I was just wondering if anyone here has experiences with Sooundtrax decoders. I have both HO and N layouts and desire sound. In HO, I have two Kato Dash 9s that are DCC ready. What are my options as far as on-board sound? How hard and expensive is it? It seems to me the problem would be the speaker. In N, my Kato Dash 9s and Atlas SD-60s get their noise from an MRC Sound Station. Is on-board HO sound worth the added trouble? Thanks! Ski
Ski, Welcome to the 'board. I have 7 locos, all steam with Soundtraxx on board. BTW all in HO. Steam has a lot of background sounds, but even with diesel, the sounds of idleing engines sound great. Soundtraxx has a website that you can sample the sounds, if that doesn't start the adrenilin flowing then don't bother buying them. There is another source for on board sound from a German company that lets you download particular sounds. I havn't investigated them, but found a site in Canada Look here for themtheir system looks very interesting. On board sound is totally different from a fixed sound source, the sound is taylored directly to the individual loco and of course moves with it. There are a number of speaker choices for you. There are round, oval and sealed units, each one with different characteristics. Try and get the largest speaker that will fit. Installation difficulty can best be judged by your own ability to take an engine apart put it back together and not have any parts left over. Just make sure that the enclosure is sealed except for where you want the sound to come out. The sealed units eliminate this problem. I buy them from ttx-dcc.com and pay about $149.00 plus around twenty bucks for a speaker. Tony has a lot of pictures of both HO and N installations that should help you. hope this helps!
I second Chris, the Soundtraxx decoders work quite well in HO scale, and visit Tony's site for further info. It would be harder to do this in N scale though, so you'd have to look into it further.
Hi Ski. ESU, the company ChrisDante referred to builds engine decoders with integrated sound. You order what type of sound You want on it, diesel, steamer with 2 cyl, 3 cyl. etc. If You don't like the sound provided You can change it, by means of a lokprogramer tool and software, on Your PC. If You still dodn't like that sound, take a recording of Your favorite engine and download it onto Your decoder. Can't get more realistic than that! Depending on how much room there is in an N-Scale engine, installation may or may not be possible. But if there is no room it can usually be mounted in a permanently coupled car right behind the engine. The smallest speaker available from ESU is 9/16" in diameter. Check it out at www.mrsonline.net or send questions to info@mrsonline.net Have fun with what ever You decide on! Art
Hi Ski. ESU, the company ChrisDante referred to builds engine decoders with integrated sound. You order what type of sound You want on it, diesel, steamer with 2 cyl, 3 cyl. etc. If You don't like the sound provided You can change it, by means of a lokprogramer tool and software, on Your PC. If You still dodn't like that sound, take a recording of Your favorite engine and download it onto Your decoder. Can't get more realistic than that! Depending on how much room there is in an N-Scale engine, installation may or may not be possible. But if there is no room it can usually be mounted in a permanently coupled car right behind the engine. The smallest speaker available from ESU is 9/16" in diameter. Check it out at www.mrsonline.net or send questions to info@mrsonline.net Have fun with what ever You decide on! Art
You may also want to gete involved with the Soundtraxx web group, check: http://groups.yahoo.com/ There's quite an archive of installation and troubleshooting data available. My experience with Soundtraxx is that they work well, sound good and the manufacturer is very responsive.
