Cheap Air Horn/PA Unit Recommendations?

[Watermelons are cool]

Does anyone here have any recommendations for a cheap air horn / public address system? I was given an admittedly generic siren/pa system that can be seen under proably dozens of Chinese brands. I'm not fond of having any siren tones in my vehicle, it just feels wrong. I know there's products like the Whelen PAP112, but that's $200 something dollars, way more than I'd want to pay for something which I'd realistly only use to jokingly honk at my friends and other few and far between uses.

 

[C17LVFD]

Pickup a stutter tone airhorn and call it good. Way more effective unless you REALLY need a PA.

Add a decent compressor so u can blow up a tire if necessary for some added functionality.

Seth

 

[Watermelons are cool]

Pickup a stutter tone airhorn and call it good. Way more effective unless you REALLY need a PA.

Add a decent compressor so u can blow up a tire if necessary for some added functionality.

Seth

It appears that I've fubar'ed my terminology here. I was more so referred to an electronic air horn like you'd hear from any modern police cruiser. I've seen the speedtech pa100w, but that and a seperate siren goes for >2x what I'd want to pay considering how infrequently I'd be using either thing.

 

[JimRockford]

I'm working on a similar project and have beat this horse to death. This is for a contract where they need several of these for UC cars that can't siren control head in the vehicle.

One option is the Carson HA-150. The current version is a stutter horn, but it can be purchased with the old school horn. I'll try to attach the two files. The problem right now is that Carson is moving and I can't even get sales to send me an email, much less send me any product. I was told it would be after the first of the year, most likely.

The popular option that you can easily buy on Amazon is the Lamphus SoundAlert. The Lamphus can be bought bundled with a speaker (which I don't recommend) or you can just buy the SoundAlert unit and pair it with a real speaker. We've been testing that one, and I have some real concerns with it. I can try to post actual db measurements and power output readings if I get a chance tomorrow, but right now it looks like the power output is about a third of what they claim. In fact, I have another thread on that subject posted here.

 

[JimRockford]

Update: I would stay away from the Lamphus. While they're sold as 100W units, testing on 4 of them is showing they're only putting out about one third of that power. I just requested an update from Carson on when they will begin shipping again.

 

[JimRockford]

One more update on that last comment. It turns out that the Lamphus is made to work with 8 Ohm speakers which is the root of many problems with them. The Lamphus speakers aren't very good, and you can't use that system with an industry standard 11 Ohm speaker without significant loss of power.

 

[C17LVFD]

Another option… I’ve started the project just haven’t gotten to implementing it.

Seth

 

[JimRockford]

Nice. If I had room under my Tahoe I would put a set of Nathan K5LAs under there. But then again, I believe anything worth doing is worth overdoing. :>)

Here is another one from youtube. It's apparently a very cheap siren system that isn't readily available anymore, but listen to the tone quality on the first airhorn.

 

[C17LVFD]

I was able to get a 24” Grover stuttertone up under the frame of my Tahoe once upon a time. I’ve seen guys remove their spare tire and mount a large horn there in the back…

As far as the Nathan is concerned. Easiest would be mount that puppy on a roof rack or push bumper. LOL

It’s all about how creative you want to get
Seth

 

[JimRockford]

The horn I get, but where did you you mount the air tank and compressor?

I did absolutely consider those options on the Nathan. My ideal situation would be to add a Wilco like the one pictured for the spare tire, but unfortunately, if I add anything to the front or back of that truck, it will no longer fit in the garage, and if I add a roof rack, it will no longer fit in the garage.

 

[C17LVFD]

Time for a bigger garage!! Lol

Couple options…

Build a box in the cargo area… I had a 99 and 04 suburban and a 09 Tahoe historically.

Air compressors got mounted under the second row seats in those vehicles. In the 04 I also considered mounting the compressor behind the rear interior quarter panel trim.

Also depends on how big a tank u want.

I have seen people mount the air tank to the frame under the car and then just mount the compressor inside. This works well for people who want much larger tanks… and the Nathan would likely warrant that.

I’ve only ever put stutter tones or a cheap e horn eBay train horn in… never anything that requires significant air.

Hope this helps,
Seth