Hello All
I'm struggling to determine which sound system to deploy in my newly acquired Aristocaft U25B. Of course I'm new to garden railroading, but looking forward to getting out there and building the railroad. I have a 5 ft diameter oval with 5ft straights in between running on track power (brass track). I've purchased the Aristo Train Engineer package, and "my plan" is to stay on track power for the forseeable future, as I build and grow the railway! I've done some research, and granted I need to do more, but so far have found the following options, Dalle, QSI Solutions, and Phoenix Sound. I guess I'm looking for suggestions, I have an network engineering background, with extensive experience with discreet component level repair skills, although i haven't used them in quite a while. It should be like riding a bike....LOL Any suggestions? Are their other options I haven't run across yet?
Hi, I use Pheonixsound and i`m very pleased with it, I find Jim at pheonix very helpful and he will make sure you get the right sound put on the chip. Hope this helps
Age is only a state of mind, keep the mind active and enjoy life
I too have two U25's with Phoenix sound. I really like their sound for the U25, and I agree both Jim and John at Phoenix are VERY helpful. I also like the fact that if I get the computer interface and decide to put the sound board in another engine, I can program it to sound like any engine I want.
Personally, I have my soundboards mounted in a trailing car with my receiver (I'm battery powered) and the batteries. This does give me the advantage though, that if I want to run another engine for awhile, I can must move the boxcar to that engine, and reprogram the soundboard for the correct sound.
I'm sure you will get answers that rave about the QSI sound system. I have not used one, but those that do seem to be happy with it. If you ever consider going to DCC for your control, the QSI may give you a slightly less expensive path to get there. For straight DC power though, with the Aristo Train Engineer, the Phoenix sounds are hard to beat.
Ed
The Dallee is inexpensive, and the sound matches it... I don't recommend it unless you have to have the very least cost.
The Phoenix is great sound, and works with track magnets, and R/C systems... Good option there, not cheap.
The QSI is ok on DC (have to flip the direction switch to do horn/bell), can be used with train engineer (but need to make a custom box for about $150), great on DCC. It is inexpensive, about $130.
One thing, if your U25B has the socket inside, (that it is really new) the QSI just plugs in, it will take longer to remove the shell than to install the sound system.
More details on my site or MLS...
Regards, Greg
Visit my site: http://www.elmassian.com - lots of tips on locos, rolling stock and more.
Click here for Greg's web site
Thanks, two tone, Ed, and Greg! Sounds like (no pun intended) Phoenix Sound is the way to go, since I'm doing DC track power, using the Aristo Train Engineer, and want the most flexible sound system available right now! I'm assuming the new PB9 system Phoenix is selling is what you guys have installed. So is the PB9 plug and play into the U25B's, or should I be prepared to do some retrofitting and soldering to get it installed? BTW, Greg, I had already discovered your website, very nice and chocked full of info. Outstanding!
Well, actually, no, my Phoenix boards are all the older 2K2 boards. I assure you though the next one I get will be a new PB9. As I understand it, the two boards work similarly, the PB9 is just newer and better!! Regarding connections to the U25B, no the board does not just plug in. It will take some wiring to connect it up, but the directions from Phoenix are excellent. If you are handy with a soldering iron and comfortable with basic electricity, it is really not a problem. Very simple installation.
Ok. from what I've read so far, they do work very similarly, and just like you said the PB9 is just newer technology. Thanks for the info on installion, I'm comfortable enough with both a soldering iron and basic electricity to get that type installion done! No worries!
The Phoenix (any of them) are not plug and play, if you are running DC, you need to tap into the track pickups, but that's basically all. Everything else connects to the Phoenix board.
You then can put reed switches under your loco to be triggered by track magnets.
You could also use the Aristo accessory receiver to trigger some of the functions.It has 5 "outputs" but 2 are for switch machines. The other 3 could be used, although only 2 of them are simple pie, the 3rd is an output to drive lamps.
I'm assuming you are using the 27 MHz trackside unit... so you would put the accessory receiver in the loco itself in this case.
I installed a P9 in my USA F3. Previously, 2k2s have been installed in a number of locos. It should not be necessary to do any soldering other than possibly on the speaker connections. The 2k2 and P9 use screw terminals for all connections. On your stock Aristo U25 board, there should be a set of pins or plug marked as "sound." Wire a plug from those pins to the input of the Phoenix board. The bell and horn can be triggered by the supplied [kit] reed switches/magnets or from the Crest trigger units.
Jim Carter.
Wow! I've done some additional research and had a major change of heart on how I'm going to ultimately power my garden railroad! As sad as it may sound I've come to the realization that track cleaning (long term) just isn't going to work for me, so I've decided to eventually switch to DCC. Of course I've already invested in a track powered layout using the Aristo TE and Aristo's 10 amp PS which should be showing up via UPS today, so I'm committed near term to DC. With that in mind, I've decided based on research on several different forum's, i.e. here, MLS, etc. as well as Greg's website, that I'm going to go with the QSI Power/Sound decoder, QSI G Wire receiver, and the NCE GWire ProCab throttle with the idea of migrating to the full scale NCE DCC system probably next year. Or maybe upon further research I save some cheese by just investing in NCE Power Pro R 10 amp DCC and skip the G Wire phase all together, by buying the Quantum Engineer to use with Aristo TE setup until I move to NCE DCC system. Suggestions, comments, etc, please? and I already realize I should have done more research, which would have saved this rat, some cheese!
I can certainly vouch for Phoenix Sound; I have 6 locos equipped with their boards (3 of the older "BigSound 2K2, 3 with the newer, less expensive P5 boards). I run track power wtih DCC; highly recommend considering DCC if you want to get the most out of these boards. (You can manually activate bells, whistles or horns, & other effects via DCC). Especially if you have a tech background, you should have no problems doing the installs yourself; the Phoenix board sound files can be downloaded & "tweaked" to your liking from a PC. I have an ancient (120 MHz. Pentium 1!) Gateway laptop running Windows 95 (!) I use as a dedicated sound programming PC (these days, it isn't good for much else! ) if I want to do programming outside on the garden railroad itself. Most of my conversions have been on steam locos, but I recently added a P5 board to a USA Trains Alco PA for days when I'm running 1950's New Haven (USA's "Merchant's Limited" streamlined car set) instead of freelance narrow gauge logging mining (mostly Shays). I have a Bachmann Spectrum "Centennial" Mogul with a P5 board installed in the tender; if I crank the volume up, I can actually hear the exhaust echo off the neighbors houses! (But I usually don't run it anywhere NEAR that loud! ). Tom
All of my G-scale locomotives are steam engines, so I can't provide an answer based on personal experience concerning the GE U25B, but I did recently upgrade a sound system from a SoundTraxx Sierra to the newest Phoenix offering, and the difference is like night and day. The Sierra was rather wimpy on volume compared to a Phoenix, and the variety of sounds from the Phoenix is far superior to what the Sierra offered.
SoundTraxx has withdrawn from the G-scale sound market and is no longer selling the Sierra.
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