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Video of the better sound as a result retrofit  <a href="http://youtu.be/BXiGwaQ6ozA">http://youtu.be/BXiGwaQ6ozA</a> I had picked up a couple of these disappointing decoders on eBay at a very reduced price....used.  Perhaps I could play around with them.  I found that others had very disappointing experiences with this decoder, which actually has some design flaws and has been discontinued as a result. However, cheap is cheap.  I had previously experimented with creating "sound cars" in which to place larger speakers for loco conversions with very little space.  I like to use the large 28mm by 40mm ovals which I had bought many years ago.  I had placed one in a small coal hopper and use it behind a three truck shay with a Tsunami decoder.  This gives much better sound. With the SDN144s, designed for N scale but good enough for HO switchers, I created a few sound cars with a variety of speaker combos.  Below is the creation of a dual speaker car with wiring in series so the impedence is at 16 ohms.  You don't want to drop the impedence to 4 or the little decoders will probably seriously overheat and fail.  16 ohms seems even better than 8 judging by the results. Here is the replacement speaker next to the original. <img src="http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u172/dcrane_2007/1_zps2ac94003.jpg" alt=" " />   Create a nice box from stock plastic. <img src="http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u172/dcrane_2007/2_zps9aa751b2.jpg" alt=" " />   I found some 5 minute epoxy at the dollar store.  Hope it works as well as the $7 stuff from the hardware.  Seems to. <img src="http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u172/dcrane_2007/4_zpsc90e4d22.jpg" alt=" " />   Now, as usual, the second effort is better.  The second speaker box is tidier, better fit and ready to solder wires on. <img src="http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u172/dcrane_2007/3_zpsda494e0d.jpg" alt=" " /> <img src="http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u172/dcrane_2007/5_zps9df6b155.jpg" alt=" " />   There's the boxcar I'll use. <img src="http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u172/dcrane_2007/4a_zps45a3e4c4.jpg" alt=" " />   I made this template some time ago for drilling holes in the bottoms of sound cars. <img src="http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u172/dcrane_2007/6_zpsf0df0747.jpg" alt=" " />   Ok, all in and wires connected in series, then leads taken out to one end of the car down near the coupler. <img src="http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u172/dcrane_2007/7_zpsacdc0ab1.jpg" alt=" " /> <img src="http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u172/dcrane_2007/10_zpsd6f0aa24.jpg" alt=" " />   I like to use the little Soundtraxx single pin connectors.  Here are the male ends.  The female ends are on the speaker leads coming from various locos that use sound cars......locos too small or narrow to accept good sized speakers. <img src="http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u172/dcrane_2007/8_zpsa0304947.jpg" alt=" " />   Reweigh the car and add back some of the weight. <img src="http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u172/dcrane_2007/9_zps47997f56.jpg" alt=" " />   And the sound car is ready to go. <img src="http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u172/dcrane_2007/11_zpsf8277378.jpg" alt=" " />   Here is the sound car connected to one loco. <img src="http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u172/dcrane_2007/12_zps397854fc.jpg" alt=" " />   Now, this is just done for a few locos with less than top end sound decoders in them.  Using a Tsunami or better I prefer, of course, to fit the decoder in a top end loco, usually one with plenty of room or already designed to accept a good quality speaker.  But this is a adaptation to make something better out of a few less than stellar decoders. A video of a switcher using this sound car is here with some earlier videos  <a href="http://youtu.be/BXiGwaQ6ozA">http://youtu.be/BXiGwaQ6ozA</a>
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