Why do horns in small cars sound so weak and small?
 

On Friday, September 24, 1993 at 10:56:37 AM UTC-4, Don T. Borowski wrote:
> John R Laplante ) wrote:
> :
> : Big cars have horns that make 'big sounds.' Loud. Full.
> : Small cars have horns that make 'small sounds.' "tinny." "beep beep".
> :
> : I thought of this yesterday when I was driving my big old buick,
> : and had a need for the horn. I thought "i'm glad i'm driving this
> : car, rather than my Camry." The camry is not a small car, but
> : it still has a small car "beep beep" sound...
> :
> : So.. the question is: what are the determinants of the sound of
> : cars? Why do the horns on small cars sound as they are?
> : Is it because the engine compartment is smaller? Is the horn
> : smaller? Not powered as much? Do new big cars still have
> : that sounds that you get from the big old cars?
> It is because someone has designed it that way.
> To same money (and a bit of weight), a lot of small cars come with just
> a single horn. A lot of the old Detroit iron had two horns tuned to
> different notes. This is probably the biggest difference in the sound.
> The solution is easy. Just go down to the local junk yard, and get
> the horns off some old Detroit iron. Wire them up, and get that
> good old satisfying sound.
>
> Donald Borowski WA6OMI Hewlett-Packard, Spokane Division
> "Angels are able to fly because they take themselves so lightly."
> -G.K. Chesterton

Why do horns in small cars sound so weak and small?
 

On 10/23/20 4:34 PM, butler mike wrote:
> On Friday, September 24, 1993 at 10:56:37 AM UTC-4, Don T. Borowski wrote:
>> John R Laplante ) wrote:
>> :
>> : Big cars have horns that make 'big sounds.' Loud. Full.
>> : Small cars have horns that make 'small sounds.' "tinny." "beep beep".
>> :
>> : I thought of this yesterday when I was driving my big old buick,
>> : and had a need for the horn. I thought "i'm glad i'm driving this
>> : car, rather than my Camry." The camry is not a small car, but
>> : it still has a small car "beep beep" sound...
>> :
>> : So.. the question is: what are the determinants of the sound of
>> : cars? Why do the horns on small cars sound as they are?
>> : Is it because the engine compartment is smaller? Is the horn
>> : smaller? Not powered as much? Do new big cars still have
>> : that sounds that you get from the big old cars?
>> It is because someone has designed it that way.
>> To same money (and a bit of weight), a lot of small cars come with just
>> a single horn. A lot of the old Detroit iron had two horns tuned to
>> different notes. This is probably the biggest difference in the sound.
>> The solution is easy. Just go down to the local junk yard, and get
>> the horns off some old Detroit iron. Wire them up, and get that
>> good old satisfying sound.
>>
>> Donald Borowski WA6OMI Hewlett-Packard, Spokane Division
>> "Angels are able to fly because they take themselves so lightly."
>> -G.K. Chesterton

Many people who drive weenie cars do so to virtue signal they are green.
And the little horn sound fits right in...being polite and not adding to
noise pollution ;-)

--
Why is it that the people who want more government control over your
life are the same ones who want you to be disarmed?

Why do horns in small cars sound so weak and small?
 

On 10/23/2020 6:15 PM, Wade Garrett wrote:
> On 10/23/20 4:34 PM, butler mike wrote:
>> On Friday, September 24, 1993 at 10:56:37 AM UTC-4, Don T. Borowski
>> wrote:
>>> John R Laplante ) wrote:
>>> :
>>> : Big cars have horns that make 'big sounds.' Loud. Full.
>>> : Small cars have horns that make 'small sounds.' "tinny." "beep beep".
>>> :
>>> : I thought of this yesterday when I was driving my big old buick,
>>> : and had a need for the horn. I thought "i'm glad i'm driving this
>>> : car, rather than my Camry." The camry is not a small car, but
>>> : it still has a small car "beep beep" sound...
>>> :
>>> : So.. the question is: what are the determinants of the sound of
>>> : cars? Why do the horns on small cars sound as they are?
>>> : Is it because the engine compartment is smaller? Is the horn
>>> : smaller? Not powered as much? Do new big cars still have
>>> : that sounds that you get from the big old cars?
>>> It is because someone has designed it that way.
>>> To same money (and a bit of weight), a lot of small cars come with just
>>> a single horn. A lot of the old Detroit iron had two horns tuned to
>>> different notes. This is probably the biggest difference in the sound.
>>> The solution is easy. Just go down to the local junk yard, and get
>>> the horns off some old Detroit iron. Wire them up, and get that
>>> good old satisfying sound.
>>>
>>> Donald Borowski WA6OMI Hewlett-Packard, Spokane Division
>>> "Angels are able to fly because they take themselves so lightly."
>>> -G.K. Chesterton
>
> Many people who drive weenie cars do so to virtue signal they are green.
> And the little horn sound fits right in...being polite and not adding to
> noise pollution ;-)
>

L like FIAMM or similar if the stock one isn't sufficient.

--
ÄLSKAR - Fänga Dagen

Why do horns in small cars sound so weak and small?
 

On 10/23/2020 01:34 PM, butler mike wrote:

>> The solution is easy. Just go down to the local junk yard, and get
>> the horns off some old Detroit iron. Wire them up, and get that
>> good old satisfying sound.

Crap. When the State of California paid me $1K for my 88 Cadillac POS I
should have done that. I don't think you're required to have a horn
when you turn it in to be crushed.

OTOH, the horn probably didn't work either :-(


--
Cheers, Bev
Warning -- Driver carries less than $20 worth of ammunition

Why do horns in small cars sound so weak and small?
 

In article >, Wade Garrett > wrote:
>On 10/23/20 4:34 PM, butler mike wrote:
>> On Friday, September 24, 1993 at 10:56:37 AM UTC-4, Don T. Borowski wrote:
>>> John R Laplante ) wrote:
>>> :
>>> : Big cars have horns that make 'big sounds.' Loud. Full.
>>> : Small cars have horns that make 'small sounds.' "tinny." "beep beep".
>
>Many people who drive weenie cars do so to virtue signal they are green.
>And the little horn sound fits right in...being polite and not adding to
>noise pollution ;-)

Notice the original post here was from 1993. Small car horns don't sound
the way they did in 1993, and small cheaply-made car doors don't sound
tinny any longer. Toyota got some acoustical guys in to look at making
small cars sound more solid, and the rest of the industry followed along
very quickly back in the nineties.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."