I have the same door chime (ding-dong) that they use in all the TV shows and commercials. Every time their door chime rings, I wonder if mine is ringing. How can I change the sound. It is a Nutone chime, with two vertical bars struck by a double ended plunger. The vertical bars are next to two reverberation chambers each about 6" high.
I have a hacksaw, blowtorch, sledge hammer - all the delicate instruments that might be required.
Hendrik
Jim wrote in news:D5nMb.5068$1e.4340 @newsread2.news.pas.earthlink.net:
All you need is the sledge hammer. Knock it off the wall and put up a new one!
Sound like a good reason to give up TV in favor of books.
RB
Jim wrote:
It could be a little simpler. Try taping or gluing something (like penny or small washer) to one or the other of the bars. That might change the tone enough for you. It may even be enough to just put some glue or tape on the bar w/o anything else.
A more permenent change would be cut one or both of the bars a littke shorter. That'd be a job for the hacksaw, but if you didn't like the results you'd probably end up replacing the entire thing.
Of course, the suggestion of replacing it is always an option. Go over to Lowes and try them all out and find one that sounds different. Then if you aren't satisfied with the #1 and #2 above simply replace it (of course that would take a screw driver and some other tools besides the ones you've mentioned owning!)
Swap the positions of the chime bars. Then it will go dong-ding instead of ding-dong.
- Dewolla Stepon
Just use the hammer.
Been in my house for almost 23 years. The chimes broke about 22 1/2 years ago. People that I want to visit know to come to the side door, people that ring the front door bell I don't want to see anyway. Ed snipped-for-privacy@snet.net
On the chime you should have 3 or 4 terminals, at least 2 of which have wires on them.
One should read "common".
One should read FRONT One should read REAR The 4th, if you have it, should read SIDE
Remove the wire from "FRONT" (which causes ding-dong) to REAR - and you'll get either dong-ding or just a dong.
Do NOT connect it to the "side" door terminal, or all you'll be left with is a little dingy.
We like it when that happens in our house because it gives us some comic relief.
Our cat Darwin tries to escape for a romp outside as often as he can. He knows he has a chance to stage a breakout when the doorbell rings, and he hasn't learned the difference between the ones on TV and our "real" one.
It's a hoot to watch him wake up and go into his "lurk near the door" act whenever that happens.
Lately, automation has been making inroads into the feline workplace around here. See:
Lift the cover off, and wrap a rubber band around the chimes. Either around one chime, or the other, or between the two. Gives you a lower, and more pleasant note. Plan B is duct tape or bandaid on the chime, to give it a bit more weight, and dampen it.
Of all the responses, this sounds like the very best! (Although I'm not the OP).
I have the same sort of door chime. Since I don't watch TV a lot, that's not a problem. What does drive me nearly out of my skull is that a certain electronic disturbance will make it ring ANOTHER chime, often repeatedly. When BellSouth was working on my telephone line 25 feet away, the chime was almost constant--I finally put the receiver in the guest bedroom under several towels and closed the door. zemedelec
Good point. Or you could glue a little bell like those for dog or cat callers to one chime bar. That ought to make an unusual sound.
Or just take one of the chimes off, so that instead of "ding dong" you get just "ding". (or maybe "dong").
Of course, a better solution would be to kill your TV.
--Goedjn
Amen to that! Des
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