Since buying the loco (Santa Fe #2831) I have fitted a Digitrax DH123D decoder and it works well. The loco spec sheets indicates the model is supplied 'without sound and dcc'. I am now beginning to buy locos with sound and would like to know if my GP7 can be fitted with sound.
Yes, but you will either have to clear out the cab and put a small speaker there, or mill some of the weight to make room for a larger speaker. Or if you cna find one, pick up one of the ones they offered with sound installed, and swap the shells. Put the unwanted sound shell on the DC chassis and sell it off to recoup some of the money.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
I put a Tsunami in one of mine.
The speaker is in a home-made styrene enclosure installed in the cab area.
This was not an easy installation, by any means. I had to mill out both the speaker space and the decoder space. A Tsunami, as you can see, is much larger that the DH123 I had in there originally. However, this is an easy engine to work on. You need to remove the plastic fuel tank piece beneath the motor and get to the mounting screws. The tank just pulls off. Don't try to cut down the weight until you've completely removed it from the engine. You're going to get a lot of metal filings that would play havoc with the moving parts.
Get a Tsunami or another good sound decoder like a Loksound. For the amount of effort you will need to put in, you deserve the great results that a high-quality sound decoder and speaker will give you.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
MisterBeasley and rrinker - thank you for your quick replies to my question. I think I will go the route suggesting putting the speaker in the cab area. However I now have four more question before 'getting out of your hair' :
1. Using the cab area for the speaker - did this mean removal of the two engineers in the cab and not being able to re-instal them?
2. Is your speaker a base reflex unit. Whatever, can I have the specs?
3. I assume the purple object in MisterBeasley's photo is the sound decoder. The space for a new decoder on my model is 2 3/8" long x 3/4" wide which may be enough to avoid further milling. Please advise.
4. What is the rating of your resistors for the front and back lights?
I used an oval speaker for my installation. If I had it to do again, I would buy a pre-made plastic enclosure for the speaker. For the few extra dollars, it gives a tighter seal and therefore it should give better sound. The plastic box I built was custom fit for the space, but it's softer plastic and probably not quite air-tight. Still, the sound is impressive. I don't know what kind of speaker it is. Sorry.
The oval speaker and enclosure leave the space at the sides of the cab open, so I was able to keep the seats in place. I had to install my own engineers.
Yes, the purple thing is the Tsunami decoder. Length and width aren't the problem, but rather thickness. It's at least a quarter-inch thick, perhaps closer to 3/8. So, that part of the weight was milled down to provide more space between the weight and the roof. Don't worry much about weight. I felt like I was removing a lot, but when I compare this engine to one with a simple motor decoder, I can't really tell the difference. They're plenty heavy, anyway.
The resistor are 1K. I like the "golden white" LEDs for headlights.
While I had this engine apart for the decoder installation, I took the opportunity to lightly weather the shell and to add some rust to the pilot and truck sides. Once you've got the shell back on, you're not going to want to take it apart again for weathering, so it's best to do it all at once.
I take my engineers out anyway - they face the wrong way. I was able to get one back in one one of 4 locos. Dunno why Life Like put them in facing the short hood - more orads ran early diesels long hood foward - they even have the correct F label on the long hood end. Plus it looks silly having a full crew in a trailign unit, or mid consist.
rrinker Yes, but you will either have to clear out the cab and put a small speaker there, or mill some of the weight to make room for a larger speaker. Or if you can find one, pick up one of the ones they offered with sound installed, and swap the shells. Put the unwanted sound shell on the DC chassis and sell it off to recoup some of the money. --Randy
Yes, but you will either have to clear out the cab and put a small speaker there, or mill some of the weight to make room for a larger speaker. Or if you can find one, pick up one of the ones they offered with sound installed, and swap the shells. Put the unwanted sound shell on the DC chassis and sell it off to recoup some of the money.
For all of the trouble that you will have to go through, and possibly still being dissatisfied with the results, if I were you, I would follow Randy's advice and buy a Proto 2000 GP7 with factory installed sound. Swap the shell and sell the non-sound loco to recoup part of your purchase cost.
Rich
Alton Junction
Hopefully one day the major mfgs will provide "sound ready" locos, just as they provide "DCC ready" locos today. Kind of reminds me of the early '60s, when you could order an auto and had a "radio delete" option.
ENJOY !
Mobilman44
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
mobilman44 Hopefully one day the major mfgs will provide "sound ready" locos, just as they provide "DCC ready" locos today. Kind of reminds me of the early '60s, when you could order an auto and had a "radio delete" option.
Hopefully one day the major mfgs will provide "sound ready" locos, just as they provide "DCC ready" locos today.
Kind of reminds me of the early '60s, when you could order an auto and had a "radio delete" option.
LOL
I recall when my parents ordered their 1951 Chevrolet. The three available options were radio, heater and whitewalls. My Dad ordered the the heater, nine years later I added the radio. We never did get the whitewalls.
If you want a sound engine, buy a sound engine. If you look at the prices of sound engines, non-sound versions of the same engine, and sound decoders, you'll see that, in general, it's cheaper to buy a sound engine than a non-sound engine + decoder + speaker, and you don't have to do all the installation work.
Has anyone bought the non-sound version of a sound engine? I ended up buying an Athearn F7 chassis for a great price, and when I looked at it, it had a space for a round speaker already formed in the weight. Given current manufacturing trends, I'd be surprised if companies had different insides for sound and non-sound. I'd imagine they'd use the same chassis and weight assemblies.
MisterBeasley Has anyone bought the non-sound version of a sound engine? Given current manufacturing trends, I'd be surprised if companies had different insides for sound and non-sound. I'd imagine they'd use the same chassis and weight assemblies.
Has anyone bought the non-sound version of a sound engine?
Given current manufacturing trends, I'd be surprised if companies had different insides for sound and non-sound. I'd imagine they'd use the same chassis and weight assemblies.
Mister Beasley,
That is a great question, and I will be interested in the answer(s) to it.
I have purchased a few non-sound versions of sound equipped locos, but, to date, I have not purchased the same sound equipped versions so I cannot comment.
However, I have a non-sound version of an Intermountain F3 in transit to consist with an Intermountain F3 sound equipped loco that I already own so eventually I will be in a better position to comment.
Mr. Beasley:
The Atlas Gold series (sound) and the SIlver series (non-sound) have the same chassis. On the silver series the speaker mounts are there and weights replace the speakers.
Joe
Atlas does. The SIlver series versions, non-sound, of the Gold series, sound and DCC locos, use the same chassis less the sound decoder and speakers. The speaker frames are still there since htey are metal and form a good chunk of the loco's weight anyway. An extra weight is usully mounted there. No cutting the chassis to fit speakers, and there's plenty fo room for the decoder.
MisterBeasley If you want a sound engine, buy a sound engine. If you look at the prices of sound engines, non-sound versions of the same engine, and sound decoders, you'll see that, in general, it's cheaper to buy a sound engine than a non-sound engine + decoder + speaker, and you don't have to do all the installation work.
It depends on what you want to put in it. Engines with Tsunamis factory installed run about $100-110 more than non-sound ones, which is about the same price as buying the Tsunami. However you can get a Digitrax sound decoder and speaker for about $50-60 and install it yourself (i.e., plug it in) and have a sound equipped engine for less money. Plus the Digitrax one allows you to download different sounds, so you can later move the sound decoder from a diesel to a steam engine, for from a GM engine to an Alco.
wjstix However you can get a Digitrax sound decoder and speaker for about $50-60 and install it yourself (i.e., plug it in) and have a sound equipped engine for less money.
However you can get a Digitrax sound decoder and speaker for about $50-60 and install it yourself (i.e., plug it in) and have a sound equipped engine for less money.
True, and that's exactly what I did with that F7. However, you get what you pay for. When I compare the sound from the F7 with the Tsunami-equipped Geep, well, ....