Whats your quietest and loudest vacuum?

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Our quietest lives up to it's name: "Kent Quiet Jumbo". The Tornado is loud, but just about any plastic shop vac in the shed screams far louder

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loudest vacuum

got all kirby vacuum my kirby classic III is the loudest my kirby g6 is the quietest kirby vacuum seem to loudest with the hose on them.
 
Quietest and loudest

Quietest is my Nilfisk.
Loudest WAS my Eureka "shop-type" vac that I bought about 15 years ago.
It was so loud I told the vac shop I would only buy it if they put a MUFFLER on it.
And they did!
For 20 bucks they put a muffler on the exhaust.
Overall I couldn't stand the machine. When the tub later lost its "round" and I couldn't close it properly I threw the thing away. I couldn't throw it far enough actually. Bad purchase.
I still have the muffler though.
 
The vacuum I had that made the least noise was my grandparents Electrolux that was on runners as opposed to wheels. The loudest vacuum I ever had was a Riobi canister vac. Did a good vacuuming job tho. That was right after Riobi took over our Singer plant here in town. Always wondered if it was really a re-badged Singer?!
 
the loudest

vacuum i have ever come across was one of those Vax uprights not sure of the model but it was black and orange and was bagless it should have been sold with ear defenders ,The quietest has to be a pink connie that i recently restored already a quiet machine imade it even quieter by lining the base of the machine with carpet underlay the most noise it makes now is the air being sucked into the hose

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For me

Hoover Constellation, Premier upright, Hoover Dimension 1000 (w/o) powerhead, fantom lightning, Sharp twin energy, and Panasonic jet flo are my quietest. My tacony made hoover, my hoover decade 800, my kenmore twin fan, kenmore magicord power port, eureka bravo, and hoover concepts are my loudest.
 
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Quietest machines I have:

Canadian Electrolux Model Z-30 & Z-55 (basically the same machine with different housings), with the Canadian Z-88 & Z-89 (ditto) a close second.

Loudest machines I have:

Hoover Decade 800, Kirby Legend II with optional small rug nozzle.

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My quietest vacuum is my wonderful little Electrolux UltraSilencer Green EL6984 Canister Vac!

On it's lowest power setting, you really only hear the air rushing into the nozzle or brush. It's a great little canister vac....so easy to use and it comes with the best non-powered suction only carpet nozzle I have ever used. Really happy with this cleaner....too bad it's discontinued.
 
My loudest vacuum cleaner is my Hoover DAM power-drive; sounds like a wood chipper crossed with a jet airplane taking off! (I formerly had a Royal upright, 1997 model that really laid down the law! I had to wear ear protectors. Unlike the DAM, the Royal actually removed dirt from the carpet--but the DAM is fun to run! If I need to do a lot of cursing I turn on the DAM. DAM! (Sorry) The quietest has got to be an old Filter Queen I have. With the exhaust plug in the top it is virtually silent--but I always keep the plug out, to protect the motor from overheating. My harvest gold Elux model G would definitely be next in line and my Elux AF right beside it.
 
The loudest vacuum is my rainbow E2 2 speed gold model with no sound insulation . Maybe my kenmore. Not sure lol my quietest is my Electrolux Silverado.

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loud can be peaceful, shril can be nerve-wrecking

This thread is highly entertaining (speaking of how one person perceives the same vacuum a different way than another).

For my own vacs I found the loudest:
- Hoover Celebrity single speed UFO (and unpleasant)
- Siemens B series standard canister (yet pleasent)
- Vortech Force old model (loud, yet very pleasant)

Somewhat in the middle:
Kirby G4 (quite loud but not loudest, yet very unpleasant esp. in shampoo mode)
AEG 1960s stick vac (may compare to Regina quickbrooms) loud, unpleasant
Vorwerk Kobold 117 with PB (quite loud, yet handsomely pleasant)

Low-voiced or "silent" (if that goes for vacuums at all):
All Electrolux / Lux /Volta machines (and pleasant, too).
Older Kirbys (to some extent at least)


Been thinking for some while to find out how "loud" vacs can sound ok, yet "somewhat loud" vacs sound entirely terrible to me.

Bad guys:
Rainbow E2
All high-amp Hoovers
Black&Decker cyclone cheapo
Newer Electrolux shop models
Dysons

Midways:
All Miele, Bosch, Siemens

Best:
Older Electrolux (door-to-door) and newer Lux models
Metal body Nilfisk bin type (old style)
All Vorwerks before VK 118 (so the older "big-bag" variety)


It all boils down (for me at least) to this:
- the more rectangular the wave of vibration, the nastier (which rules out ALL brushless reluctance motors: Black+Decker bagless, Rainbow E2, newest Vorwerk stick).
Feels like biting on a stuck-up dentist drill in a molar. (NASTY!)
- the more sinusoidal the vibration, the smoother it gets.
(All brush type motors, better yet: induction motors on commercial units.)

Then the dampening between motor and casing:
- The harder the connection the nastier: Hoover Celebrity (the whole body conveys the sound, same with older Juniors and Seniors, worst on all Hoover hardbody uprights as well as ALL Regina canisters with tuna can shape (all that I have seen so far)
- Some dampening rubbers may help (Siemens canisters of the 90s and 80s)

Once the airstream sound is stronger than the motor sound, it feels more "deluxe"
(ALL Electrolux, Lux, Volta, Trident, Vortech Force), so pleasant

Finally, once the different speeds of bearing balls, commutator, brush roll, attached extra devices play a harmonic "chime" within real musik notes (triple or quadruple notes) it can feel VERY pleasant even when loud. There is a tendency towards outer-bag machines, but not always.
Vacs of this kind: Older Vorwerks (1950s to 1970s, the effect vanishing after they had introduced smaller and higher speed motors with the 118 and later models)
Hoover Juniors have the same effect, yet their rattling "hard" vibration transport from motor to casing is dampening this effect.
Kirby models of G4 and up are completely out of this: On carpet mode, they sound somewhat ok (still), but when in shampoo mode, they are a nuisance: This shrill, choked-off air stream fighting its whine against the likewise shrill commutator sound (just a few half notes underneath) and all this combined with the weeet-weet of the gear transmission, that is too much for me.

I deliberately use ear plugs on Black&Decker, Rainbow E2 and Kirby shampooers.
(Btw. all reluctance type motors produce a similar shreaking and grinding voice without any extra attachments at all).
I refuse them, the have a ban in my house.

Musicians here? What do you think?
Not a musician myself, but I just LOVE this medium-level harmonic hum (say "ooommmm", the one that makes you hum along and zone out) together with a FAT rush of air (to tell you it is the AIR that does the job, not a fire siren). Dampened of course (you have to have the feeling the beast is WITHIN, but outside (where you are) there is just stealth work (and a very powerful one!).

"It's the tone that makes the music" (saying)
Opinions?
 
Quietest

Hospital G Electrolux and Saniway, noisiest ,Metropolitan tank, and of course a Kirby.
 

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