I began buying locos with factory sound about 15 years ago and several of my earliest purchases have very anemic sound. Specifically two BLI Paragon F3 AB sets, a Genesis GP-7, and a Spectrum Ten Wheeler. I've read a couple articles and looked at a few videos that explain how to use CV 63 to adjust the volume and one of the articles indicated that the maximum value on some older locomotives is 64. I've tried adjusting CV 63 on on the F3s and the GP-7 but I can't detect any difference in the volume. I have a Genesis F3 AB set which I purchased about the same time as the GP-7 and it has excellent sound. My question is whether the volume is primarily dictated by the type of decoder or by the quality of the speakers. I've gotten excellent sound recently with older locos in which I installed sound decoders with sugar cube speakers. I'm wondering if I could simply swap newer speakers in some of my older sound equipped locos or whether I would need to install new decoders to get better sound.
Sound CV's are not universal, so you have to refer to the manual for your specific locos or decoders. For example, I believe Soundtrax, which would be in your Genesis and Sepctrum uses CV128 and BLI uses CV133.
John,
In my experience, the design of the enclosure and the quality of the install makes the most difference in terms of volume.
This was especially apparent when comparing the modeler made installs of soundtraxx TSU's in HON3 locomotives to the Blackstone K or C 19s. Same equipment in terms of decoders and speakers but what a difference in sound. The factory installs on the whole, sounded much bettrer than the home done versions (by a master modeler).
Now I am not sure that would hold for Spectrum or Genesis but I suspect it might. I have a couple of versions of factory intalls in Spectrum and one in Genesis that are steam. Both are plenty loud and sound good but not as good as the Blackstone or the BLI factory installs...compared to the many speaker/deocders installs I have done myself, I would say that factory installs mostly (but not all) sound better. For what its worth - just a data point.
You might consider investing in a JMRI set up to tweak these older decoders - much less hassle than going CV by CV....
Guy
see stuff at: the Willoughby Line Site
CSX Robert Sound CV's are not universal, so you have to refer to the manual for your specific locos or decoders. For example, I believe Soundtrax, which would be in your Genesis and Sepctrum uses CV128 and BLI uses CV133.
Manuals for my older locos are stashed away somewhere but rather than trying to find them, I tried CV128 on the Genesis GP-7 and it seems to be the correct one. 255 was the highest value it would accept and it did improve somewhat although still not great. Nowhere near as good as my Genesis F3 AB set which I bought around the same time. It might be because both units have sound but even using just one of the units, they sound better than the GP-7. I think my older BLI F3s do use CV 63 and a value of 64 seemed to be the highest value they would take. That too improved, but again, not like my newer locos. Haven't tried to adjust the Spectrum Ten Wheeler yet.
CSX Robert Sound CV's are not universal, so you have to refer to the manual for your specific locos or decoders.
Sound CV's are not universal, so you have to refer to the manual for your specific locos or decoders.
Alton Junction
I dont think there is a huge difference in the sound file between different older locos that may have both had the older Tsunamis. So the regular GP7 and the Genesis F unit likely had different sounds because of different speakers.
My experience says that the speakers make more of a difference than an evolution in sound files between, say, Tsunami and Tsunami2. I assume the same for different iterations of Paragon..
- Douglas
If these are Tsunami's, have you tried to use the sound equalizer? It can make a big difference too.
This is where setting up Decoder Pro can really help, as it can read the decoder settings and put them in an easy to use form so you can adjust everything the way you want.
Fifteen years old puts one or two of these locomotives as potentially QSI decoders, in which case there are three steps to assigning values to volumes of a kind.
selectorFifteen years old puts one or two of these locomotives as potentially QSI decoders,
And some early sound Genesis locomotives had MRC decoders in them.
Good Luck, Ed
I checked the operator manuals online and it appears both the Genesis GP-7 and the Spectrum Ten Wheeler have Soundtraxx decoders. The master sound CV is 128. The maximum value these accept is 255 which improves the sound volume somewhat. I also learned there is a volume control for the horn/whistle (129) and bell (130). These seem to have been set for the standard value of 125. I was unable to increase it but if I am understanding the manual correctly, can be reduced by setting the CV to 62. If the volume was louder on these, I might consider reducing the bell because I find a loud bell to be annoying but that isn't necessary with these locos. It appears to me I have maxed out the decoders and the only thing left to do is decide whether it is worth it to upgrade the speakers.
I'm going on memory so I'm not sure about this but I think these locos were purchased before the Tsunami was introduced which would make them more than 15 years old but that is just a guess.
Read the value of CV8 for the manufacturer of the decoder. Download the appropriate manual and go from there. Be careful swapping out speakers. Some decoders of that era needed 100 Ohm speakers.
Soundtraxx decoders also have a separate CV for 'diesel rumble' or 'chuff' volume that you can adjust up.