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[quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by locomotive3 "how wimpy the sound system is" But does it sound like a Challenger? About a month ago Athearn told a dealer the the sound "is proprietary made exclusively for the Challenger". My material did not include the warranty/instruction card as specified by the manual. Did anybody receive their's? Master Modeler brakie has promised us his Athearn evaluation. Perhaps any time soon. [/quote] Again, I have described the differences in sound quality between the the MRC chip in the new Challenger, and the QSI chip in the Lionel version in a previous post. Yes, the Athearn sounds like a Challenger with it's unique whistle, but the sound quality of the recording is flat, and toy-like compared to the QSI. There is no way to double-click the sound button on the remote to vary the whistle or trigger Doppler like you can with the QSI using their two-button hardwire interface. Another noticeable difference is the lack of phasing on the MRC steam sounds under-way, that is automatic on the QSI sound as the each set of cylinders moves in and out of sequence like the prototype. Even the recordings of virtually every steam hiss, pop-off, coupler clank are best described as somewhat "fuzzy", lacking the bark of the cylinders, the sound of steam pressure being relieved like the QSI seems to have captured fairly well in small scale. I'm not Athearn-bashing here. I have a ton of their stuff, including Genesis steam and diesels. I am a fan, or I wouldn't have pre-ordered one of the Challengers when I first saw them announced nearly a year ago. I think it's marvelous in every way. But the sound system falls short of the competition, in my opinion, after comparing it side-by-side with it's contemporaries. If someone else out there has both the QSI equipped Challenger and the MRC equipped Challenger, then I'm sure you already know what I'm talking about.
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