I am attempting my first DCC install so I don't quite know what I'm doing, treating this is a learning project. Hopefully these questions are easily answered. I'm trying to install a decoder and a speaker into a Stewart F3.
Question: How do I connect wires to the sugarcube speaker shown here? It looks like it has 2 springy connectors on either side. Do I just solder a wire to each one of them?
Do I then place the speaker into the enclosure? Curious what the enclosure is for - protection vs acoustics or both?
Thanks in advance.
With a single speaker you need not worry about polarity. Connect a brown wire to each post, being careful to not get solder on the speaker body. The case is for acoustics, the deeper the better. Good luck!
ChrisVA I am attempting my first DCC install so I don't quite know what I'm doing, treating this is a learning project. Hopefully these questions are easily answered. I'm trying to install a decoder and a speaker into a Stewart F3. Question: How do I connect wires to the sugarcube speaker shown here? It looks like it has 2 springy connectors on either side. Do I just solder a wire to each one of them?
Correct. Solder one brown wire coming from your sound decoder to each metal tab. And, with a single speaker, it doesn't matter which wire goes to which tab.
Do I then place the speaker into the enclosure? Curious what the enclosure is for - protection vs acoustics or both? Thanks in advance.
The enclosure is your baffle and the sealed space is what will physically amplify the sound waves coming from the speaker. Otherwise, it will sound tinny and be barely audible.
Place the speaker facing downward into the baffle so that the metal back is level with the top of the baffle lip; the speaker wires facing upward. It should press fit into the baffle and stay in place. If you want you could seal the top edges with a thin bead of Testors Clear Parts Cement.
Chirs, where are you going to place the speaker in your F3?
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
Hi ChrisVA,
The enclosure is for sound quality, not protection. Sugar cube speakers must have an enclosure to make them work properly. If you don't have an enclosure the sound is horrible.
As was mentioned, the bigger the enclosure, the better, but your enclosure looks plenty big enough for decent sound. It is important that the enclosure is sealed tight or the effect will be lost.
You are correct. Just solder the brown wires to the spring contacts on the speaker. You may have to make a small hole in the enclosure to put the wires through. Seal the hole with some glue.
If you want more information on sugar cube speakers, have a look at these:
http://www.sbs4dcc.com/tutorialstipstricks/sugarcubespeakernotes.html
http://www.sbs4dcc.com/tutorialstipstricks/wiringmultispeakers.html
Congratulations on your first decoder install!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
early 1990s Stewart F9 sound install done last summer.
Good luck, Peter
LastspikemikeSpeaker wires are not polarity sensitive.
From the AudioUniversity information page:
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Lastspikemike Speaker wires are not polarity sensitive. Same as for incandescent light bulbs or resistors in circuit.
Speaker wires are not polarity sensitive. Same as for incandescent light bulbs or resistors in circuit.
They are, and they aren't.
As noted earlier, if you are installing only one speaker, it doesn't matter which wire goes on which connection. It will work and sound the same, either way.
That's the "aren't".
However. If you have two speakers right next to each other, and you want to feed them the same signal, polarity matters. What you don't want is one speaker cone going in, while the adjacent is going out. They should both move in the same direction at the same time.
That's the "are".
Ed
While you are doing the soldering be sure you have your speakers restrained in a clamp or, what I do is lay a piece of double-stick tape down and put a weight on the board. The magnets in the speakers are strong enough that they will jump right to the iron tip of your soldering iron.
SD_9-decoder-sp1 by Edmund, on Flickr
Tough to see the tape here because it is Scotch™ invisible tape.
Good Luck, Ed
gmpullmanThe magnets in the speakers are strong enough that they will jump right to the iron tip of your soldering iron.
That is a hazard I never would have considered!
Ed is absolutely correct. This exact thing happened to me with a recent speaker installation in a brass 2-6-6-2 Mallet. Even the smallest sugar cube speakers have a very respectable magnet in them.
From the other thread, a page with a discussion of polarity as it concerns multiple small speakers in the context of model railroading. Answers lastspikemike's questions and a great deal more without having to type lots of salad. Scroll down to the relevant section...
Look at some discussions on noise-cancelling headphones and some of the techniques used to implement the effect.
At the scale of these little speakers, the effect of antiphasing can be substantial. This is unlikely to create perceptible 'imaging' artifacts (which in this case would perhaps manifest as lower volume at particular off-axis angles for different frequencies) but generally quieter and 'deader' sound quality.
LastspikemikeIs it obvious which way is which for any given speaker? Or do you have to figure it out somehow?
The photo in my earlier reply shows two identical speakers so you can assume the polarity are the same. Quite often I fit speakers of different sizes and I "audition" every one before making the installation permanent:
SPKR_test by Edmund, on Flickr
I also try both series and parallel wiring to see what gives the best sound output at a given input. The inexpensive amp shown above has both bass and treble pots along with a tone-flat button. These are handy for evaluating what kind of range to expect. You can usually tell when soundwaves are canceling eachother out. I play a familiar piece of music while quickly switching the wires. One way usually sounds better than the other.
I generally check the impedance of the finished wiring to be sure I'm not too far out of range but with the recent offering of sound decoders from ESU and Soundtraxx I have not had any problems. I usually have to cut the sound levels to about 25-35% of max.
Now a good EE or sound engineer might know how to make a crossover to feed higher/lower frequencies to the prefered speaker but I'm pretty happy with the results by guessing and tweaking.
I will place some sound absorbing material inside the shells if there's room. I don't know much about "standing waves" and such but I do know that my engines sound better, and it reduces rattles, if I use a few pieces of "fuzzy tape" or, sometimes I use the fuzzy half of Velcro hook & loop applied inside the shell.
It is amazing how you can vary the sound while playing with the speaker test setup just by sticking the speaker inside a small box or even your cupped hands. Sound waves are tricky little buggers.
SPKR_test2 by Edmund, on Flickr
The speakers in this RS-15 are far enough apart that any noise cancelling effect would probably be negligible. The vertical round speaker is in the stock BLI location. The addition of that styrene "half shell" made an amazing improvement in the sound "presence". So a full baffle isn't always necessary.
BLI_BLE_RS15dcc by Edmund, on Flickr
The cube speaker up front just adds another range of frequency that certainly seems to help, especially for horn and bell sounds.
The Soundtraxx reverb and equalizer is one other "tool" to fine tune your install to your liking.
LastspikemikeHandy to know if you've just installed two speakers and the sound isn't right. Swap the wires on one of them and listen again.
Over the years I've gathered quite a few little MP3 players. Simply make a hookup using a 1/8 (3.5mm) phono plug from old ear buds or such.
Just enough wattage to hear the sound so you can evaluate things. The little amp I use helps since it has easy to reach tone controls. Some MP3 players have an EQ function, too.
I've had some real dud DCC speakers. So glad I tested them before going through all the trouble it would be after installation.
Regards, Ed