Are you going to mount these on your vehicle? They are great when some punk with his base music is beside you at a light! Check out Train Horn Terrors on YouTube.
There is a company called Horn Blasters that sells them for vehicles. The website is hornblasters.com They have the k5la and several others. They are all kind of pricey though.
If you do decide to mount them on your vehicle get the best compressor you can and an air tank that is over 5 gallon capacity. I had one on my 2002 GMC crewcab and It scared the S**T out of people, and the boom boom Base music was turned down fast. When you dump the valve, it empties the tank fast! Get a big tank!
PS: It is not cool to scare people, Funny but not cool!
There is an actual "legit" horn collecting community out there. We tend to frown upon mounting these horns on your vehicles just to scare people. It draws law enforcement attention when you abuse the horns in this manner and hurts the hobby of horn collecting. The videos of people doing it on Youtube are just plain stupid. If this is your intention, I would kindly ask that you think twice about it. These horns are not meant to be blown in close proximity to people. I run trains with K5LA's all day at work and they are even loud in the cab. By the end of the day, you get sick of them. With the proper plumbing, these horns can do serious damage to peoples hearing. If you would like to look into the more legitimate side of horn collecting take a look at Ed Kapriske's website.
The K5LA is a great horn. Nathan's are very efficient users of air and are the loudest for the amount of air you put in. This horn shaped the sound of modern railroading. Good luck with your search.
As with everything else If you abuse it then you deserve to be fined. use it spareingly and it is fine. The people on the Youtube videos are asses! they could cause a heart attack or make someone wreck. Just like Fart mufflers on hondas, Loud exhausts on muscle cars, Dark tinted windows that you can't see into and loud $6000.00 sterios in $600.00 cars they are all against the law in Pa. But it is up to operator to draw attention to these things. Act cool, stay cool and no problems.
The only insident with my horn was when I was getting the truck inspected. They somehow did not blow it for inspection, but when they were bringing it out, the driver blew the horn for the garage door to open and scared everyone in the service area. They know better know, and I swap the wires to the original.
Thank's Tony and harley... (& I DEEPLY respect you criticism Scott)!
"It only takes a few idiots to ruin it for everyone" ...
(How many examples are their of this)? harleys remark "hit me dead center thoe" **All of us can relate to these A'Holes at lites with that Bass Sh t!**
That being said, I just thought it'd be fun having one as I already have a 120 Gal. vessel (Air) and thought I'd mount one of these things outside my shop.
(You know, to "pop" once in a blue moon, or the 4th of July etc...)
I'm amazed at how much they are! (But think if I got one it'd be this "K5LA" type).
(Scott I will go to Ed's site and ThankYou again) *All of You guys are GREAT !!
Posts: 654 | Location: Mi. | Registered:: January 01, 2006
For the lowlifes with the 2KiloWatt bass systems it's amazing just how little power it takes in a car stereo to blast opera singers at them. If YOU can stand it, way less the 10 watts of Ride of the Valkyries will just drive them berserk. Percy Faith, Montovani or any string orchestra can have a similar effect. Just bring ear plugs.
Actually, they don't bother me as much as loud motorcycles, which the police are even less interested in than the rolling subwoofers.
Thomas, the horns are great to have. Keep looking because they do pop up for low prices every now and then. I have a few horns I keep in the garage for the occasional letting off steam event. I live near the Dover train station so people here are used to train horns. As a rule, the horns used to sell for about 100 bucks per bell. IE. 5 chime = 500 bucks. The last few years that has gone more like 150 bucks per bell. My friend got a free K5la a few years back when the pantograph shot up from out under the wire here in Dover. It went up and landed on the horn which broke it off. The horn went into the dumpster and into my friends van. Easily repaired. Keep you eyes open, you never know what you might find.
found one at 700.00 slybrdsngjr@live.com 813-777-7647 or 785-760-6378 is what he listed as phone number and email adress,supposedly in great shape in primer ready to paint
Posts: 189 | Location: Northeast Kansas between two big Cities. | Registered:: June 06, 2009
This looks like the best you are going to do right now. Free shipping is good because that alone will cost you around 50 bucks. If you wait long enough you might find one that slips through the cracks on ebay for the 600-700 range.
I will keep my eyes open. That is the ballpark for them. They ain't cheap for sure. If so, i am sure every lowered civic with 20 inch wheels would have one mounted on top.
Another reason I'd like to see eBay destroyed. A few years ago a friend of mine was a member of a train crew that "went to beans" on a local freight job. Upon returning, the crew found that the horn was stolen from their locomotive. Undoubtedly, an "entreprenuer" got dollar signs in his eyes as he realized how much money he could get if he stole the horn and put it on eBay. -- LOSER
You say they're On The Water, I say they're Sur l'eau.
Help me find one of these damm things will ya? 
"gese"