Following up on the thread about a Soundtraxx Tsunami in the Athearn Big-Boy, here's a video of my Athearn Challenger with a Tsunami installed in place of the original MRC decoder. For those of you with Challengers, notice the much-improved slow-speed performance. I also installed a bigger speaker (a 16 X 30 mm oval in an enclosure I made out of lead sheet). You can hear the whistle at about 1 minute in to the video; I think you're going to like it . . . (too bad the NKP didn't own any of these, but in my fantasy world, they leased a couple from the Clinchfield to help out with coal trains from southeast Ohio on the Wheeling). [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1797N4BIpKw"]YouTube - Athearn N-scale Challenger w/Tsunami Sound[/ame] John C.
Wow!!!...the sound in that is fantastic!!!:tb-biggrin::tb-biggrin: Looks like the Tsunami decoder is the way to go:tb-biggrin:
WOW!!! I have a Challenger and a Walthers Y3. The motor control and sound on the Y3 put the Challenger to shame. Looks like my next project... whooooooo hooooooooo
That does sound real nice and I love the slow speed control that you have. Mine stills has the MRC module and I run DC. Looks like you have provided a good incentive to change to DCC with Tsunami sound. BTW, did you happen to document your installation process of the Tsunami module so others could learn how to install one?
Unfortunately, no, I didn't take photos. The speaker is now mounted underneath the coal load, rather than at the bottom firing down. The larger oval speaker and enclosure make a huge difference in the sound over the 16mm round speaker that is factory-installed. The TSU-750 micro-tsunami is mounted at the rear of the tender; I had to cut off one of the support posts that the tender shell attaches to in order to make room for the speaker, but that doesn't seem to have hurt the shell integrity any. John C.
This is looking (and sounding) really nice. My only hesitation now is that if I do this I won't be able to run this using the goofy little remote on DC systems when I take the loco elsewhere. Since that would only happen once or twice a year if that vs. my nearly daily aggravation with the limitations of the MRC decoder, I think the choice is clear. Once the modeling account is funded and I get the GS-4 done first I think this one will be next.
Actually, you can run a Tsunami-equipped loco on analog DC. It will chuff, but there's no way to control the bell or whistle other than via certain "automatic" settings (for example, you can set the Tsunami to start the bell and sound the whistle when moving forward from stop automatically). If you only run the loco on DC a couple of times a year, this may be enough. John C.
I figured the chuffs would work, but you wouldn't really be able to hit the other functions. It's not really that big of a deal, since I am not likely to be in that position very often. I would love to see some pics of some conversions. Did anyone use the existing socket, for hard-wiring purposes if nothing else?
Nice work John....:thumbs_up: The micro Tsunami's are great. They are a big step forward from the factory installed MRC decoder. The motor functions are pathetic on the MRC decoder.
The micro-Tsunami's are indeed great, but I wish QSI would try to miniaturize their sound decoders to give us some choice/competition. I guess the LokSound micro is a competitor, but I dislike their 100-ohm speaker requirement, which limits you to their special speaker line. The nice thing about the QSI steam decoders is that they allow you to vary cut-off and to keep the cylinder cocks open on startup. This produces a much different (and far more realistic) steam sound when the engine is moving light in a yard or when starting a train. You can also program the sound to "fade out" when you press the mute and then fade back in when you unmute, a very handy item for when you have concealed trackage or an off-layout staging yard where the train is supposed to be gone miles down the road . . . Don't get me wrong - I love the Tsunami, having installed over two dozen of them in my steam locos. But the QSI system is even better - the Y3 I heard (still haven't bought one, but that's next on my list when the new run comes out this summer) is awesome! John C.
John C., Nice work. The oval speaker really "makes" the sound. I have a small round in my GS-4 and it is nothing compared to the oval. Don't get me wrong it is good but does not match the oval. Thinking ahead, do you feel that a Tsunami and oval speaker will fit into the tender coming with the cabforward? If prototypical it should be a large tender. Carl
John, I have a Y3 and the sound and motor control is awesome. Its like comparing a high end audio system to a clock radio!!!
From a purely dimensions standpoint, it should fit easily. I fit a 16 X 25mm oval in my Berkshire tenders with a micro-Tsunami and space to spare, and the cab-foward's tender should be bigger than this. But until we see what Intermountain puts inside the tender and how it utilizes tender-truck electrical pickup, we won't know for sure. Another big point to good sound is using an air-tight enclosure, or at least sealing off the front of the speaker from the space behind it. It amazes me how many folks just stick a speaker somewhere "free floating" inside a tender or diesel cab and are disappointed in the sound. Even a 15mm round speaker will sound decent if its put in an air-tight enclosure; and on the other side of the coin, any size cone loudspeaker set in free air will sound terrible. The ovals, however, ARE much better for volume and bass output. I would have thought that the GS4 tender would have plenty of room for an oval speaker and a TSU-750. No??? John C.
John, To answer your question about the GS-4 tender holding the Tsunami 750 and an oval speaker. I don't know, I'm not smart enough to "measure" anything before starting. Oh well, that's another story. My tender is full because I left the KATO tender weight in place. The weight, capacitor, Tsunami 750, small round speaker ( in enclosure ), plus a Richmond Controls reverse light module equals one "full" tender. I may take off shell and measure. If oval speaker would fit by removing weight, then I may try that. Just another "round to it". Carl
Speaker size Might you be able to get different speaker sizes for the decoder, that way you could fit them into any size loco/tender. O.T. Carl, I was wondering if the rail line your avatar represents has any trouble with a certain coyote:tb-tongue::tb-biggrin:
Chooch, No problems. I need to paint a coyote on a boxcar that could be chasing the roadrunner on car ahead of it.
You could have him with a knife and fork, and his tongue hanging out of his mouth:tb-biggrin: Might they have a genuine roadrunner "beep beep" for a decoder??!!:tb-tongue:
Hi John, I'm awestruck by your three recent videos on the Connie, Big Boy, and Challenger. Just an absolutely great job. You've got me inspired and I've already matched chuff rates to two of my steamers. What an improvement. Now to finish Tsunami installs and add bigger speakers. So much for scenery work for the time being. Couple of questions: Did you get the 16 x 30 mm oval from Digi-key as well? How bout a part number. Where did you get the lead sheet and how did you make and install an enclosure out of it? There is a totally different whistle sound coming out of the bigger locomotives especially regarding reverb. Did you mess around with the Tsunami reverb settings? The manual doesn't give a lot of "how to's" about reverb. My Tsunami-driven Challenger with the smaller speaker really sounds different and frankly, not that much better that the MRC. How's you get that reverb? Inquiring minds and so on... I'd really appreciate your help. ...Tom
I'm sorry, John. For some reason, I thought the video on the Atlas forum was a Big Boy and that's why I thought there were three videos. ...Tom
Hi Tom. Thanks so much. I don't know if you saw my earlier videos with one of my Berkshires, 0-8-0's and Mikes. If you didn't, you can find them on You Tube by searching "jdcolombo1956" (my user name) or look here on TrainBoard for prior postings by me. The reason you might want to look at them is that the Berk uses a 14 X 25mm oval; while the other two use the same 15mm round that I used in the Connie. Listening to these should give you some idea of what is possible with different speaker sizes. Meanwhile, here are my answers to your questions, and if you need more help, please feel free to e-mail me directly at jdcolombo@comcast.net 1. The 16 X 30 mm speaker is also from DigiKey, part no. GC0301K-ND, $4.23 each; $3.38 each for 10 or more. 2. The lead sheet comes from A-Line via N Scale Supply, available here: http://www.nscalesupply.com/ALI/ALI-weights.html I get both the 1/32 and 1/16 thickness. If possible I use the 1/16 thickness because of its greater rigidity, but it all depends on how much width I have available in the tender. In the case of the Challenger, if my memory serves me, I used 1/16 because I had plenty of width at the top. Remember that the overall size of the completed assembly will include the thickness of the lead sheet; so if I start with a 16 x 30mm speaker and use 1/16 lead sheet for the enclosure, I end up with an overall dimension of roughly 20mm X 34mm. So choose your speaker size and lead thickness accordingly. 3. So here's the general process for constructing an enclosure, and I'll attach a photo of one that I've completed so you can see what results. First, I decide on what depth I want the enclosure to be. Obviously, it has to be deeper than the depth of the speaker; in the case of the 16 X 30mm, the speaker depth is 5mm. My vague recollection is that I made the enclosure for the Challenger 10mm, but I honestly can't remember. I like to make them as deep as I can get away with for two reasons (1) more air volume in the enclosure chamber usually results in better volume/bass response and (2) it weighs more, which helps for tender electrical pickup and tracking. From the total depth, I subtract the thickness of the lead sheet, which will be used for the bottom of the enclosure (approx. 1mm for 1/32; 2mm for 1/16). Now I cut a long strip from the lead sheet that is the width resulting from the prior calculation. So, in the case of the Challenger (if my memory is correct), I wanted 10mm overall depth; subtract 2mm for the lead sheet bottom, and that gives me an 8mm depth for the enclosure sides. Now the rest is pretty simple. What you are going to do with the strip you just cut is turn it into the sides of a rectangular box that wraps around the outside of the speaker. So, first thing I do is lightly sand the sides of the speaker for better glue adhesion. Then I put a bead of medium-CA along one long edge, and line up the lead sheet strip I just cut so that it is flush with the top of the speaker, and glue it to the long side. When the CA has set (say, 1 minute), I cut the rest of the lead strip off flush with the short side. Now another bead on the other long side, and repeat. Now you have two long sides of your enclosure. Next, obviously is to do the same for the short sides, remembering that you'll want to overlap the short sides with the edges of the long sides, so that when you are done, the "box" is completely sealed with CA on all edges. Once the sides are done, I cut a small notch in the bottom of one of the short sides for wire egress (remember to solder your wires onto the speaker BEFORE you start building the enclosure). With the notch cut and wires sticking out of the notch, I next put a bead of CA on the bottom edge of the completed box, and press it onto a corner of the remaining lead sheet to form the bottom. Then a dab more CA on the notch to make sure the notch is completely sealed. Cut away the excess lead sheet and the enclosure is done. Finally, you'll also have to seal up the mounting holes in the speaker. I do this by using a drop or two of thick-viscosity CA in each hole; it is thick enough that it fills the hole, and when dry forms a nice "plug". That's it. You're done. 4. I don't mess with the reverb settings of the Tsunami, but I do mess with the equalizer settings. In general, the small speakers we use don't have any response below 500hz. So I set the equalizer to "custom" in CV 153, and then set the two lowest-octave bands to zero in CV's 154-155. With the rest, I just play around until I get the sound I want. Usually, this means boosting the next band way up, a little boost for the midrange, and then usually a bit of cut for the treble (but it depends; sometimes I boost the treble). This is just one of those "play until satisfied or tired" scenarios. Photos attached of a 14 X 25 mm oval in a lead enclosure. John C.
