Thanks for all of your input. I think I'll try adding sound to both and experiment a little to see what I prefer.
Wayne.
intalco39 wrote: I have a pair of Kato AC4400 locos that will be run as a consist and I'd like to add sound (my first) using one of the drop in decoder/speaker combinations. Should I add the sound module to one loco only or to both? I"m wondering whether two sound equipped loco's running together would mix the sound into just noise?Thanks in advance,Wayne.
I have a pair of Kato AC4400 locos that will be run as a consist and I'd like to add sound (my first) using one of the drop in decoder/speaker combinations. Should I add the sound module to one loco only or to both? I"m wondering whether two sound equipped loco's running together would mix the sound into just noise?
Thanks in advance,
It is a personal decision, but I choose all my powered units to have sound. It is not too much noise as the horn and bell on the extra units are not used when they are MUed. The air pops off separately like the real ones and the brakes are all applied. The cost is more, but I have five Atlas 8-40CW's that are used on stack trains and they do not all stay in sync at all times. They can be slightly out of sync like the prototypes sound. The fans start up at different times like the prototype also.
Sometimes a railroad moves power to other locations and you might see five to eight or more diesels on a train but only three used and the rest will be dead or isolated with three or four being used to move the total consist.
As mentioned above, you can run sound and non-sound locos in a DCC consist, but you'll have to do some speed matching. Sometimes that's fairly easy, sometimes rather tedious and complicated. Depends on the engines and decoders.
On the other hand, I often run two (or more) sound locos in a consist. Depending on how you set CVs 21 and (perhaps CV 22, again depending on the decoder) you can get either of the following when you use a function key for the consist:
All sounds for both engines are heard, or,
Only the lead engine's horn/whistle, bell, etc. are heard, but both engines "running" sounds are heard. This is usually the default (out-of-the-box) setting. I find this very pleasant when running 2 steamers double-headed -- you distinctly hear the two different chuffs, coming into sync, then going out of sync. And of course if you have a diesel helping a steamer, or vice-versa, it's quite strange to hear only one!
In either case, you might want to lower one or more of the sound volumes. Again, depending on the decoder, you might have a lot of flexibility or very little.
Additionally, if you then want to run the engines separately, they both sound good.
Running two sound locomotives together is way too much in my opinion. I put two Southern MP15DCs, Atlas sound equipped, and it was overpowering another sound locomotive, across the layout from us. If you pay the extra money to add a sound decoder, you might have to MU them with one loco's sound turned off, riding around with a $150 PC board that saves you some time playing around with the CVs, as said before.
If you add sound to only one, you are going to have to fiddle around with the start voltage CV on the sound unit so they will start at the same speed step.
I installed a SoundTraxx LC decoder into a diesel engine of another club member, and he runs it MUd to two other similar engines with only motor decoders. Through experimentation, I was able to set CV 2 of the sound decoder so that it started at the same throttle setting as the non-sound units. He runs them as a consist all the time.
You would have to add sound to both engines to MU them. It is not possible to MU sound and non-sound due to the higher starting voltage of sound decoders.
-dekuif