Maybe some of you have noticed these announcements on the Gamewell-FCI and Notifier websites:
It appears that System Sensor has released their latest notification appliance series, and is rolling them out first to their Notifier and Gamewell-FCI distributors. I for one am a little surprised that they went to the effort to design a traditional xenon strobe at this stage, when it seems that the industry is moving toward LEDs for size, current draw, and simplicity of solid-state technology. But from a preliminary look at the specs, these seem to have a lower current draw than the current Wheelock LED strobes. So that seems reason enough to give them a chance.
I’m not crazy about the looks, but I’ll have to wait until I see one in person. (See a close up here.) My company is an Gamewell-FCI distributor, so I will see if we can get a sample soon.
Actually, I think they look better than the current Advance series. Less bulbous, more like the classic Spectralert line. I’m wondering if I can somehow get sound clips.
I actually preferred the Advance series. The classic was just so round and cheap looking. It’s a good thing they’re keeping the 520 Hz models for now; they look like a mini version of the Space Age AV-32.
But I do hope they change the tone to something that doesn’t sound like a cat coughing up a hairball.
Eh, I liked the Advances better to be honest. They look cool but I don’t really like the footprint. It seems as if they will only be compatible for single gang boxes, and I can see installers buying a ton of these only to find out they won’t work.
I guess this also means I need to get an advance now before they’re gone and replaced with these things.
Advances aren’t really cheap New on eBay now though, so I might just wait it out. I just bought a Spectralert classic anyways.
The Genesis series and LED Exceders are single gang as well, which is where the industry should be headed. Alarms should be as unobtrusive as possible. I would assume that installers would notice a fact like this before buying a ton of them and finding out they don’t fit. Plus, there is most likely an adapter plate of some sort that allows them to fit in double-gang boxes. There’s always the possibility that they may still manufacture Advances for retrofit applications.
It’s interesting to note that the install sheet specifies that these fit 4" boxes…
[quote]
The L-Series standard horns, strobes, and horn strobes
shall mount to any of the following enclosures:
• standard 2 x 4 x 1 7/8-inch backbox
• standard 4 x 4 x 1 1/2-inch backbox
• 4-inch octagon backbox
• double-gang backbox
[/quote]
I think the images are deceiving in terms of the size of the device. According to the engineering drawings, these are a whole lot bigger than they appear. The horn bodies on the “standard” models are nearly 5" wide, more that enough to cover a 4" square backbox.
Hmmm…this makes me wonder if perhaps they will sound like the advance too…I wish I could get my hands on one of these but I don’t even think they exist in general production yet…and even then I wonder if they will still sell the Advance series.
Well, they now have a 3.1kHz tone option. So the horn will be different, but the electromechanical tone might still be the same. Or it could be like the classic.
in keeping with the industry trend of ugly devices, system sensor is trying to lower the bar even more… those things are hideous looking.
i’m not a huge fan of the LED exceders because the product line is lacking in a lot of areas (like there’s no weatherproof or high candela options), but owners and architects love the looks so they are an easy sell. same with the est genesis series, its just a compact low profile somewhat decent looking device compared to massive amount of large hideous 1970’s looking devices coming out of other manufacturers, like gentex.
what i do like about the system sensors is they have a few devices that cover everything you need, whereas other manufacturers tend to have many models to cover everything you need.
I’m somewhat surprised that they dropped the “SpectrAlert” brand name on these devices. So far all of the branding I’ve seen is simply “L-Series,” not “SpectrAlert L Series” or anything of that sort.
You’d think that with the brand-recognition they’ve built up for the last 20-or-so years with that product line they’d keep it around.
All of the major manufacturers are heading toward single-gang backboxes for horns. EST and Wheelock have been selling single-gang horns for some time now, the former for well over a decade. Simplex’s new series (which was finally released in the US, per their website) is single-gang. Only makes sense that System Sensor is doing the same because it is indeed becoming the standard.
As far as the standard/compact versions, I wonder if the “standard” version has a removable trim plate, similar to what the Genesis horns have when mounted on square backboxes.
The new product line has been added to the System Sensor website, although there has been no presentation or press release of any kind. Also, currently all models of the SpectrAlert Advance line are still listed and not marked as discontinued. Who knows how long they’ll stay around. IIRC wasn’t the MultiAlert line discontinued together with the SpectrAlert Classic?
[quote]
I think I better get an Advance now then because it seems like they're gonna be discontinued real soon.
[/quote]
Believe me, you won’t have a problem finding an Advance online. Even the Classic is still carried on some websites (such as Amazon), and that was discontinued 10 years ago!
Yeah, I actually just got a Classic horn only NIB not too long ago for $13.
I was looking at the L series data sheet, and looking at it it seems System Sensor is reintroducing 3000hz as a tone option.
I can’t wait until these go into retail, because I’d buy one now, but I suppose if you buy it right after the product comes out, then it’s typically really pricey. For example, I remember when the low frequency alarms came out, and they were (and still are) pretty expensive.
