Most liked posts in thread: OEM horns died...AGAIN!

Yup, which I've already been thinking about. Tell me you can't imagine this scenario occurring.

Young Dipsht inherits the family's hand-me-down Civic from his older sister, spends his life savings on a big wing and a sub box, and then wonders what he can afford to do next with the allowance Mommy gives him. After adding a dozen 2F2F type product stickers and rattle-canning the wheels (and tires) red, his friend tells him about the Hellyeah horns he just put on his hand-me-down Corolla. It's so easy, even Dipsht thinks he can do it! He orders the cheapest set he can find without paying attention to the 24 V biz. Or he sees it and doesn't know why he should care. Or, more likely IMO, he thinks it's like subwoofer wattage or SPL and figures "24 volts is twice as good as 12 volts!" Then he installs the horns and his friends laugh at the anemic noise they make so he goes online to post complaints about how weak they are.

 

The fact there's a relay says at least one thing is different, and that makes me wonder what else might have changed, though I also wonder whether maybe that's a better kit than the one I got. Mine works great though without a separate relay so who knows?

As to the sound, that's one of those subjective things that's hard to characterize. I definitely wouldn't characterize mine as tinny. I just checked out the sound clip at the Griot's Garage though (scroll down to "product information" and "honk the horn") and if that's the sort of thing you're finding elsewhere I can understand why you'd be wary. That clip makes them sound like crap! NOTHING like mine sound. I honestly can't figure out why Griot's would put up that clip because I can't imagine anyone buying them after listening to it. I suppose they might have changed the horns and now they sound like that but I doubt it.

Mine have a hard edge to the sound but that's pretty much it on as far as anything sounding tinny, and apparently it's intentional. Hella's description fits pretty well: "Disc horns make a relatively hard sound which is radiated mainly forwards. This achieves good penetration of the traffic noise over a great distance. The sound pattern works best as a set with one high tone horn and one low tone horn."

Are they louder than the OEM? Yes. Can't say how much though. Like many who've commented, I rarely use my horns. I didn't know one of mine was gone until I honked one day and it sounded weak...didn't know the other one was gone until I tried to honk much later and got nothing at all. So, I didn't get around to hearing the Hellas until well after I had both stockers working, plus it's been years since I made the switch. I remember thinking the Hellas would definitely attract more attention but can't make a relative comparison. If I run across another Mk1 MINI in the next few days I'll see if I can get the owner to let me park next to him so we can compare.

 

:lol: Yup, that's a sure sign of desperation! :lol:

I know what it's like though. When I was shopping for speakers for my home music system I couldn't find locally most of the models I wanted to listen to before choosing so I bought a bunch of them to try out side by side (used, so cheap, off craigslist & ebay) before making up my mind. Then I started selling them off...that's a work in progress.

Back to the Hella sound, I've listened to sound clips the last couple days and I don't get it. They sound tinny to me too. Either they changed the design, the audio/video captures don't do them justice, or they really sound that way when you're out in front of a car with them installed. Maybe what I hear from beside the car when I reach in and push the horn button isn't what you hear from some distance out front of the car? (grasping at straws to understand the odd sounds I'm hearing online)

 

I remember, I lived in the Hampton Roads area for almost 4 years. My commute was about 20 miles each way from the north end of Newport News (north of Fort Eustis) to Langley AFB.