All-
I have a few of these units with the Digitrax 165L0 boards inside of them. I'd like to add sound to these units but I have no idea how to mill the weight on the unit (I've never done this before). I'd much rather prefer to purchase a speaker that already may fit in the relatively tight spaces within the engine.
Can anyone comment on which speakers may do the trick?
If I have to "mill" the weight, can anyone provide instructions (tools, etc) and then advise which type of speaker they used?
Thanks in advance.
elansp wrote: All-I have a few of these units with the Digitrax 165L0 boards inside of them. I'd like to add sound to these units but I have no idea how to mill the weight on the unit (I've never done this before). I'd much rather prefer to purchase a speaker that already may fit in the relatively tight spaces within the engine.Can anyone comment on which speakers may do the trick?If I have to "mill" the weight, can anyone provide instructions (tools, etc) and then advise which type of speaker they used?Thanks in advance.
I've done 4 of them so far with the 165L0 and Soundbug chip and have two more to go. Yes, I milled down the weight but what I do is remove the current board and pull the wires away from the weight (but not disconnect the wires). Then I flip the unit upside down and clamp the rear end of the weight in a vice and then make two cuts up front on the weight. I use a Dremel tool with a large cutoff wheel and a hacksaw. I work slowly in order not to hit a wire and break it. By having the unit upside down the filings and metal all fall down and don't get into the trucks and other mechanisms. I've seen others disassemble the P2Ks to mill the weight. I've never had to with this method.
Here's some pictures of the process.
For speakers I use 16x35mm speakers and enclosures from Litchfield station.
SP-16x35-08 - 16 x 35 mm (5/8 x 1.4 inch) Rectangular Speaker; 8 mm (0.32 inch) deep 8 Ohms (D) SP-16x35-08
SPENC-16x35 - 16 x 35 mm (5/8 x 1-3/8 inch) Rectangular Speaker Enclosure (ND) SPENC-16x35
Engineer Jeff NS Nut Visit my layout at: http://www.thebinks.com/trains/
Thanks much for the pictures and the explanation. Did you make any alterations to the body? How does it sound since it doesn't look like the speaker is firing into an open area? Do you like the sound of the soundbug chip?
elansp wrote: Thanks much for the pictures and the explanation. Did you make any alterations to the body? How does it sound since it doesn't look like the speaker is firing into an open area? Do you like the sound of the soundbug chip?
No body modifications other than there is a little pin which sticks down from the fan above the speaker. You need to remove the pin otherwise it hits the speaker and you can't put the shell back on. You'll see that the speaker fires into the front grill area. The sound volume will be fine. The sound is good. Not quite as good as the fuel tank mounted speakers, which are larger, but I am pleased with it. I did buy a PR3 to load new sounds. Digitrax doesn't yet have an SD60 sound clip out yet but they do have many others available.
I haven't had any issues yet with fuel tank mounted speakers and metal debris. My point is that they are larger and sound better, nothing more.
Well I have done quite a few sound installs now, but I too am not fond of milling weights if I don't have to.
However, I find that anything but two of the small-sized speakers is just too "pipsqueak" sounding, so I usually go to work on the weights at some point or other. (In steamers I love to put in two large ovals but there one has more room to work.)
The photos below show my P2K SD60 with a Soundtraxx EMD 2nd generation decoder and two small-sized ovals with ready made speaker enclosures from Litchfield Station. The speakers are the 16 x 35mm because anything bigger is too wide to match the width of the weight inside the shell.
They are wired parallel to draw 16 ohms, otherwise they would draw 4 ohms and probably kill the little decode amplifier.
Now my precise milling procedure is to completely remove the weight from the loco (you don't want metal bits falling anywhere so you want to be able to completely clean the weight after working on it. Then I crank it down in my vise and take a hacksaw to it. I find anything less takes too long. I finish it off with a big file. You can see that the hacksaw does a roughish job, but it is done in a few minutes and who knows about my hamhanded technique but me....and now you all.
davidmbedard wrote: Well I have done quite a few sound installs now, but I too am not fond of milling weights if I don't have to.However, I find that anything but two of the small-sized speakers is just too "pipsqueak" sounding, so I usually go to work on the weights at some point or other. It entirely depends on the frequency range and quality of the speaker. Doubling up 2 'pipsqueak' speakers does nothing more than increase your volume, it does NOT change your frequency range (ie, give you more bass).You might consider a better quality sound decoder. The ones you are using are more at fault for the 'pipsqueak' rating.David B
Well I have done quite a few sound installs now, but I too am not fond of milling weights if I don't have to.However, I find that anything but two of the small-sized speakers is just too "pipsqueak" sounding, so I usually go to work on the weights at some point or other.
However, I find that anything but two of the small-sized speakers is just too "pipsqueak" sounding, so I usually go to work on the weights at some point or other.
It entirely depends on the frequency range and quality of the speaker. Doubling up 2 'pipsqueak' speakers does nothing more than increase your volume, it does NOT change your frequency range (ie, give you more bass).
You might consider a better quality sound decoder. The ones you are using are more at fault for the 'pipsqueak' rating.
David B
Yes, that is certainly true. However the difference between one and two 16 x35 mm is quite noticeable. But I am fed up with Soundtraxx.....too many outright failures.
I do like to use two to four large ovals 28 x 40mm wherever possible (mostly steamers). I buy these in bulk and they cannot be beat even with DSDLCs and Tsunamis when compared to my QSIs off the shelf and Loks .
Cisco Kid wrote: davidmbedard wrote: Well I have done quite a few sound installs now, but I too am not fond of milling weights if I don't have to.However, I find that anything but two of the small-sized speakers is just too "pipsqueak" sounding, so I usually go to work on the weights at some point or other. It entirely depends on the frequency range and quality of the speaker. Doubling up 2 'pipsqueak' speakers does nothing more than increase your volume, it does NOT change your frequency range (ie, give you more bass).You might consider a better quality sound decoder. The ones you are using are more at fault for the 'pipsqueak' rating.David BYes, that is certainly true. However the difference between one and two 16 x35 mm is quite noticeable. But I am fed up with Soundtraxx.....too many outright failures.I do like to use two to four large ovals 28 x 40mm wherever possible (mostly steamers). I buy these in bulk and they cannot be beat even with DSDLCs and Tsunamis when compared to my QSIs off the shelf and Loks .
On my next SD60M, I am going to mill the weight for one speaker but wire up two to see the difference in sound. If I like it, I'll go ahead and mill the back section for the second speaker. I've always planned to try it but never went to the trouble.
JBinkley -
I looked at the Digitrax website to try and find what sound files are available but I cannot find the proper link that lists the current downloads - can you forward the link to me?
Thanks for the great, informative responses including the pictures. Great stuff....
elansp wrote: JBinkley -I looked at the Digitrax website to try and find what sound files are available but I cannot find the proper link that lists the current downloads - can you forward the link to me?All-Thanks for the great, informative responses including the pictures. Great stuff....
http://www.digitrax.com/sounddepot.php
Hit the dropdown list to see the current list of files.