Last night I reset the decoder from "medium speaker" to "small speaker" (less than 2"), which basically cuts-off the low frequencies going to the speaker. I also decreased the volume attenuation for "chuffs" under load. I have a lot of Momentum programmed into it, and the chuffs would hit pretty hard under acceleration. Not so much now, but still noticeable. I ran it for at least an hour last night, under varying conditions, with no issues! I'm still amazed at all the settings that are availlable on this decoder, at such a relatively low cost...very nice decoder, in my opinion (small too). I also have a "keep-alive" capacitor plugged into it too, just to keep it "smooth" over all my turnouts with "dead" frogs...and dirty track...sometimes...well, MOST of the time....
Mike C.
Lone Wolf and Santa FeBass takes much more power than treble. When the circuit breakers trip on a public address system it is always because of the bass drum, the bass guitar, or low notes on a keyboard.
Bass takes much more power than treble. When the circuit breakers trip on a public address system it is always because of the bass drum, the bass guitar, or low notes on a keyboard. Larger systems have a seperate amplifiers for bass. I wonder if there is a subwoofer you could install under the layout to help you get the sound you want.
for what its worth...
i putt the econami 200 in a Bowser Challenger and it sounds great. the tender has a 7ohm speaker and the boiler has two 16 ohm speakers in push pull configuration wired in parrell.
The total speaker impedance is 14ohms. It has plenty of volume and has not overheated or distortrd. All the 8ohm speakers that I have have a DC resitance of 7ohms. If you crank up the lower frequency, bass, i think the sound amplifier sees less resistance and heats up.
wobblinwheel BUT recently I changed the "equalizer" settings to a "bassier" setting for a deeper tone. I wonder if I'm overdriving the amp because of that?
YES.......... simple answer.....
Take Care!
Frank
The stock speakers are supposed to be 8ohm, and I believe (hope) that's what the decoder called for. The loco has been running quite a bit without incident, BUT recently I changed the "equalizer" settings to a "bassier" setting for a deeper tone. I wonder if I'm overdriving the amp because of that? I think I may have boosted the chuff volume a little too...
Probably overheated the audio amp, which I believe is external tot he chip so it won't shut itself down. Though witht he master volume at 40% it shouldn't be pushing that much power. What is the impedence of the stock speaker? If it's lower than what the Tsunami requires, you almost certainly are overloading the audio amp, even with the volume low.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Loose wire?
Ed
This is a good one: I recently installed a Soundtrax "Econami 200" sound decoder in an early Athearn Challenger, the one with that ridiculous MRC decoder factory installed. Over the last few weeks, I've gradually fine tuned the sound levels, whistle type, chuff type, etc. On a side note, I did decide that the "articulated chuff" that shifted in and out of sync, at higher speeds had way too many chuffs! Had WAY too many chuffs...sounded like a muddled "roar" the faster you went. Sounded really good at slow speeds! ANYWAY...I've been running it quite a bit, and was kinda doing some "switching" to build a different consist from what I was using. Bell ringing, dynamo whining, and throwing in some "coupler crash" sounds here and there. All of a sudden, I would have bet any amount of money I had blown the speakers! (even though the overal volume level is about 40%). Believe me, I KNOW what a blown speaker sounds like: Rattly, high distortion, the whistle sounded awful! SO, feeling very frustrated, and "sure" the old MRC speakers had finally taken a dump, I shut everything down and started searching for some new speakers...about 30 minutes later, I turned everything back on and tried it again...everything runs and sounds PERFECT!!! What?? Any of you, far more experienced than I, have any idea what just happened? I tried to duplicate every move I had done before, but I can't make it happen again! Ok, fellow geniuses, what happened?? The original "blown" speakers have fixed themselves....obviously, not the speakers, but what was it? My first thought was overheating, but the unit is supposed to shut itself down if that happens. Ideas?