You can use either 2 or 4 speakers of any appropriate 8 ohm model with the Tsunami..AHD hb-1 or otherwise. I have Tsunamis having 1, 2 and 4 installed. There is no doubt that you will improve the sound by driving more speakers. Just be sure to follow the wiring diagram provided in all Tsunami products and on the Sountraxx website for the proper wiring of the speakers.
Two speakers may be wired in series to achieve 16 ohms...which will sound better than one but you may want to turn down the volume somewhat as you have halved the impedence in the circuit.
Do not wire them incorrectly to 4 ohms or you will eventually damage the decoder.
You may wire four 8 ohm speakers in series/parallel to achieve 8 ohms, but probably won't have the space for this in any tender. I have mine in an experimental "sound car" box car that is connected via miniconnectors to various locos as needed.
BTW, you will not need to purchase a capacitor for the speakers as one is provided, wired into the decoder already.
davidmbedard wrote: You can get away with one nice large oval speaker with a nice baffel.David B
You can get away with one nice large oval speaker with a nice baffel.
David B
David is quite right. This is the simplest solution.....but the definitive word is "large". If you can get a large oval in, you may not notice any difference between one and two speakers. However, due to the rectangular shape of the tenders there is not much of a large oval that can be placed in there. You will easily double the air movement with two matched ovals. It is a good idea to match them, btw, rather than use two different sized speakers.
With a little care on the sealing of the speaker margins to the floor (or in some cases the "roof" of the tender...or under the coal pile) you will not need a baffle. In fact, an added baffle takes up room that you could use by maximizing the size of the speaker. It is common to simply use the entire tender as the baffle.
When I first replaced the MRC decoder in my Challenger with a Tsunami, I tried using the original speakers....that was a mistake. Then I used two large ovals from Tony's Trains with a much better response. That was an improvement, but the chuff sounded to me like someone rubbing a wire brush inside of a metal garbage can. Still too tinney for my ear. Then I picked up a base speaker from Tony's and replaced one of the large ovals. Still better. So, I replaced the remaining oval with another base speaker. Now we are getting a nicer somewhat deeper chuff and whistle. Also, I pack a little cotton in the tender and this seems to help as well. I use Tony's enclosures for the speakers.
Adjustments to the Tsunami equalizer settings also contribute to a better overall sound.
PHARMD98233 wrote: When I first replaced the MRC decoder in my Challenger with a Tsunami, I tried using the original speakers....Adjustments to the Tsunami equalizer settings also contribute to a better overall sound.
When I first replaced the MRC decoder in my Challenger with a Tsunami, I tried using the original speakers....
I am just a little puzzled here. From where are you getting the Tsunamis with "original speakers" and what are these like? I have 5 purchased from Litchfield Station and none came with a speaker...allowing me to go straight to some good sized ovals.
Wait a minute...I just got it....you mean original speakers from the MRC install?
I've put the Tsunami and the largest oval speaker and enclosure (from Tony's Trains) into my 2-6-0 IHC moguls and it all fits without much problem. I had to lower the volume. So this should fit into a larger tender. The auto-chuff rate is close but never perfect. Cam driven would be the best option.