ASC's New Electronic Siren, The Clarity Voice Array

[DJ2226]

ASC recently posted a video to their Facebook page of them testing an I-Force 3200 next to a Clarity 832. It looks like they decided to switch from the 4 horn per module to 8 horns. This was a good move IMO considering that the angle of sound dispersion that these JBL horns have is pretty low. It's restricted to 60 degrees, so the effect you get when you move off axis with the horns is a drop in SPL. This is something I've noticed with the ATI HPSS16's and Loudoun ES-5000DC I recorded. In comparison each side of the HyperSpike MA and Sentry VR series throws sound at roughly 120 degrees and the quadrants of the I-Force throw sound at roughly 90 degrees. If I'm not mistaken the angle for the CJ-46 used in the DSA, LAWS 1200, and the older Whelen and ACA/ASC AL series is 120 degrees. The angle of the diffraction linear arrays that Alertus, SiRcom and WAVES, Hormann, Kockum Sonics, etc. use have an angle of over 150 degrees from what I understand at higher pitches and widens as the pitch drops. I've stood off axis with a WAVES HPSA-3108R and got blasted as if I were standing ion front of the horns, so I can confirm this. In these cases having a large amount of horns pointing in different directions allows for 360+ degrees coverage. Now that ASC is using all 8 spots the array should perform more like an actual omnidirectional unit.

It does seem to have a much higher amount of tremble than the I-Force and sounds a lot cleaner in voice. Besides the Sentry VR and the others from Alertus, WAVES, and SiRcom, the other large omnidirectioal sirens being sold at the moment don't come close to this siren STI wise. SPL wise ASC has been holding out on any official datasheet releases, so there's no telling how much sound this siren can put out. I can't imagine it being able to compete with the I-Force in range. The 3200 actually sounds louder than the 832 in the video, although that might just be the effect of the horn design on the tones and voices. That's just speculation though, we'll have to see how they actually stack up in the field.

https://www.facebook.com/AmericanSignal ... 430142195/

[Chem_Boffin_6589]

ASC recently posted a video to their Facebook page of them testing an I-Force 3200 next to a Clarity 832. It looks like they decided to switch from the 4 horn per module to 8 horns. This was a good move IMO considering that the angle of sound dispersion that these JBL horns have is pretty low. It's restricted to 60 degrees, so the effect you get when you move off axis with the horns is a drop in SPL. This is something I've noticed with the ATI HPSS16's and Loudoun ES-5000DC I recorded. In comparison each side of the HyperSpike MA and Sentry VR series throws sound at roughly 120 degrees and the quadrants of the I-Force throw sound at roughly 90 degrees. If I'm not mistaken the angle for the CJ-46 used in the DSA, LAWS 1200, and the older Whelen and ACA/ASC AL series is 120 degrees. The angle of the diffraction linear arrays that Alertus, SiRcom and WAVES, Hormann, Kockum Sonics, etc. use have an angle of over 150 degrees from what I understand at higher pitches and widens as the pitch drops. I've stood off axis with a WAVES HPSA-3108R and got blasted as if I were standing ion front of the horns, so I can confirm this. In these cases having a large amount of horns pointing in different directions allows for 360+ degrees coverage. Now that ASC is using all 8 spots the array should perform more like an actual omnidirectional unit.

It does seem to have a much higher amount of tremble than the I-Force and sounds a lot cleaner in voice. Besides the Sentry VR and the others from Alertus, WAVES, and SiRcom, the other large omnidirectioal sirens being sold at the moment don't come close to this siren STI wise. SPL wise ASC has been holding out on any official datasheet releases, so there's no telling how much sound this siren can put out. I can't imagine it being able to compete with the I-Force in range. The 3200 actually sounds louder than the 832 in the video, although that might just be the effect of the horn design on the tones and voices. That's just speculation though, we'll have to see how they actually stack up in the field.

https://www.facebook.com/AmericanSignal ... 430142195/

This is actually rather interesting. The use of consumer available parts and the designs they chose seems somewhat ideal for the campus sector they're trying to break in to. Nice not on the treble too- that'll add to the long range intelligibility of announcements, although I can imagine the sound being a little tinnier too, because of the design. I like the fact they're using consumer audio equipment for stadium systems for this; it sounds great.

On the loudness side of things, I concur with you on the 3200 sounding louder on camera. I agree it's most likely down to the exponential flare the 3200 uses as opposed to the "buttcheecks" design on the 832. A different approach to more treble focussed long throw coverage perhaps?

[Taterworks]

ASC recently posted a video to their Facebook page of them testing an I-Force 3200 next to a Clarity 832. It looks like they decided to switch from the 4 horn per module to 8 horns. This was a good move IMO considering that the angle of sound dispersion that these JBL horns have is pretty low. It's restricted to 60 degrees, so the effect you get when you move off axis with the horns is a drop in SPL. This is something I've noticed with the ATI HPSS16's and Loudoun ES-5000DC I recorded. In comparison each side of the HyperSpike MA and Sentry VR series throws sound at roughly 120 degrees and the quadrants of the I-Force throw sound at roughly 90 degrees. If I'm not mistaken the angle for the CJ-46 used in the DSA, LAWS 1200, and the older Whelen and ACA/ASC AL series is 120 degrees. The angle of the diffraction linear arrays that Alertus, SiRcom and WAVES, Hormann, Kockum Sonics, etc. use have an angle of over 150 degrees from what I understand at higher pitches and widens as the pitch drops. I've stood off axis with a WAVES HPSA-3108R and got blasted as if I were standing ion front of the horns, so I can confirm this. In these cases having a large amount of horns pointing in different directions allows for 360+ degrees coverage. Now that ASC is using all 8 spots the array should perform more like an actual omnidirectional unit.

It does seem to have a much higher amount of tremble than the I-Force and sounds a lot cleaner in voice. Besides the Sentry VR and the others from Alertus, WAVES, and SiRcom, the other large omnidirectioal sirens being sold at the moment don't come close to this siren STI wise. SPL wise ASC has been holding out on any official datasheet releases, so there's no telling how much sound this siren can put out. I can't imagine it being able to compete with the I-Force in range. The 3200 actually sounds louder than the 832 in the video, although that might just be the effect of the horn design on the tones and voices. That's just speculation though, we'll have to see how they actually stack up in the field.

https://www.facebook.com/AmericanSignal ... 430142195/

This is actually rather interesting. The use of consumer available parts and the designs they chose seems somewhat ideal for the campus sector they're trying to break in to. Nice not on the treble too- that'll add to the long range intelligibility of announcements, although I can imagine the sound being a little tinnier too, because of the design. I like the fact they're using consumer audio equipment for stadium systems for this; it sounds great.

On the loudness side of things, I concur with you on the 3200 sounding louder on camera. I agree it's most likely down to the exponential flare the 3200 uses as opposed to the "buttcheecks" design on the 832. A different approach to more treble focussed long throw coverage perhaps?

Apart from the custom drivers made by Community for Whelen, every other electronic siren has used some derivative of the 100W Atlas Sound AS-370 or AS100N siren drivers, or any of a number of Chinese-made clones. These are technically "off-the-shelf" parts, and the re-entrant horns used in the Federal Signal EOWS/DSA, American Signal Alertronic, and early Whelen 1000- and 2000-series sirens were Atlas Sound parts also, just arrayed in multiples for directionality and pattern control. So the use of off-the-shelf parts is nothing especially new. But the American Signal Clarity Voice Array sirens use a short, straight-flare horn optimized for the upper midrange, not the lower fundamentals used in siren warning. This lets them more effectively project the overtones and parts of speech that contribute intelligibility, at the cost of efficiency at siren warning frequencies.

[Chem_Boffin_6589]

ASC recently posted a video to their Facebook page of them testing an I-Force 3200 next to a Clarity 832. It looks like they decided to switch from the 4 horn per module to 8 horns. This was a good move IMO considering that the angle of sound dispersion that these JBL horns have is pretty low. It's restricted to 60 degrees, so the effect you get when you move off axis with the horns is a drop in SPL. This is something I've noticed with the ATI HPSS16's and Loudoun ES-5000DC I recorded. In comparison each side of the HyperSpike MA and Sentry VR series throws sound at roughly 120 degrees and the quadrants of the I-Force throw sound at roughly 90 degrees. If I'm not mistaken the angle for the CJ-46 used in the DSA, LAWS 1200, and the older Whelen and ACA/ASC AL series is 120 degrees. The angle of the diffraction linear arrays that Alertus, SiRcom and WAVES, Hormann, Kockum Sonics, etc. use have an angle of over 150 degrees from what I understand at higher pitches and widens as the pitch drops. I've stood off axis with a WAVES HPSA-3108R and got blasted as if I were standing ion front of the horns, so I can confirm this. In these cases having a large amount of horns pointing in different directions allows for 360+ degrees coverage. Now that ASC is using all 8 spots the array should perform more like an actual omnidirectional unit.

It does seem to have a much higher amount of tremble than the I-Force and sounds a lot cleaner in voice. Besides the Sentry VR and the others from Alertus, WAVES, and SiRcom, the other large omnidirectioal sirens being sold at the moment don't come close to this siren STI wise. SPL wise ASC has been holding out on any official datasheet releases, so there's no telling how much sound this siren can put out. I can't imagine it being able to compete with the I-Force in range. The 3200 actually sounds louder than the 832 in the video, although that might just be the effect of the horn design on the tones and voices. That's just speculation though, we'll have to see how they actually stack up in the field.

https://www.facebook.com/AmericanSignal ... 430142195/

This is actually rather interesting. The use of consumer available parts and the designs they chose seems somewhat ideal for the campus sector they're trying to break in to. Nice not on the treble too- that'll add to the long range intelligibility of announcements, although I can imagine the sound being a little tinnier too, because of the design. I like the fact they're using consumer audio equipment for stadium systems for this; it sounds great.

On the loudness side of things, I concur with you on the 3200 sounding louder on camera. I agree it's most likely down to the exponential flare the 3200 uses as opposed to the "buttcheecks" design on the 832. A different approach to more treble focussed long throw coverage perhaps?

Apart from the custom drivers made by Community for Whelen, every other electronic siren has used some derivative of the 100W Atlas Sound AS-370 or AS100N siren drivers, or any of a number of Chinese-made clones. These are technically "off-the-shelf" parts, and the re-entrant horns used in the Federal Signal EOWS/DSA, American Signal Alertronic, and early Whelen 1000- and 2000-series sirens were Atlas Sound parts also, just arrayed in multiples for directionality and pattern control. So the use of off-the-shelf parts is nothing especially new. But the American Signal Clarity Voice Array sirens use a short, straight-flare horn optimized for the upper midrange, not the lower fundamentals used in siren warning. This lets them more effectively project the overtones and parts of speech that contribute intelligibility, at the cost of efficiency at siren warning frequencies.

I'll clarify by saying that ASC is using equipment from the stadium PA scene, with reasonably priced equipment being used. Should have said that originally as I know companies have been using standard PA equipment for upwards of 40 years.