R & I visits many home shows across the country each year to keep up on the latest trends in the market. The home builders are building larger and more deluxe homes each year. But as they spend more money on construction and luxury items, they cut costs in other areas that are not noticeable until you actually have to live in the home. One particular trend we see is to install the cheapest door chime that can be bought in these large deluxe homes. Besides the fact that they look cheap, how can anyone be expected to hear the door chime from the farthest reaches of your new home. We have listed a few ideas below that have worked well for some of your neighbors:

Visual Chimes for the Deaf

Nutone's model LA-204WH is a visual wireless door chime. The receivers plug into an AC outlet and can be located through out your home. The receivers will chime 8 notes for the front door, 2 notes for a side door, and 1 note for a third door. While chiming, a strobe on the unit will flash for 10 seconds. This is an affordable and easy way to help those who are hard of hearing.

Larger Homes

In a larger home, it can be difficult to hear the door bell from the farthest points in your home. To help this there are wireless systems that are listed in the Nutone chime catalog. But there is a better solution for some people that is not listed in any catalog. It works in the following way:

• First, choose from any of the electronic door chimes in the catalog. These include the LB-60NO, LB-55HO, LA174WH, LA-52WH, LB-76WH.
• Second, connect the output of the electronic door chime to the input of an IMA-516 amplifier.
• Third, connect the IMA-516 amplifier to up to ten small room speakers through out the home. We use the IS-70 speaker because it is small and comes in brass, antique brass or white to help it blend into the room decor.

With this system you can broadcast the door chime to your whole house and use the IMA-516 to turn up the sound to accommodate those who are hard of hearing.