Hello, I have a quick, easy question on decoders. Do you need a general decoder and a sound decoder to have both function and sound, or is a sound decoder just a function decoder also equiped with sound? Thanks, 63sportsman
63
There are sound only decoders and there are sound,motor and lighting decoders. Sountraxx, Loksound, QSI have full function decoders. Then there are the sound only decoders by Soundtraxx, Digitrax, and others.
Pete
I pray every day I break even, Cause I can really use the money!
I started with nothing and still have most of it left!
You can get them both ways.
SoundTraxx makes decoders that are both sound and motor/light control (Tsunami and LC decoders), and they have decoders that are sound only (DSX decoders).
Digitrax makes both types, too; the SoundFX, which is a full function decoder, and the SoundBug, which is sound only.
The QSI Revolution is a full function decoder. MRC and LokSound come both ways
If you purchase a locomotive with factory installed DCC, you can get these both ways, too. A Bachmann "DCC On Board" engine, for example, has only motor and light control. A "Sound On Board" has a full function decoder using a SoundTraxx Tsunami.
The Broadway Limited Imports BlueLine products have a sound only decoder already installed, and you must add your own motor/light control decoder. The newer Broadway Limited Paragon 2 products they have recently announced have BlueLine sound with redesigned full function decoders.
BLI, Atlas, Proto 2000, and others that say they have QSI sound all use full function decoders.
So you must read the fine print very carefully to make sure you're getting exactly what you want.
Thanks for the explanations so far. In your guy's opinions,starting out and being cost effective what would be the route to take with dcc? should I be looking for loco's with dcc function and add sound only, with dcc and sound, without any dcc and I add a full function? I am an electrician by trade and have all tooling to install dcc, so that does not need to be considered as far as skill level. Thanks, 63sportsman
I am a retired electronics tech on a tight budget, so I get locos without the decoders and install the decoders myself. Since I love sound, I use the decoders that have both sound and power in one package. The draw back is that you have to find a place for the speaker, and all speakers are not equal. Most of the locos that already have sound decoders in them are excellent. Many times the price of the loco with DCC and sound is about the same as for the individual loco, decoder & speaker, and the work is done for you. So if you can afford it, I would recommend getting the loco with DCC and sound already installed. Try to find out who's decoder is being used in the loco, and stay away from MRC decoders. Many on the form will tell you they are not very good.
Elmer.
The above is my opinion, from an active and experienced Model Railroader in N scale and HO since 1961.
(Modeling Freelance, Eastern US, HO scale, in 1962, with NCE DCC for locomotive control and a stand alone LocoNet for block detection and signals.) http://waynes-trains.com/ at home, and N scale at the Club.
I think the best sound for the money right now is the BlueLine series from Factory Direct Trains. You can get a sound-equipped GE AC6000 with BlueLine sound for $120. Add a $15 motor/function decoder and you have one of the best sounding engines made.
There are sound samples for some of their engines, such as the RSD-15 that you can listen to online and judge the sound quality for yourself.
I have found no user-installable sound decoder that is as clear.
If you take a look at the Walthers catalog or other pricing guides, you'll notice that the price difference between a top of the line engine with and without DCC and sound is about a hundred dollars. A good sound/motor decoder plus speaker will cost you about that, and then you've got to install it yourself. So, you'd might as well just get the engine with sound installed, open the box and enjoy it.
On the other hand, if you look at places like Trainworld (www.trainworld.com) or M.B. Klein (www.modeltrainstuff.com) that do a lot of closeout/clearance business, you may find a really good engine for a great price. In that case, you can add your own decoders and save yourself some money.
Remember, though, that most older engines were not designed for decoder installations, let alone sound systems. So, you may have to do some surgery to get these parts inside. Speaker installations often require removal of some of the weight inside the engine. The weight is there for a reason, though. If you take too much out, you will compromise the pulling capacity of the engine. You may be able to offset the weight you take out for a speaker by adding weight to a different part of the engine.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.