Dallee Sound systems

[Anonymous]

Does anyone have any experience with Dallee on board sound systems?? Are they any good??
Don

[Anonymous]

I would like to know also. I just contacted them with an email an I got the following:

a phone call is required for us to play the sounds for you. This way you
can be sure that what you hear is exactly what you would be getting. We
will however be attending the TCA show in York, PA this week and cannot
provide you with a demonstration until Tuesday of next week. We are
presently packing for the show and will be unpacking on Monday.

Thanks,

-- Dallas Gutacker

DALLEE Electronics, Inc.

I would like to know if they work like soundtraxx. I have many soundtraxx decoders and like them, but Dallee offers a Fairbanks and a Baldwin decoder. They also offer an Alco and would I would like to know if they sound closer to an Alco 251. I would be nice if MR did a review of one of there units (hint, hint).

[Anonymous]

I have been wondering about Dallee sound as well. A review by MRer would be great. I use Soundtrax in G (Sierra) but their HO requires DCC while Dallee says it can be just DC in the locomotive; they also offer several airhorns I'd like to hear but they have no plans soon to hear these on the net like Soundtrax and Phoenix. Who can offer advice or experience!?!?

[Anonymous]

wow, it appears these guys need some exposure in the model rr market. they should give the 3 of us that are interested some systems for free, ,so WE can evaluate them and tell the model rr public.
:-) Don

[Anonymous]

Sounds great to me - will someone suggest it to them and let us know their response.

[Anonymous]

I sent them an e-mail about giving up a demo unit for a test install but they have not replied yet.

[Anonymous]

keep us posted

[Anonymous]

No luck, they are not interested in having anyone test their product. Seems they have not had a good experience in the past with magazines reviewing their products and right now they are too busy with developing new products to expand on their web site. If you go here http://www.dallee.com/instruction_sheets.htm you can view the instruction sheets for their products. They also said that anyone can call them and they will give a demo over the phone. If you go to the instruction sheet, it discribes how it works. It sound like they have some neat features. I think I will give them a call and here what they have. If I like what I here I will buy one and post my own review.

[Anonymous]

sounds like a plan, but I wonder about the unfavorable reviews??. Think I will check out that web site, thanks

[Anonymous]

I just had another talk with them via e-mail. I asked the question "when you sound the bell or the horn does the prime mover sound cut out" this was the reply

"The bell is mixed with the prime mover. The horn is not but unless you are
running the sound system into a Hi-Fi system it's a bit hard to tell that
the prime mover has stopped and the horn took over. The EMD is the most
noticeable of this since in a Hi-Fi system the low 33 Hz idle is quite
prevalent. It also depends on what horn is selected since horn valves close
at different rates. In the present systems, for the purist, two systems
would be deemed necessary. One for the prime mover sounds and the other for
the Horn and Bell. The prime mover sounds can be strapped off so that just
the Horn and Bell sound from one unit. For most this is not a real issue.
We choose a high sampling rate which the micro cannot keep up with to mix
some sounds properly."

This kind of turns me off to them a little. If you check out the wiring diagram you will see that they have independent connections for all of the functions, ie there is a spot on their board where you solder you function wires from your DCC decoder to. What they suggest that if it bothers you that the prime mover cuts out, buy to sound units and hook only the prime mover up on one and on the other hook up just the bell and horn. That gets expensive!!! But on the other side, they are the only one with a Fairbanks and a Baldwin. I guess it would depend on how bad you want that sound.

I asked Soundtraxx if they had plans for a Fairbanks, Baldwin, or Alco 251 sound unit and they said not any time in the near future. That seems odd sence there are some nice models of these out there that could use some plug and play sound units. Also a few different switchers (Alco and EMD type) and how about turbocharged 1st gen EMD and non-turbo 2nd gen? I see uses for these also. To me it would sound silly to put their Alco unit in a C425 or C628, and their 1st gen (the only non-turbo EMD they make) in a GP-38-2.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the info, doesnt sound real promising does it

[Anonymous]

not really. Except, The thought of having a diesel sound unit and a separate horn
, provided the horn part was small, could have some nice advantages. If you read their web site they say that they could do a custom sound unit if you provide them with a good quality recording. Most locomotive's engines sound close enough (meaning most gp-9s sound like any other gp-9) but the horns can differ eventhough the are the same type. I can remember many times hearing a locomotive that had a bad or out of tune horn. It was fun to hear those because you could say "oh here comes old 2415" because you could tell by the odd horn. I have many soundtraxx sound equipt diesels and I get tired of them all sounding the same. I'm not complaining, I love having sound locomotives and it's way better than nothing. But it would be nice to have some varitiy. If you could mix horns or record your own and add it in a locomotive that would be kind of nice.

But that just brings up another thought. I think that soundtraxx could record all different types of horns, ie...10 different leslie 3 chimes, 10 different nathan 3 chimes, 10 different nathan five chimes, and so on, and have a CV that you could program to pick the one you want. They offer that feature on their LC decoders except the only three choices you get are single, three, or five chime. I would like to have a locomotive that had cool oddly sound three chime that sounds like a bird built a nest in one of the horns.

[Anonymous]

The fact the Dallee does not want Model Railroader or some other magazine in the hobby to discuss or review their product does not sound good at all to me. If they have such a good product they should wnat to bring it to the public's attention. M RRer reviews most other products. Is there something to hide?

[Anonymous]

Not only that, I asked this question in 3 forums, this is the only one that got ANY response at all.
Kind of makes ya go hmmmmmmmmmmm

[Anonymous]

I remember the review that was done a few years back by MR on one of the older Dallee sound units. It was pre-DCC. The units was a steam sound system. I remember it was huge, two boards that had to be piggy backed. MR said it could only be used in a large tender or a trailing box car. When they tested the sound it believe they said it sounded good except they said it was distracting to hear the chuffing cut out when the bell would ring.

[Anonymous]

By the number of posts on this issue, I thought someone would have been able to share their experience. The absence of testimony tells more of the story.

I bought a Dallee Sound system several years back and now that I have gone DCC, I see it as money well wasted.

The first thing that comes to mind is craming the receiver board into an E-8B unit. The board requires a 9volt power source. I installed a rechargable battery so I needed to add a means of recharging it without having to pop the shell. I cut out the back door of the E-8B and installed a female recepticle for a recharger.

The next issue was activating the sound because I was using the Aristo Craft radio throttle. The Dallee has a control box with a couple of buttons on it, if I remember right. I haven't opened that drawer on the storage cabinet in quite a while. If you were using a fixed position throttle there is no real problem installing the box between your power pack and the track. With the Aristo Craft radio throttle I wanted to be able to activate the sound from the hand held. I bought the auxillary receiver for the Aristo Craft and did some wiring to interface the Dallee button function with the Aristo Craft auxillary receiver. It worked, but what a hassle.

I think the main thing that turned me off about it was the size. I really believe it is best suited for G scale, maybe O scale if you wanted to put it in a powered locomotive. I think they only tryed to capture some of the HO market as an opportunity.

If you are interested in the one I have, make me an offer. I only have to blow the dust off of it.

Ken, D&J Railroad, Stafford, VA

[Anonymous]

HA HA count me out Ken, rather you blowing dust off it then me :-)
Don

[Anonymous]

You choose wisely.

Ken, D&J Railroad, Stafford, VA