Batboard

Anyone mounted single or dual speakers behind the grill or bumper on the Suburban?

Location? Speaker style or model used?

I have a Systems 9000 siren/pa unit so I know the FS dynamax speakers are not compatible.

Ok, additional info here with this post.

Obviously the classic atlas style speakers are the best, butr what about other compact speakers?

Whelen SA134
Dynamax (already been discussed)
CPI cast speakers?

Which sound the best, last longest and have the lowest failure rate?

What's best and what is the worst? Keep in mind this is a large SUV, not a 95 foot ariel ladder truck so lets keep the comparisons relevent.

Trying to find the best I can for this install, I don't want to do it over at some point.

Dynamax not compatible? NEVER heard that. ALl sirens are simply a 2 wire connection, including the Dynamax. Just bought one for my Tahoe. Where did you hear that?

Unless you have a really oddball unit with a wierd wattage output it should work great with a sys9000 box. I think they support 56, 75 and 100? I'm not sure of the exact numbers but they've supported all the siren speakers I've ever seen.

I remember reading some posts which said Federal Signal specifically said you can't use the dynamax on the Systems 9000 siren.

I still like the sound output of the regular "atlas" style speakers they sound louder than the dynamax does on several of our vehicles at work

The Dynamax is not compatible with the 9000 series. It will work, but burn out soon. The Gall's piece of junk is also guilty.

Jim - WHY?

jim wrote:The Dynamax is not compatible with the 9000 series. It will work, but burn out soon. The Gall's piece of junk is also guilty.

Hmmmm....

Interesting.... I have this setup - and it's quite nice... I haven't had any problems going on a year now. I don't use it a whole lot besides the air horn, but...

-Alex

WE HAVE A CUSTOMER THAT USES THEM WITH THE MARATRAC SIREN PACKAGE . BEEN IN SERVICE FOR YEARS . OUT OF 12 UNITS REPLACED ONE SPEAKER .

They will fail!
Motorola will even inform you of this if you check with the depot!

is it an inpedence problem? I have had more dynamax speakers fail with federal/ unitrol products than any other combo.


Long live the atlas D-60's!!

BUMP

<img src="http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y120/E ... P00884.jpg" alt="Dual MS100 GM bracket by EVConcepts">

Old topic back from the dead!

Is that a factory FS bracket?

I ultimately went with the CPI model specific setup for the suburban, but they don't offer the opposite side bracket for a dual speaker install.

The Whelen SA314 Speaker and SABKT5 Vehicle Specific Bracket allows you to mount one speaker on each side.

See the PDF for information on the bracket:
http://www.whelen.com/install/135/13541.pdf

Actually, this was made in-house. Practically many of our fabrications rivals manufactured brackets. FS has actually bought several designs we have created. I was browsing the past posts and found this discussion & thought I'd post!

This speaker position was prefered over Whelen due to speaker location behind the grill as opposed to behind the bumper cover.

Nice custom stuff!

I had looked at the whelen dual speaker setup and decided against it because of the low mounting solution.

We created custom stainless steel brackets for two whelen SA314 speakers mounting them up higher to utilize the fog ligh openings in the air damn. The stock whelen location seemed to low and prone to damage

I'll post pics when I get a chance.

You're running 200w now? Oh boy

Not just 200w, dual tones!

100w on one, 100 on another for unique siren effects, makes people wait for the second vehicle to come thru the intersections when there's actually none!

EVConcepts wrote:Not just 200w, dual tones!

Outstanding! I have always been a big fan of dual tone. Used to sport a unitrol with two amplifiers daisychained - it was da bomb.

There's also a vollie ambulance nearby that ppl wacked out similarly: powercall on one speaker, electronic Q on the other paired with a set of airhorns - I once thought there was a whole battalion on a box assignment zippin up behind me! Sure as hell made me move over and stop.

Actually the dual whelen 314's with the custom stainless steel brackets is on a 1999 tahoe.

I haven't figured out what to do with the burb since CPI doesn't make a left side radiator bracket to match the right side bracket already in there.

You could always get the dual MS100 bracket!

Let me know as we got 'em!

jedi_saber wrote:powercall on one speaker, electronic Q on the other paired with a set of airhorns - I once thought there was a whole battalion on a box assignment zippin up behind me! Sure as hell made me move over and stop.

hahah sounds like our 295hfs1 on 100w and the electronic Q on the other 100w...w/ two 20 in chrome trumpets on the hood of the cab... nothing like being heard.

Price?

I really like my CPI speaker though....

Only $30 for the bracket itself!

Hmmm ok..... I may pick one up for a possible swap out later. Only thing I don't like is how the tones sound "tinny" on MS100's

"Tinny"? You're kidding me right? What amps are you using???

I've heard many of Dynamax speakers sound less than steller on a variety of vehicles. Most of them had FS amps. Last one I heard was a new (less than six month old) PA300 and the tones just didn't have the right sound to them.

Could have been the amp, wasn't in a position to see if it was.

The big old atlas drivers sounded best IMHO.

I believe you. Anything with a cone & bell sounds better any way around! Something about the plastic plus the length to focus the sound waves better. Hard to put one in today's cars without a push bar! Using a Unitrol amp is my favorite because of the low frequency scale that the tones reach. A Touchmaster with a 80K for dual tone,... THAT's a setup. Sounds classic too.

Speaking of "tinny" don't you think that the worst amp comes from those AMR ambulance vehicles? Wonder what it is?

Who knows, AMR isn't around here that I'm aware of.

This is why I still like my systems 9000 siren - the tones a deep and pure compared to many other brands.

The speaker I like that sound real good is the BP100. Heavy but works. As for the problem with the Dynamax with a system9000, I have been running the same Dynamax speaker on my Astro systems9000 box for going on 3 1/2 years. I originally had it in my car and then pulled everything 6 months ago and put it in the new truck.

The only problem I ran into was my own. I soldered the speaker wire were it connects to the speaker and through my own fault dropped the wire before the solder cooled. Resulted in an intermittent connection that would stop when you hit a bump. As soon as I fixed it, no problems from then on out.

I would prefer something with a cone and bell but when space is limited I see no problem with the Dynamax speaker. I have heard of all the problems with them, but have only had to change out one and that was because the Expedition it was in the EMS crew kept spraying straight into it with a pressure washer

I loved the sound of the dual Unitrol, real Q2B, and real grover airhorns ...

I wouldn't mind having a 300W setup with powercall, unitrol, and electronic Q...

I think the reason the CPI speakers sound good is the fact that they are a big hunk of metal coupled to a BIG driver.

I really haven't heard any ambulances using dual CPI speakers of various configs sounding bad.

We can't keep our CPI speakers working for more than a couple months on our fire apparatus. The motorola speaker on our engine has lasted about six months so far.

That is interesting. I've never heard anything bad about CPI. Have you talked to them for replacements?

Good question; I'll have to ask our repair vendor (who is on our FD)...

I love my CPI speaker. Best speaker I ever had. Blew out two Gall's plastic speakers and a pancake speaker lasted about, oh, three months. My CPI is going on about two years. Nice and LOUD and it fits well behind the bumper of my TrailBlazer right behind one of the foglight cutouts. The amp is a Whelen Alpha12R, also one of the best siren amps I've owned.

I got a FedSig Dynamax in my 'burban. Bought it on eBay for like $40 cuz the wiring was cut up to the body; just opened her up and soldered in a new wire!. Thing is loud as hell.

I don't thing CPI should be knocked; an ambulance company around here has been using CPI for year on their rigs without constant problems. They seem like the only speaker company that does true custom work without charging and arm & leg.

CPI products used to come with big Atlas brand drivers. Now they come with thin un branded drivers that weigh a heck of a lot less than the old drivers. That is not necessarily a bad thing but I thought the output of the speaker was directly proportionate to the size of the driver.

Not sure if the bumper is exactly the same on the 03 but in this 01 there is a Federal Signal BP100 mounted behind the bumper. If you take out the grill and remove the bumper cover there are MANY places to secure a siren speaker. This on is VERY loud compared to the Galls thin mount that it replaced.

Stay Safe!

(PS: Driven by Code 3 siren)

PICTURES:
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2002-12/ ... G_1269.JPG

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2002-12/ ... G_1280.JPG

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2002-12/ ... G_0625.JPG