Digitrax's Transponding FAQ makes the following intriguging statement: "Transponding will bring you an under layout sound system that will follow the locomotives around the layout based on transponding information received by the system." Such a system would, presumably, make use of advanced surround sound/home theatre technology to locate sounds within a three-dimensional field. "Will" is, of course, the English verb "to be" in the future tense, but they seem certain that this is going to happen. Does anyone know of a) a commercially available system that uses transponding or b) a product in the works? Enjoy the weekend! ^_^ Bryan
I talked with the Soundtraxx people at a train show this past summer and they said it would be in the stores by this past Christmas. In fact I just talked with my LHS (Caboose Hobbies) this past week and they still have no idea when or even if it will be out within the next year. It sounds like a great system and a great way for N-scalers to incorporate sound into their layouts. I've emailed Soundtraxx several times letting them know of my interest and that I'd be proud to own one of the first systems, just let me know where to send the money, but no answer. So, I'll hurry up and wait some more.
Here's the response I got back in late November: The guy also said that the Tsunami decoders were taking precedence at this point and that is why it didn't make it in 2005.
I've been using sound on the JJJ&E for 6+ years using the Soundtraxx DSX sound only decoders and now the Tsunami decoders which are wired to 4 inch Rqdio Shack speakers under the benchwork. I've also placed the Soundtraxx DSX sound only decoders in 50 foot box cars outfitted with Kato caboose trucks and a 5/8" speaker inside the boxcar shell. It doesn't quite have the effect of the four inch speakers. Stay cool and run steam.....
I saw/heard the SoundTrax surround sound system demonstrated this past summer at the NMRA National Train Show. The hall was very noisey, and it was not a very good demonstration. However, it did seem to work and shows promise. The speakers were in plain sight, and I kept looking at the speakers because that was where the sound was oblviously coming from! Hidden speakers might trick the mind (an easy job in my case) into thinking that the sound was coming from the engine. I'm interested in seeing how it works out, but the demonstration I saw didn't convince me.
