DCC Sound option

[duck69a]

Has anyone tried/used/purchased a MRC Prodigy Synchro Sound Station?
I have a 4x8 layout with DCC and a couple of Diesel locos. I have three young daughters and am interested in adding sound to the layout. I have not been able to find any reviews of this product and am interested in adding this as a low cost sound option. I am on a budget and can get this for $32.

Any reviews/impressions would be appreciated.

Here is a link to the website: http://www.modelrectifier.com/products/trainSound/product.asp?ID=1288&Subcategory=Prodigy%20DCC

Thanks,
Jamie

[Anonymous]

I have one that I had some fun with. The unit needs to be "powered" by another DC transformer. It comes with an output to go to a speaker. I used the output to go to the CD/AUX input of the old Stereo system I have in the garage with the layout. When playing with the trains I would turn on the stereo for some REALLY cool sounds. A lot of my neighbors were wondering where the nearest railroad was!! In my experience some of the sounds seemed TOO electronic sounding.

[Anonymous]

I would try to hear it before buying it. Several of my buddies bought them and are now trying to unload them because of poor sound quality. I heard it at the train store and decided it was something I could live without....

[duck69a]

thanks for the info guys,

Jamie

[Anonymous]

I somehow managed to blow up my MRC Syncro last night...

[cacole]

A friend of mine bought one, tried it out on our club layout, put it back into the box and returned it for a refund. Weak output and poor quality sound. It has some type of decoder in it with a permanently etched address that cannot be changed, so no matter what the locomotive address is, it works. The biggest problem is, it sounds exactly the same no matter what type of locomotive you're runnng, and not every locomotive sounds alike. In steam mode, an 0-4-0 is going to sound exactly the same as a Big Boy, and in diesel mode an EMD switcher and a GE 6000 HP AC engine are going to sound exactly alike. Different strokes for different folks, as they say.