Hi!
I've got a P2K HO E7 ABA consist with both As powered, and the B is a dummy. I also have a P2K PA ABBA consist, with both As powered and both Bs dummy. I have not as yet installed decoders in the power units, but will do so fairly soon.
I would like to install sound in the B units (rather than the As) as I ASSUME it will be much easier to do so, especially as these would be my first sound installations. Frankly, I'm looking for something rather simple (maybe that is asking too much) to install, yet will give me sound comparable to my BLI Paragons. Ha, I've got the money now to spend, and I can't think of anything better to spend it on.
What system would you recommend, and do you know of any online instructions that are available for those units? Also, what questions should I be asking that I haven't?
Thanks, I really appreciate your thoughts on this!
Mobilman44
ENJOY !
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
Not sure how easy it will be on the P2K's, but on Stewart F-unit dummies it's easy to solder pickup wires to the sideframes and get power.
As for what to use - either a Tsunami or QSI. With plenty of space, you can go for multiple speakers. Bruce at Litchfield used to have a picture on his site of a Stewart B unit that he installed THREE speakers in, two for bass and a smaller one for highs - with a crossover. The shell was the enclosure for the big ones and the little one was mounted under one of the fans with its own enclosure.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
When it comes to a decoder, definitely go with the Soundtraxx Tsunami. Best diesel sound on the market right now IMHO. QSI would be a distant second, and anything else even less impressive. The Tsunami also has the sound "mixer", reverb, and other great options to tweak.
One option you may want to consider is finding some "bargain" E7's with factory sound and simply swapping the chassis'.
I did that with a couple of my P2K GP9's - Picked up a couple "new in box" QSI sound-equipped models direct from Walthers no less, for about the same price as a good aftermarket sound decoder/speaker/enclosure.
As a bonus, after the swaps were effected I had a couple DC models in the "wrong" road name that I could sell to reduce my overall cost even more.
Steve
I've done this with some of the original P2K E8 locomotives when they were still made by LifeLike. I put SoundTraxx DSD decoders and speakers in two B units and ran wires forward to the A units for motor and light control to create an A-B-B-A set.
Each A-B set is now permanently connected by the wiring, but there was room for large oval speakers in the dummy B units.
This installation required six wires between the units -- two for the motor, two for the headlight, and two for the mars light.
When they're running the diaphragms on the ends of the locomotives hide most of the wiring.
mobilman44I would like to install sound in the B units (rather than the As) as I ASSUME it will be much easier to do so, especially as these would be my first sound installations. Frankly, I'm looking for something rather simple (maybe that is asking too much) to install, yet will give me sound comparable to my BLI Paragons.
It uses the body shell as the speaker enclosure. Notice the white internal walls and there is foam around the mounting edges to make it air tight. The bottom of the fuel tank is cut out so there is no resistance to the downward firing speaker. In an E unit or PA one could probably fit two of these.
OR one can make some real great sounding custom speaker enclosures such as this:
It is made of PVC pipe tuned to the specific speaker, prototype (FT prime mover sound in this case), and sound processor. It took me about a week to tune it in to get the exact sound I was after. Note that one smaller PVC is slid into the back of another. By moving these in and out I was able to find an air chamber size that was the right harmonic matching the mechanical characteristics of this particular speaker. One could also tune it to the horn, bell, or whatever sound you want to emphasize. I've gotten more complements and comments on the sound coming from this unit than anything else I've got (my configuration or factory configuration).
Remember the larger the speaker cone area the larger the volume of the enclosure should be. Some claim that the ideal volume of an enclosure to be 2.5x the area of the cone. Other sizes should be in multiples of 0.5 1.5x (minimum), 2x, 2.5x, 3x , 3.5x etc.
Funny thing, I asked Bruce at Litchfield Station essentially the same thing last night. His recommendation was the following decoder http://www.litchfieldstation.com/xcart/product.php?productid=999003059 Since the E7's had a pair of prime movers, in this case EMD 567's he pointed me to a link on the Soundraxx blog that describes how to set up the re-verb options to give the impression of the dual motors. http://soundtraxx-soundbytes.blogspot.com/ scroll down and look at the tech tip.In my case, I already have a pair of speakers installed, so I did not ask about speaker choice for this install.
Simon Modelling CB&Q and Wabash See my slowly evolving layout on my picturetrail site http://www.picturetrail.com/simontrains and our videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/MrCrispybake?feature=mhum
Texas Zepher An empty B unit especially ones a big as PAs and Es make great fodder for the best sounding units around. One could simply go with two large speakers such as this:It uses the body shell as the speaker enclosure. Notice the white internal walls and there is foam around the mounting edges to make it air tight. The bottom of the fuel tank is cut out so there is no resistance to the downward firing speaker. In an E unit or PA one could probably fit two of these.
Excuse my ignorance, but who makes / sells "The BIG One"?
blrrfanwho makes / sells "The BIG One"?
Just wanted to say Thank You to those that replied. I definitely want to install a sound system in my fleet of Stewart ABBAs, and Andy Sperandeo did a nice spread on just that in the January issue of MR.
For the PAs & E units, I think I'll first explore the route of buying one on sale and switching out the chassis, and selling the old chassis + purchased body. I say "switch out the chassis" because ATSF locos are hardly ever on sale.
Anyway, hope to hear more suggestions!
Thanks again,