I have just installed a TCS WOW sound steam in an HO Bachmann K4 locomotive. What a great decoder and it is certainly impressive.
I installed the decoder and 1" round 8ohm speaker in the tender with the speaker facing down. I drilled out the tender floor and installed a speaker enclosure, secured the speaker with glue.
My question: the back side of the speaker is not closed in in any way and I think the sound is a bit tinny (lacking bass) is some sound being lost out the back side of the speaker? You can feel the top of the tender vibrating. Should I in some way enclose the back side of the speaker?
i think I need to reduce the overall volume just a bit, it's quite loud.
Thanks for any assistance. Martin.
Martin,
Getting bass out of a small speaker is difficult. Based upon your description the tinniness could be from the volume being to high and overdriving the speaker or possibly vibrations of the tender. Having the back of the speaker exposed is OK if the enclosure is sealed with no air escaping around the sides. There are bass enhanced speakers that I have found help a little and if you have JMRI you can adjust the equalizer functions to create a better sound.
Just some thoughts that might help.
Marty C
Hi Martin:
I think there are two issues at work here.
The first is the position of the speaker relative to the enclosure. You say that you have placed the speaker facing down, and you have added an enclosure. So far so good. However, you then state that the back of the speaker is open. That leads me to believe that you have placed the enclosure on the front of the speaker. Is that correct? If so, your enclosure is in the wrong place according to common practise. The front of the speaker should be facing the holes in the bottom of the tender and the enclosure should be on the back of the speaker. (In fact, if you can seal the entire tender body, it can act as an enclosure by itself. Theoretically, the bigger the enclosure the better, so if you can use the entire tender body as an enclosure you should be able to get the best sound that the speaker can generate. Please note that I said 'theoretically').
The second issue is what you have already suspected. If the volume is too loud the sound quality can suffer. Most decoders come with the sound set at full volume. I turn my decoder volumes down to about 30% - 40% of the max.
I would suggest experimenting with the sound volume before ripping into the tender. Although your speaker/enclosure set up may be a bit different, in theory it should still work more or less OK, so simply lowering the volume a bit might solve your problem. If not, I would suggest having a look at sealing the entire tender so it can act as the enclosure and doing away with the speaker mounted enclosure entirely.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Thanks, yes I will play with adjusting the volume first. Dave, I have the enclosure in front of the speaker.
Are you suggesting I should have the speaker directly against the floor of the tender and the enclosure behind the speaker?
I'm still not clear on the physical speaker arrangement you have. Typically a speaker with enclosure is a sealed cube, with the speaker on one of the faces. The sealed enclosure, behind the speaker, enhances output and also prevents distortion / interference between the front and back sides of the speaker.
Is the speaker above the holes in the floor? Is the "enclosure" just a 4 sided box between the floor and a speaker above the box sides? If so, the tender shell is the enclosure, but limited by how well it is sealed when installed. Please clarify if this or another arrangement exists.
Normally, holes in the bottom would have a speaker with enclosure installed with the speaker facing downward against the holes, and the area between the speaker and floor sealed. Then, the enclosure box above the speaker is the independent enclosure.
Paul
Modeling HO with a transition era UP bent
basementdweller
Yes, the front of the speaker should be directly facing the holes in the floor and the enclosure should be sealed to the back of the speaker.
As an alternative, forget the enclosure and seal the whole tender so that the tender body becomes the enclosure. The speaker will be mounted the same with the front facing the holes in the floor of the tender. If you do this make sure you can seal all the holes, and make sure you leave enough slack in the wires between the locomotive and the tender so it can get around your tightest curves.
Which ever way you decide to go, it might be worth covering the tender floor holes with a bit of fine screening. That will prevent any metal debris that is attracted by the speaker magnet from becoming stuck in the face of the speaker where it may cause problems with the sound.
I appreciate the comments, it appears I have not installed the speaker correctly. Easy enough to remove tender shell and reinstall the speaker. I will put the enclosure behind the speaker and place the front of the speaker against the tender floor. Thanks again.