The Mysterium of Sound

[faraway]

I installed an EMD Tsunami 2 with a sugar cube speaker two days ago in a SD40-2. The sound volume was far to low and distorted. I tried two other speaker (an other sugar cube and a conventional one) to no avail.

I gave up and toke care of the ditch lights.

When I switches the layout on next day and run that engine was the sound as good as all my other Tsunami 2 sounds with sugar cube. Some mystery must have happened during that night to the sound.

 

A second SD40-2 got a Tsunami 2 and a sugar cube some hours ago and the sound was again to low and distorted. I tried another speaker but it did not change anything. When I came back an hour ago was the sound much improved and about 90% in volume and quality of all the other Tsunami 2 / sugar cube combinations in my roster. I am sure the sound will be fine tomorrow morning.

 

Any explanations?

 

Ps. May be the sound is generated in a biological process and needs some time to grow in the powered decoder until it is ripe and ready to be harvested by the speaker…. (No I am not drunk just extreme surprised J )

[doctorwayne]

faraway

...May be the sound is generated in a biological process and needs some time to grow in the powered decoder until it is ripe and ready to be harvested by the speaker….

Apparently you have an electronics-related "green thumb", with the speakers being simply late-bloomers.

Wayne

[mbinsewi]

Wayne's explaination seems to be right on, although, I think the OP is on to something with his theory,

faraway

Ps. May be the sound is generated in a biological process and needs some time to grow in the powered decoder until it is ripe and ready to be harvested by the speaker…. (No I am not drunk just extreme surprised J )

We've had cases before where whole lay outs were pronounced DOA, and the next morning, everything back to life.

One of the many anomalies that model railroaders will ponder and document for lifetimes.

Mike.

[hon30critter]

Hi Reinhard,

I'm not sure how experienced you are with sugar cube speakers so let me start with some basics:

- Did you add enclosures to the speakers, and if so were they sealed tight? Sugar cube speakers must have enclosures that are sealed tightly in order to get proper sound out of them. Other speakers benefit from enclosures as well. See the first link below on how to add enclosures (baffles) to your speakers.

- Did you do the initial tests with the shell off, and if so, did the sound get better after the shell was re-installed? It is possible that the shell is acting as an amplifier if the speakers are in close proximity to it.

I actually epoxy my sugar cube speakers directly to the shell wherever possible, with the magnet (not the enclosure) next to the shell. If the shell is metal you will have to insulate the speaker wire connections on the speaker. The results are quite inpressive. I just did an HO Thomas the Tank Engine with the speaker glued to the roof of the cab. It is actually too loud for normal operation, but since it is intended specifically for the kids at the shows, I will leave the volume up.

Again, not knowing what your level of knowledge of sugar cube speakers is, you may or may not find these useful:

http://sbs4dcc.com/tutorialstipstricks/sugarcubespeakernotes.html

I build my own enclosures out of .040" styrene.

Another way to improve the sound is to add multiple speakers:

http://sbs4dcc.com/tutorialstipstricks/wiringmultispeakers.html

The other possibility of course is that you are entirely correct - the speakers needed to finish growing! I'm not sure how often they should be watered though.

Dave

 

[faraway]

Hi Dave, I am using Zimo LS13X18 speakers. Did that more than 50 times during the past years (sound is a wonderful way to get broke). A very few of them were defect and I had to swap them.

hon30critter

The other possibility of course is that you are entirely correct - the speakers needed to finish growing! I'm not sure how often they should be watered though.

That's it. I did not water the speaker prior to the initial installation ;-) 

[rrinker]

 Difference between shell on and shell off?

What settings changes did you make to no avail, only to find the next day they were fine? You may be changing something that is not dynamically updated in the Tsunami and it requires the power to be cycled to take effect.

                                      --Randy

 

[faraway]

I used decoder Pro to create two clones of a perfect running SD40-2, changed the addresses and wrote the clones to the two new locomotives equipped with EMD Tsunami 2. The first one "healed" over night. A long power down might be an important fact. The second one healed while standing on the DCC powered track over the next four hours. In both cases was the power interrupted after programming at the computer and moving the locomotive on the layout. I have programmed and used dozens of Tsunami 2 and never observed a similar effect.

[hon30critter]

faraway

Hi Dave, I am using Zimo LS13X18 speakers. Did that more than 50 times during the past years (sound is a wonderful way to get broke).

Hi Reinhard,

I apologise for responding to an obviously experienced DCC sound modeller with such a basic answer. I hope you weren't offended.

Dave

[rrebell]

Sounds like a curing problem. Did you use something to secure the parts to the engine (besides wires)? 

 

[faraway]

rrebell

Sounds like a curing problem. Did you use something to secure the parts to the engine (besides wires)?

 

I used my usual double sided sticky tape to mount the decoder on top of the motor. A simple but trouble free method used on many engines.

ps. I moved the decoders today to two other engines (from Bachmann to Athearn RTR) and they do well behave in their new homes (using the same brand of sticky tape).

[rrebell]

That could be it but I wouldn't think that that short of time would make a difference.

[dknelson]

This might appear to be crazy but ... is there a chance the issue is not with the trains but with your ears, perhaps water remaining in the ears after a shower, or that your ears need to be cleaned?  I have noted "distortion" in what I hear -- whether music, or ordinary daily noises, my wife instructing me on something I need to do -- that goes away with time as the day progresses.

The other thought is that as a train runs with a newly installed speaker, the more everything vibrates due to movement and thus the more the speaker gradually finds its sweet spot.  At the risk of goofing everything up again, if the trains were held upside down, and then placed back on the rails, would the poor sound return?

Dave Nelson

[wjstix]

In my experience, Tsunamis don't always maintain their CV settings. It could be there was a setting that you accidently programmed incorrectly so it was negatively affecting the sound, but then when the power was off, it re-set the CV to the default setting.

[riogrande5761]

impedance mismatch?