I have long wanted to improve the sound and operation of my Athearn Genesis ABBA set of Santa Fe passenger F3s (32LABC). The locos are beautiful for sure, but the MRC sound never seemed right, and there were motor control issue as well.
I just found out that Soundtraxx Tsunami has a board intended for Athearn Genesis locos. The 828050 has the proper 567 motor sound and the right horn (Leslie A200) so I ordered four of them to finally convert the ABBA set.
What surprised me the most was the board shape and instructions. The board has two holes near the middle to snap into holding clips. The instructions mention to snap the board into holding clips. But none of my F units had these. Well strike that, my Intermountain F units have these. So this sound board actually seems much better suited for Intermountain then Athearn Genesis. Maybe other Genesis locos have holding clips.
Anyway, I secured the boards with black tape so the holding clips was a minor issue.
The conversion was pretty straight forward. Unhook the MRC board and install the new Tsunami board. I purchased some round high bass speakers to replace the MRC speakers, but surprisingly I much prefer the sound from the MRC speakers. So I used the MRC speakers. The only problem was the wired were not long enough. But that is easy to fix with longer wire.
The Tsunami board has four light outputs. Headlight, backup light, and two function outputs (F5, F6). I wired the headlight to the headlight output (duh). I wired the top mars light to F6. I wired the red light to F5. The red light was not originally hooked up to the MRC board and I'm not sure if it could have been (not enough outputs). As far as I know the Santa Fe used the red light if an emergency brake application was applied. I have no light in the backup light spot.
The motor control is great.
A strange thing about the MRC decoders was that the rear AB set ran faster then the first AB set. I tried to speed match them as best I could but nothing got them perfect. With the Tsunami board installed they all run at or near the same speed. Amazing. and they seem to run better at slow speeds as well.
The sound is excellent. The 567 diesel startup and revving is great. And the MRC speaker has a nice bass so you can hear it all. That probably surprised me the most.
It was super easy to program the decoder. Either on the main line or on a program track.
So if you have an older Athearn Genesis F unit with MRC sound, scrap it and get a Tsunami board. But you can keep the MRC speaker.
The only operation issue I noticed when running the ABBA lashup was a sudden loss of power and just as sudden a powering back up for some units when going over an older Atlas code 100 switch. Sometimes it would happen and sometimes it wouldn't. Sometimes the headlight would flash which I believe indicates an error, and sometimes it wouldn't. Since it happens at the same exact spot and nowhere else and since it is when they go over a switch, I guess the switch is not 100% DCC compatible. It's my dad's layout dating to the early 1970s, so it might be time to replace the old switch tracks. Odd that no other DCC loco dies there or ever gave an indication of a track power issue before. Maybe Tsunami is just more sensitive.
Matt from Anaheim, CA and Bayfield, COClick Here for my model train photo website
David B. is correct about setting the EQ to the size speaker you have. He told me about it and I set it and wow what a difference! Go to Sountraxx website and download the manual for your decoder, it will tell you what CV to set. I bet your ABBA sounds awesome. I listened to a Tsunami 567 on my buddies layout and woow, it sounded amazing. I've got an ABA set of Genesis F3's/F9 ,SF, frieght locos and an AB set of SF passenger F3's. As soon as the budget alows, there getting Tsunamis.
Sounds great Matt, what did you do with the old MRC sound decoder boards? If you still have them and they need a new home besides the trash can please let me know. I recycle them into my older blue box GP9's till they die. I plan to put Tsunamis in mine at some point and time, but budget constraints of building a new layout put that upgrade on hold. Glad you got them upgraded, bet they sound awsome. Mike
LHS mechanic and geniune train and antique garden tractor nut case!
I would recommend not using the holding clips and instead soldering onto the board directly. The clips could be a source of your random power loss.
Springfield PA
Yep, I have been there and done that. I have been wondering how hard it is go come by the factory plastic board holders that clip onto the ends of the motor. That would help simplify the conversion. I have some spare Genesis powered chasis that I was able to "borrow" some from.
Just to add, I did use baffles for the high bass speakers, but for some reason they just didn't sound as good as the MRC speaker.
But I'll try both now with the equalizer. Still getting to know the Tsunami board as these are my first. But at least the instructions are fairly straight forward.
I had to wait a while to do these as the budget just wasn't there for four boards.
I'm currently reusing the MRC boards for my Intermountain F units.
The equalizer setting definitely makes a difference. As noted before download both manuals on the web site. Lots of good info. You'll have fun just playing around with the numerous features and settings.
To set the EQ to the size of speaker. Set CV 153 to 1 for a speaker 1"or less, to 2 for a speaker 1"-2", to 3 for a speaker 2"-3".
Two things,
1) The same thing happened to me after changing decoders the AB unit stopped, jumped or skipped at the Atlas turnout.. Some decoders are more sensitive too shorts then others.. I found a very minor intermittent short at the turnout was causing the problem..Check and repair the turnout... There was a great article in MR a few months ago about repairing shorts on the turnouts... After I repaired mine the units run great.
2) Tough speed matching I found can be a result of too much grease in the gears of one loco and less in the other.. As the gears turn the excess grease slows the one loco while the other flies.. I spent an afternoon speed matching all my locos only to find the next morning (after the grease cooled) the speeds were know where close to each other.. Clean grease/oil all the gears and running gear the same.. Speed matching will follow.