Anyways those are my favorite fire alarms!
Then you would have LOVED my high school which has 9838 horns on 4903 strobe plates almost EVERYWHERE. There were a few exceptions but if there was a room that needed an alarm in it, it was usually this horn/strobe combo that they used. They were installed around e time the school had an addition on it and previously the alarms were Space Age Electronics 2DCD horns on AV32 light plates. Did i mention this system was in continuous?
Ouch. Here they’re not too bad unless you’re in a narrow corridor with the -9846’s.
My elementary school had EHS-DL1’s and 7002T’s on continuous, so I can relate to that.
It really wasn’t bad at my high school either except for one back stairwell which had an unbearably loud 9838 horn in there which was ear level from the back exit of the Teen Center. :shock:
Simplex 2903. I like that its unique because it doesnt do a command-3 tone.
Simplex: Simplex 2903 light plate
Gentex: Gentex commander 3
Modern Wheelock: Wheelock NS
Vintage Wheelock: Wheelock CH-BF1-WS-24
Edwards: Pre integrity
Others: Space Age Electronics AV-32/V33
They sound like hammer drills pecking through hard walls. More than freakingly noisy.
Mechanical horns honk. Electronic horns(not including spectralert advances) beep. Low frequency sounders toot. Speaker strobes whoop and talk. When it comes to spectralert advances, they screech.
Any FA components older than 1990!! The ones made after 1990 are cheap plastic junk!!
1 Like
Simplex: '60s-'90s devices, e.g. 4040, 4050, 4051, 2903/4903 series strobe and light plates, etc. including projectors and flush-mount plates. (originally manufactured by Faraday)
Faraday: Vintage devices, e.g. 5410
Edwards: 3XX-series Adaptahorns
Wheelock: 7002-24
Pull stations: Simplex T-Bars and Chevrons, Faraday 10123-series, anything else vintage
FACPs: Simplex 4207/4208, 2001, anything with a code wheel
Anything super rare or unusual.
Chimes; so much better than buzzers or horns. University of Michigan has a few Simplex Chime/voice/strobe units around the campus and at the hospital. Don’t even have to plug my ears.
Electronic chimes are quiet and soft, while some mechanical chimes can be a little bit louder. Their solenoid mechanisms keep knocking on the metal plate continuously, which make’em sound like telephone bells.
Anyway, they’re much more gentle than horns and sounders. That’s why they’re invented.
Yeah. Some fire alarm models use tonebars, a little hammer strikes them.
Exactly, this is the one they have :D; they have them at the Trinity Health’s Reichert Building 4th floor in Ypsilanti, MI.