Church Chimes/Carillon Systems

[argoc]

Our church is wanting to purchase and install a chime system on the exterior of our building to play hourly in the neighborhood. Can anyone point me to some good resources?

Thanks,

Chris Argo

I can't really recommend anything due to a lack of knowledge in the field, but we have an incredible chime system with all sorts of different chime tones to select from. The only problem, the thing broke and there are so few companies out there that service this type that it would cost a small fortune to fix.

[DOldham]

Are you talking electronic or real? I hate cheap sounding electronic chimes. Are there any ordinances you have to contend with? Will this be a public service or something to make the church property seem more, uh, churchy? Will the system survive a lightning strike? Is the company going to be there when it needs repair? How many people can be trained...having the only person that can program the thing die or move away is a real bummer.

[jmcall01]

Hi,

If you're looking for an electronic system, it can be done for a reasonable price. Our church had old albums of chimes, which I recorded and saved as sound files on the computer. The computer can be programmed to play the chimes at whatever time you want them to play. All you need is a computer (it doesn't have to be new), an amplifier, a speaker, and some wire. The speaker output from the computer can be plugged into the auxilary/CD input on the amplifier, and the speaker placed in the steeple (or where ever you want it) and the wire from the speaker ran to the output on the amplifier.

I donated an older computer to the church, and the amplifer, speaker, and wire needed can be purchased at Radio Shack for less than $200 for a small system. Our church purchased a 40 watt amplifier for $99. I would be more than happy to help answer any questions, and/or provide some of the recordings of the chimes that I have from our albums if you're interested

I hope this helps.

James McAllister

[blueberry07]

We just finished installation of a very simple system using a PC Computer as the controller and our old amplifier with two 20 inch speakers which one of our members easily constructed and placed in our bell tower. The software is called Churchbells by Robison Bryan. Free Download to try. www topshare dot com churchbells download. His email is below. His software runs on the Windows platform and has been more than well received by our small country church. I would highly recommend this to anyone's church large or small. Robison Bryan

Hope this helps anyone who is now looking for what we had been searching for for years. Preston Lake

[dmcrawl]

Would be more interested in the installation at Trinity Independent Baptist Church in Gastonia, NC by James McAllister, pianist.

site trinityindependentbaptistchurch is broken please list new link

[channing28105]

I Recommend the Maas-Rowe Carillons systems they are the Best Carillon systems around

[odell]

Originally Posted by blueberry07

We just finished installation of a very simple system using a PC Computer as the controller and our old amplifier with two 20 inch speakers which one of our members easily constructed and placed in our bell tower. The software is called Churchbells by Robison Bryan. Free Download to try. www topshare dot com churchbells download. His email is below. His software runs on the Windows platform and has been more than well received by our small country church. I would highly recommend this to anyone's church large or small. Robison Bryan

Hope this helps anyone who is now looking for what we had been searching for for years. Preston Lake

CAN U PLEASE TELL ME MORE I TRIED UR LINK AN COULDNT FIND IT REALLY TRYIN TO GET A SYSTEM RUNNING IN CHURCH

[odell]

CAN U GIVE ME MORE INFO ON HOW U INSTALLED UR SYSTEM PLEASE IM TRYIN TO DO THE SAME THING FOR MY CHURCH

[odell]

AN WOULD ALSO LIKE SOME RECORDING PLEASE MY EMAIL IS

[Brad Weber]

Originally Posted by odell

AN WOULD ALSO LIKE SOME RECORDING PLEASE MY EMAIL IS

Before anyone sends recordings they should make sure they are free to distribute and not protected by any copyright. The copyright aspect could be even more interesting in carillon applications as a) the use is not tied to an actual religious service and b) the intent seems to be broadcasting to a larger audience outside the church. And you don't have to yell.

For those who noted installing their own systems, how did you address the noise ordinance, lightning protection and environmental exposure aspects?

Speakers mounted to the exterior of a building as noted might be directly exposed to the environment and even those mounted in steeples or belfreys may be exposed to extreme temperature and humidity. Standard, non-weatherized speakers and enclosures may not last long under such conditions. Also consider that most speakers would likely be fairly directional at the frequencies associated with bells and chimes, thus it may be necessary to utilize multiple speakers.

The noise ordinance factor has apparently been a real issue in numerous cases and while some argue that it is protected under various rights such as freedom of speech or the right to practice religion, that does not seem to apply to ringing bells or chimes outside of actual services. So you might want to see how your local ordinances address it or if you can obtain an exemption. You probably not only want to avoid ordinance violations but also have some basis for addressing potential 'reduction in property value' suits from neighbors, especially any that may already have a disagreement with the church or its views (although dealing with such situations after the fact have generated work for me in the past).

Also related, why are you doing this? Is the electronic system replacing a physical bell or chime system that was used in the past? Has there been some request by neighbors for bells or chimes? Or is the goal to draw attention to the church? The latter may be looked at as a form of advertising and thus perceived quite differently by both neighbors and the local authorities.