The Siren Board

Thanks Dennis and Skyler.

I've probably posted this before...

http://file.lacounty.gov/bos/supdocs/59997.pdf

This was a test conducted about 5 years ago between an ASC iForce-1600, a Federal Signal Modulator and a Whelen WPS-2904.

jkvernon wrote:I've probably posted this before...

http://file.lacounty.gov/bos/supdocs/59997.pdf

This was a test conducted about 5 years ago between an ASC iForce-1600, a Federal Signal Modulator and a Whelen WPS-2904.

I'm surprised the Mod had pretty good ratings for voice.

I'm surprised too. Federal systems seem to have a lack of cadence and are usually intelligible only up close. American and Whelen are usually much easier to hear and understand. They both implement more silence between words which reduces words overlapping with echo. Not to mention American uses Simplex's voice technology which makes the most understandable of EVAC systems, in my opinion.

Guys, it's either Hoermann or Hörmann. Not Hormann. (oe replaces ö)

I honestly have only heard one electronic siren which didn't even do voice but watching videos on YT I'd probably say that the Whelen 2900/4004/Vortex series are the loudest but the one I find the most clear sounding is probably the ASC I-Force/E-Class. ATI's have clear voice sound too but they're not really all that reliable in my opinion.

I figured I'd throw a couple of uncommon companies in here and a couple other observations. LRAD and Cooper Notifications have mass warning systems that have pretty good intelligibility up close. Unfortunately due to how rare these systems are there aren't many videos of a system with them in ambiance to really show how well they preform.

CN's WAVES systems have been used at a few colleges, however there are not many videos of them out there. This is the only one I could find with the siren actually talking. They seem to produce a clear voice.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JK090RPvf_Y

LRAD specializes in voice messaging equipment. There are some military bases that use some of their 360X's and have LRAD controllers connected to older ADT Clear Warning systems that have outlived their usefulness. The 360X is their omni that is geared towards voice broadcasts, while the 360XS has the ability to be used as an actual siren in addition to having the voice capability. Their 360XM is a miniature version of both. This is a video of a 360X-2. It's the best of the ones I've heard so far.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0bN803ZE9k

ATIs also has pretty good intelligibility, but as said before they are not the greatest sirens on the market. This one from San Francisco has a clear voice to it. In the ambiance you can understand what they say pretty well.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Npgh5zQtpBE

To add a bit more to this in terms of how they sound up close, Whelens can have a very clear voice or sound muffled from siren to siren. This is something I notice down here, especially in Ft. Benning where the newer 2909's and 2905 seem to put out a muffled sounding voice compared to the older ones. It apparently depends on the quality of the recording. Madison County, KY's Whelen system threw me off for a good while leading me to think they had UltraVoice controllers, what with the Federal Westminster chimes and speedy and clear voice. Turns out that they replaced a system of Modulators, and apparently the county either reused their recording from the Mods or did their own.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWLMK3yJchM