The Siren Board

In my opinon there is only one vehicle siren that beats the Q2B hands down in terms of both volume and tone-- the B&M Super Chief. There is something about it's rich, resonant, focused, throaty sound that really catches one's attention.

I thought that production of these classic sirens ended back in the 1970's. I was wrong.

Check out their new website:

http://www.siro-driftsirens.com/home.html

John

Nice find! I like the sound of the 8-port fire truck sirens, I own one, and it sounds better than any Q.

Interesting. I have never heard one of theese. Looking at the site it seems the 8" Super Chief is louder than a Q. Seems the siren is much smaller but maybe that doesn't matter.

I would love to hear one. Any recordings out there?
Are they cheaper than the Q?

Here is a recording of an LAFD Task force leaving their station.

This was recorded in the 1960's according to the LAFD website. The engines that you hear are Crowns sporting the Hale-Scott gas engines. All of the sirens you hear are B&Ms.

http://www.lafd.org/hs.wav

A couple of other interesting points about the B&Ms:

1. They have a "non-roller brake" that is engaged when the siren is off. The website says that without it, the sirens are so well balanced that they would growl when they were driven with the air pushing through them. The non-roller brake is spring loaded. I'm not sure if it just disengages when you hit the siren pedal and then has some kind of delay, or if it's wired through the emergency master switch and the siren "unlocks" when the reds are on. I'll see if I can find out-- pretty neat stuff!

2. If you see pictures of the old LA Crowns, many of them had a screen on the front. The S8 was the siren that was behind the screen. I believe the S8s are the sirens on the link above.

3. B&M also made some "direct drive" sirens as opposed to "coaster sirens". They would sound great when you stepped on the pedal. But when you took your foot off the pedal they would just die real fast with no classic coast down like their coasters and the Q2B. They don't make those anymore, thank goodness!

John

zetronist wrote:

1. They have a "non-roller brake" that is engaged when the siren is off. The website says that without it, the sirens are so well balanced that they would growl when they were driven with the air pushing through them. The non-roller brake is spring loaded. I'm not sure if it just disengages when you hit the siren pedal and then has some kind of delay, or if it's wired through the emergency master switch and the siren "unlocks" when the reds are on. I'll see if I can find out-- pretty neat stuff!

3. B&M also made some "direct drive" sirens as opposed to "coaster sirens". They would sound great when you stepped on the pedal. But when you took your foot off the pedal they would just die real fast with no classic coast down like their coasters and the Q2B. They don't make those anymore, thank goodness!

John

John, how does that work?

I thought the Q was simply on it motor's armature shaft.
The momentum of the large diameterotor keeps the armature spinning.

Does the motor disengage from the rotor whenot powering up to speed?
Does the rotor have some kind of clutch?

Interesting about the growling from ram air.
I drove a load of organ pipes down I-25 to Denver.
The sounds were fascinating and eerie. Had I known my boss was planning that delivery, I would have brought a cassette recorder.

>John, how does that work?

>I thought the Q was simply on it motor's armature shaft.
>The momentum of the large diameterotor keeps the armature spinning.

The Q doesn't have a "non-roller brake"-- it's only found on B&Ms.

>Does the motor disengage from the rotor whenot powering up to speed?
>Does the rotor have some kind of clutch?

I'm not really sure. I'm doing some more research on it-- until I saw the website, I didn't realize that B&Ms had this feature on their sirens. It has piqued my interest. I'll let you know what I find out.

>I drove a load of organ pipes down I-25 to Denver.
>The sounds were fascinating and eerie. Had I known my boss was >planning that delivery, I would have brought a cassette recorder

Very Cool! When I was in College I assisted in moving and reassembling a Noaack (sp?) tracker organ (I was a church music major)

John

zetronist wrote:

The Q doesn't have a "non-roller brake"-- it's only found on B&Ms.

>Does the rotor have some kind of clutch?

I'm not really sure. I'm doing some more research on it-- until I saw the website, I didn't realize that B&Ms had this feature on their sirens. It has piqued my interest. I'll let you know what I find out.

>I drove a load of organ pipes down I-25 to Denver.
>The sounds were fascinating and eerie. Had I known my boss was >planning that delivery, I would have brought a cassette recorder

Very Cool! When I was in College I assisted in moving and reassembling a Noaack (sp?) tracker organ (I was a church music major)
John

Wow! Hope you wore gloves to avoid contact with the lead in the pipes.

At an AGO convention, someone asked if I were a musician.
I replied, "No, an organist."

In 1972? I turned off a three-manual tracker organ in Schlicker's erecting room.
Kept a C-E-G chord (with both? hands)on the 8' principals.
As the wind very slowly died away, a most fascinating sound - like church bells ringing! At first I thought a nearby church -if there was one - was ringing their bells.
I was the pipes "going up" from one partial to the other as they starved for wind. Wish I had a recorder for that, too.

At the moment, I am in Yantai, China until 8-29.
I need to hear REGER. Wachet Auf or Symphonic Fantasy und Fuge would be nice.