Update:
After two e-mails to Inter Mountain which they just ignored I called them, the person that I needed to talk to was in meetings but I did get there Mailing address for returns
I sent both to them today will let you know what the say and do
Roadie
Sounds like something is wrong with your locos. I recently purchased two Intermountain locomotives and they both ran without gear noise right out of the box. One is an FP7 with factory sound and the other is an F7B without sound. I would contact Intermountain and tell them your situation.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
You should be able to hit the F8 key on your DCC controller to turn all sound off or on. This should help you to determine if the 'noise' is gears or part of the sounds generated by the decoder.
Elmer.
The above is my opinion, from an active and experienced Model Railroader in N scale and HO since 1961.
(Modeling Freelance, Eastern US, HO scale, in 1962, with NCE DCC for locomotive control and a stand alone LocoNet for block detection and signals.) http://waynes-trains.com/ at home, and N scale at the Club.
I also just got two of the same exact one's you have, but both with sound.
I don't hear any motor/gear noise at all. They run as silent as my Atlas locos.
I adjusted all the sounds, so that the horn is a little louder.
Michael
CEO- Mile-HI-RailroadPrototype: D&RGW Moffat Line 1989
Go to the SoundTraxx web site and download the Technical Reference Manual for a Tsunami decoder. That will tell you how to adjust all of the CVs for the best sound. Factory default values never provide optimal sound.
Is the noise you hear gears grinding, a noisy motor, or sounds from the decoder? If it's gear or motor bearings, a breakin period may quiet it down.
If the "noise" originates from gears,there's no CV that correct this.However,it happens that new locos are noisy when new and become more silent after some running in.Even if so,they may remain noisier than Atlas's.
I just bought 2 inter mountain ES44ac in the Rio Grande one with sound . Most of my other 12 loco are Atlas. My problem is this the inter mountain loco's are very noisy next to my Atlas was wondering in there is a CV setting that is a quite mode such as the Atllas??
Next the horn is so quite you can hardly hear it over the rattle and noise
The sound loco is factory install (soundtraxx)
Very disappointing at a big expense will stay with Atlas
All the reviews i saw was good
Did I just get a couple of Lemons are are they all that just don't stand up to the gold in Atlas
Please give me some suggestions before I go Crazy
thanks