What is your favorite electronic horn sound?

What is your favorite electronic horn sound?

  • Edwards 892
  • Edwards Integrity
  • Edwards Genesis
  • Federal Signal 450E
  • Gentex SHG/Commander
  • Mircom FHS
  • Potter Select-A-Horn
  • Siemens U-MMT
  • Simplex QuickAlert/TrueAlert
  • Space Age HA24D
  • System Sensor MultiAlert MAEH
  • System Sensor SpectrAlert Classic
  • System Sensor SpectrAlert Advance/L-Series
  • Wheelock ES
  • Wheelock EHS/AES
  • Wheelock AS/MT
  • Wheelock NS/ZNS/Exceder
  • Other (specify)
0 voters

This is question that came into my mind recently and I haven’t seen posted before. Note that this refers to the typical “electromechanical”/“broadband” tone, not to the alternative tones of some models, nor to coding pattern. I include below examples of all the options in the poll (all in continuous for easier comparison):

Edwards 892 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TinTiz8S1gQ
Edwards Integrity - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuCMwhtRyOM
Edwards Genesis - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r8VJZ0gyqQ
Federal Signal 450E - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=On2HwkZhSGk&t=130
Gentex SHG/Commander - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AN2wbYrZuRg
Mircom FHS - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIjBNIm2bnc
Potter Select-A-Horn - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOoZF9dv9Ws&t=104 (the last tone)
Siemens U-MMT - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7hsWWAweHo
Simplex QuickAlert/TrueAlert - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCScj6xslJA
Space Age HA24D - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUNQihBCNmg
System Sensor MultiAlert MAEH - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq2WQMYIRSU
System Sensor SpectrAlert Classic - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKUIwnWYBMc
System Sensor SpectrAlert Advance/L-Series - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcuBgrmKRRg
Wheelock ES - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IhD83LjBEw (the first tone)
Wheelock EHS/AES - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfCDcsWH3Fo
Wheelock AS/MT - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjwnC7HLvOM
Wheelock NS/ZNS/Exceder - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKB-kiz3ZYo

The modern Wheelock alarm tones are not as crazy as (lets say) SpectrAlert Advance, and they’re less loud.

Gentex Commander III wins hands down to me when it comes to favorite.

I voted for the Edwards Integrity because it sounds like a mechanical horn. I’m not a big fan of the 892’s tone for some reason.

Top 5

  1. Edwards 892 - I prefer the fuller tone of the 2B to the sharper 1B, but both sound really cool in harmony. See what I mean? https://youtu.be/syZ84JkEWok

  2. Gentex SHG - Sounds almost like a low-pitched mechanical horn.

  3. Simplex TrueAlert - The 2-wire SmartSync ones especially. The 4-wire ones are a bit more shrill, and the addressable ones (especially the ES) sound almost whiny.

  4. Gentex Commander2/3/4 - The most pleasant-sounding of the “cricket” tone horns.

  5. The older Simplex rectangular horns, like the -9236. Mixed with -9219s, they sound meh, but by themselves in code 3, they really shine.

Honorable mentions

  • The Advance/L-Series probably has the most effective tone. It sounds like a lot of effort was put into making it as attention-grabbing as possible.

  • The Faraday 6220, since it’s actually a hybrid between an electronic and a mechanical horn.

In conclusion, I lean towards analog horns with their more natural sounds and varying pitches. It’s hard to rate the MAEH, and the HA24D even more so, since both have tones that are quite inconsistent.

From the list I chose the 892 if only because the experience that I had with them in my high school modular building was neat not because the school itself was a Simplex system mainly but because they all had different pitches which I know from looking on YouTube is rare.

I do like the older SHGs for the same reason but since they weren’t included, I’m going with the 892.

I personally like the Mircom FHS, it’s actually a little more pleasing to the ears. But, 2 that stick out to me are the Edwards Integrity & Genesis. They have got to be some of the most ear piercing alarms I’ve heard, especially the LED version of the Genesis, way louder than the original.

I hope the 892 is gonna be in a voice evacuation message.

Put it on my ringtone, too.