Front-lit channel letters
Coloured acrylic faces lit from inside by LED modules, so the face itself glows at night. The classic, highest-visibility storefront look.
Channel letter signs,
built and installed in-house
Dimensional, individually-lit letters that turn your fascia into a sign people read from across the parking lot. Designed, fabricated, permitted, and installed by one Edmonton team.
What a channel letter sign actually is
Every channel letter is built from three parts: a formed aluminum return (the side wall of the letter), a flat back, and a face. Front-lit letters get a coloured acrylic face held in by a trim cap that frames the edge and locks it to the return. Inside, rows of UL-rated LED modules light the letter evenly. Letters are wired together and run to a remote low-voltage power supply, then mounted to your fascia either flush to the wall or on a raceway.
Channel letters, your way.
Halo-lit (reverse channel) letters
Solid metal faces with the back left open and standoff-mounted off the wall, so LEDs wash a soft halo of light behind each letter. Upscale and architectural.
Open-face channel letters
Front-lit letters with no acrylic face over the LEDs, or a clear face, giving an exposed-lamp, retro signage look with maximum brightness.
Combination front-and-halo letters
Lit face plus a backlit halo at once, so the letter reads boldly by day and carries a lit-edge glow at night.
Lit logo cabinet with channel letters
A shaped logo or icon built as a small cabinet, paired with dimensional channel letters to carry your full brand lockup on the wall.
Best for Where this shines
- Retail and restaurant storefronts that need to read from the street and parking lot
- Multi-tenant buildings and strip plazas with a fascia band for tenant signage
- Professional offices, clinics, and showrooms wanting a clean halo-lit look
- Franchise locations matching a national brand standard and colour spec
- Replacing aged or failed neon and fluorescent letters with LED
- New builds and tenant fit-outs needing a code-compliant lit sign at opening
Good to know
- Most municipalities require a development/sign permit plus an electrical permit for lit letters; Crown handles both as part of the job.
- Landlords and property managers usually have a sign criteria package that governs letter size, depth, colour, and whether a raceway is allowed. Have it ready and we will design to it.
- Raceway mount is faster and protects the wall, but a flush stud-mount with no visible raceway is the cleaner look and often what a landlord criteria specifies.
- Lead time runs from final approved drawings and permit, not the day you call. Custom acrylic colours and engineering review add time, so start early on a fixed opening date.
What we build it from.
- Letter construction
- 0.040 in. aluminum returns and backs, 1 in. trim cap, acrylic faces
- Return depth
- Typically 3 to 5 in., sized to the letter height and mount
- Faces
- 3/16 in. coloured or white acrylic, with translucent vinyl overlays for exact brand colours
- Illumination
- UL-rated LED modules, white or RGB, run to a remote low-voltage power supply
- Mounting
- Flush stud-mount to the wall or raceway-mounted; raceway hides wiring and transformers
- Listing and warranty
- cUL/CSA listed assembly, P.Eng-stamped where required, 5-year warranty
One team handles the whole channel letter job.
From the first site measurement to the final lit install, Crown carries every step in-house, you deal with one company, not four.
- Site check & measurementsWe measure on site, check sightlines, and confirm what will actually work on your building.
- Design & renderingsWe render the sign to match your brand and the building, so you approve it before we build.
- Permits & landlord approvalsWe prepare the drawings and pull the development (sign) and electrical permits, plus landlord sign-off.
- In-house fabricationYour sign is built in our Edmonton shop, aluminum formed and welded, not assembled from a kit.
- LED & electricalLow-draw LED and wiring to the Canadian Electrical Code, cUL / CSA listed.
- InstallOur crew installs clean and on schedule, then passes the City electrical inspection.
- Warranty & serviceBacked by a 5-year warranty, and we service signs after, even ones we didn't build.
Channel letters we've built across Edmonton.
Brands that trust Crown.
Common questions.
Front-lit letters have a coloured acrylic face that glows because the LEDs sit behind it. Halo-lit (reverse channel) letters have a solid face and an open back, mounted off the wall so the light spills out behind the letter as a soft halo. Front-lit reads brightest and boldest; halo-lit looks more upscale and architectural. We build both, and you can see day and night renderings before approving.
Yes. A lit channel letter sign typically needs a development/sign permit from the municipality and an electrical permit because it is wired equipment. Crown Signs prepares the drawings, provides P.Eng-stamped engineering where the structure requires it, and pulls the permits. You do not chase city hall.
A raceway is an aluminum box the letters mount to that hides the wiring and power supply, so only one penetration goes through the wall. It is faster, cleaner on the building, and often required on tilt-up or EIFS walls. Flush (stud) mounting fixes each letter directly to the fascia with the wiring run inside the wall, for a floating look with no visible box. Landlord sign criteria sometimes dictates which one you can use, and we design to that.
The UL-rated LED modules we use are rated for tens of thousands of hours of run time, well beyond old neon or fluorescent. Crown Signs backs the full sign with a 5-year warranty covering the LED modules, power supplies, and fabrication. Because we build and install in-house, any service call comes back to one team.
Let's build it
Get a free design and a fixed quote on your channel letter sign.
Free consultation and site survey, an honest quote, and one team from design to install.