I've not bothered with Air Horns for many years now as I felt their performance wasn't brilliant without some considerable changes.
Like yourself, I felt they weren't overly loud and also found the delay in them making a sound a bother too.
I did try a few things, though, what was around in those days, didn't allow for a practical solution, though these days, I think it could be done with off the shelf bits.
What I found to make them louder was they needed more Air Volume (cfm) and a small increase in the pressure.
I think a 'practical' solution would be to have a small on board compressor, with around 25 PSI and an Air Reservoir at pressure. A Solenoid Valve could then be installed between the Air Reservoir and the Horns.
It would be costly and take up some space, but that's one solution.
These days, (and for a long time now) I just have some after market Twin Hi-Lo Tone Electric Horns, via Relay. Don't take up much space and very loud. Inexpensive too.