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Hi,
I would like to buy HO PROTO 2000 Heritage Series Steam USRA Heavy 2-10-2. What do you suggest - buy one with sound already factory installed or without sound and buy sound decoder later?
Furthermore, has anyone experience with this locomotive (quality, running, sound etc.)? If you suggest buying sound decoder later, which decoder should I buy (QSI, tsunami, or wait for LokSound Select maybe)?
Thanks,
Hrvoje
I would go with the factory-installed sound. If you take a look at the prices of one vs. the other, you'll see that it's cheaper than buying the DC-only engine plus a decoder and speaker.
I've got a Proto 0-6-0, and it's a great engine with a great sound system, right out of the box.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
i have one and am quite satisfied with it. i had an issue when operating it at low speeds with the volume turned up and using a TE remote control system. see if you can find the original post using the search function. i got a lot of good advice and input from others on this forum and now run it direct from the power pack without using the remote and all is well.
grizlump
I have a Proto 2000 Heritage HO 0-8-0, and the sound is just awesome. It is a good puller, too. I also have a P2K E6 with factory sound, and am very satisfied with it as well. IMHO you cannot go wrong buying P2K with the sound already installed.
I have a fairly decent amount of Proto Heritage 2000 locomotives most of which do not have sound and two don't have dcc but the one that does have the factory sound 0-8-0 is outstanding. Here's the only question that comes up. When I spoke to a tech at Walthers back in early 08 about buying al the factory components to make my DC loco into DCC with sound he told me they weren't available and to wait for the new QSI decoder to come out. It was going to be able to do a lot more and sound better bla bla bla. So I waited and waited and waited and we all know they had issues that prevented them from going to market for quite a while. Now that it's on the market I have heard from more then one source and may of you here that the Tsunami is a much better choice. I thoroughly researched it and after listening to both at my LHS I agree and have plans to put in Tsunami's in the rest of the big steam roster. You can find deals on decoders, speaker and enclosures if you spend the time to look and the installs are relatively a piece of cake compared to some others out there.Pretty much plug m play as they are meant to have sound from the factory, so I've had zero issues when installing my one Tsunami so far.
So even though the factory sound is very very good if you don't mind spending a little bit of time hunting down the deals and some time spent doing the installs I thik you will come out saving a decent amount of money. It's one of those things I actually enjoy doing that I get a great sense of accomplishment from.
Thank you Allegheny, and all other of course. I did not expect to receive so many answers (all positive!).
Btw I already have one Proto 2000 Heritage Y3 (Virginian) without sound (intend to install it later), but this loco is excellent runner. Manufacturer is ROCO, so if 2-10-2 was also made by the same manufacturer, it must be good runner too.
As far as I know ROCO only manufactures European model rail so I can't say what a sound or any decoder install would be like.
ROCO made Y3 for US market (DC and DCC with sound):
http://cgi.ebay.de/Roco-63353-US-Dampflok-2-8-8-2-Virginian-737-UP-H0_W0QQitemZ200410410195QQcmdZViewItemQQptZDE_Modellbau_Modelleisenbahnen?hash=item2ea9642cd3
http://cgi.ebay.de/Roco-63350-Norfolk-Western-Dampflok-USA-2-8-8-2-SOUND_W0QQitemZ200399057401QQcmdZViewItemQQptZDE_Modellbau_Modelleisenbahnen?hash=item2ea8b6f1f9
I do not know which sound decoder was used, but I am very pleased with running characteristics of my Proto 2000 Y3 Virginian. I have many ROCO european locos, and when I opened my Y3, I recognized ROCO's "signature" immediately: their own motor, gearing, overall inside construction, and incredibly smooth slow running on DC with PIKO powerpack more than 20 years old. Roco is one of the best manufacturers of model trains, unfortunately they do not manufacture any more US models for US market.
From what I can tell by the ebay pics looks like they made a nice looking model
I don't have any P2K steam engines to know how their tender is made, but I always purchase locomotives with factory installed sound if at all possible, as long as it's not an MRC decoder.
My most recent acquisition is a Bachmann Spectrum HO scale USRA Light 2-10-2 with "DCC On-Board." If they make a "Sound On-Board" version the tenders must be different because it is certainly not sound ready on this model. There's no provision for adding a speaker by having holes in the tender floor like BLI and IHC models, and installing a Tsunami Heavy Steam decoder and speaker has required removal of the Bachmann decoder and circuit board.
"There's no provision for adding a speaker by having holes in the tender floor like BLI and IHC models,"
Funny you should mention this I was at my LHS last week and the guy there who does the majority of their dcc work and sound mentioned to me that he does not like drilling holes in the bottom of the tenders if there aren't any. He prefers them not to have holes.I looked at him with my typical puzzled Huh look on my face and said thought they all had to have holes. He told me if they have ample sound holes are not necessary and will actually cause reverberation. He has a little trick where he makes a lead enclosure for his speakers which greatly improves the sound quality. He put two of the same loco's on the test track one with a sound decoder and holes drilled and the other without holes and his lead enclosure and the no holes loco was much better hands down. If I wasn't standing rith there I wouldn't have believed it. I guess there is a lot more into getting good sound out of these things.then just putting in a good speaker.