I've had a taste of sound lately and,to be honest,got seriously bitten.I'm now contemplating the idea of installing sound decoders in my three favorite N scale steamers,starting with my failure prone(not to say expected) MRC equipped Big Boy.
I've heard Micro Tsunami's sound samples on the Internet site as well as Loksound equipped locos on Youtube and both sound nice.Prices are close to eachother and I haven't not read of any complaint about either.Sizes are not an issue,I believe they pretty much compare there also.So what could separate them?What are the pros and cons of each?If we put together all the parameters (price,sound,reliability,programming ease,etc),is there one with an edge worthed considering,meaning not a two dollars difference.I don't see a justified higher price as more expensive,but then it's my opinion.
You can find discussions of both brands on a couple Yahoo groups.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/loksound/?v=1&t=search&ch=web&pub=groups&sec=group&slk=1
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/soundtraxx/?yguid=44628248
Both groups have Files & Photos sections with a lot of data. The SoundTraxx group is just starting up with diesel info since the decoders were recently released.
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
davidmbedard wrote: selector wrote:One other consideration for you may be the improving of sounds over time with the Loksound. If you get their programmer, you can continually upgrade the sounds as they improve them and post them on their site. I don't think the Tsunami has this capabilty...it comes pre-programmed with a variety of sounds for whistle, for example, but it gets to you without any further abilty for you to do future upgrades if Soundtraxx provides an improved whistle or horn at some point....that is, of course, if you invest in the LokProgrammer. (130ish)I have been using Lok Programmer for 2 years, and I have yet to see any 'upgrade' to their steam sounds. David B
selector wrote:One other consideration for you may be the improving of sounds over time with the Loksound. If you get their programmer, you can continually upgrade the sounds as they improve them and post them on their site. I don't think the Tsunami has this capabilty...it comes pre-programmed with a variety of sounds for whistle, for example, but it gets to you without any further abilty for you to do future upgrades if Soundtraxx provides an improved whistle or horn at some point.
...that is, of course, if you invest in the LokProgrammer. (130ish)
I have been using Lok Programmer for 2 years, and I have yet to see any 'upgrade' to their steam sounds.
David B
Don't the Tsunamis require a programming booster? (just asking...)
Before you get to deeply into this, check out how much room you have inside your steam engine tenders to confirm you have room for the mini/micro decoders and the speaker with its enclosure. I can't picture either Loksound or Tsunami fitting into a Bachmann 2-8-0, for example.
If you have more than 6-7 locos in which you want sound, go to Soundtraxx's web page to read about Surroundtraxx. It's price is steep at $600 but it would be a WHOLE LOT easier to install this than 6-7 loco-mounted sound systems, and would be comparably expensive.
If you have more locos than that, to me Surroundtraxx is the way to go. With under-layout speakers, you get a lot better volume and clarity than with the 1" speakers than you MIGHT fit into an N-scale loco.
You still need a decoder in the engine, and in particular one with transponding (e.g., Digitrax).
Had this system been available 6 or 8 years ago, I would have definitely gone that route. With the 11 locos I've done so far and one more to go, the amount of TIME saved would have gotten me much further along in actually building my layout.
The first several installations will consume 25-30 hours each; as you get better at it, 8-10 hours each. You could probably install Surroundtraxx, 4 or 6 under-layout speakers and the wiring in an 8-hour day. Consider what your model railroading time is worth.