wingless' Kahlenberg Chimetone D-1 Air Horns

This new topic is dedicated to the Kahlenberg Chimetone D-1 air horns I just purchased off eBay. This topic will be used for the horns. This topic will be used to only discuss the compressor and air supply in the Onboard Air Systems forum. (Sorry for the prior duplication of information.)

Here are my Kahlenberg D-1 air horns, freshly purchased off eBay. I will be getting these parts early next week.

This is two used Kahlenberg D-1 air horns, an air tank, a solenoid valve, a dead compressor and interconnection plumbing. The air horn does not include the factory mounting block.

Here are the links for my Kahlenberg Chimetone D-1 Air Horn.

These are on the Kahlenberg UK web site. For some reason the US web site does not have this information.

Kahlenberg D-1 Specification Drawing

Kahlenberg Chimetone D-1 Web Page w/ Audio Clip

Here is a good link on marine signal regulations.

The Kahlenberg Chimetone D-1 horns have arrived.

The sound is amazing!!!

Here is a short clip of the horn test.

A/V Horn Test Clip

Beautiful sound.

Thanks very much!

The SPL was measured at 1 meter to be 121 dBA w/ about 125 P.S.I.

My system has a high volume regulator and large diameter plumbing that will permit me to dial this to any pressure up to the 200 P.S.I. tank pressure.

The horns were polished and now look outstanding. Boy, does Kahlenberg do a great job on chrome horns!

A cream metal polish was used and polished by hand (skin), rubbing in the polish to restore the finish. A soft rag was used to buff away the polish.

A rag was taped onto a narrow fiberglass rod to polish the depth of the trumpets.

There are some minor blemishes, but those only show up during the polishing. These will not be observed when mounted. These will be some serious eye candy on the boat.

The new Kahlenberg Chimetone D-1 air horns includes a mounting base. I priced replacing that base from Kahlenberg, but after doing a dry fit on the boat, I’ve decided to not get / use that missing part. It will be a MUCH better solution w/o that base. The arch has a curved top surface and the base is flat.

The fiberglass / gelcoat arch is thick enough, plus I am going to use a ¼" thick aluminum interior backing plate. This mounting method will be plenty strong.

These horns will be there for the duration.

Oooooh that’s shiny! Looks great

Here are the links for my Kahlenberg Chimetone D-1 Air Horn.

These are on the Kahlenberg UK web site. For some reason the US web site does not have this information.

Kahlenberg D-1 Specification Drawing

Kahlenberg Chimetone D-1 Web Page w/ Audio Clip

Here is a good link on marine signal regulations.

Here are some images of my Kahlenberg Chimetone D-1 air horns and Kahlenberg 117 whistle mounted onto the arch of my 2000 Searay 380 Sundancer.

This shows making the placement marks, so that my front-to-back and my side-to-side are identical for both horns. One of the important requirements was to position both horns over a reinforced area on the arch. The factory included two one-foot wide regions of thicker fiberglass on either side of the arch. The location of those reinforcements is not identical, so I needed to place the horns over both AND be symmetrical.

The fasteners used to retain the horns to the arch are ¼-20 bolts. I chose the uber expensive highly-polished bolts and washers, so that the surface finish would be similar to the chrome plating.

The length options for these bolts were limited. I got the longest available bolt, but the stack-up did not permit using the planned ¼" aluminum backing plate. I ended up using this 1/8" backing plate instead.

The mounted image shows the thicker fiberglass section that was selected for mounting the horns.

What’s all the goop around it, some kind of waterproofing?

Yes, RTV adhesive silicone sealant, to prevent rain water ingress from that exterior top surface to this interior volume.

Here is an updated A/V clip of the completed installation on my Kahlenberg D-1 Chimtone air horns.

My plan had been to quantify and measure the loudness versus pressure using a Benetech GM1358 Sound Meter at a one meter distance.

My first toot at 95 PSI pegged the scale at 130 dBA, so I was unable to get those measurements.

We went into the North Atlantic Ocean to perform the testing w/o causing a ruckus.

The sound quality and volume are AMAZING!

Kahlenberg D-1 Chimetone Air Horns A/V Clip

Sounds excellent. Good sound in a compact package with those horns.

This topic was reworked to replace the extortion images w/ Flickr. This was as much fun as it appears.