Has any one tried an Spectrum HO Scale N&W Heavy Mountain w/ DCC & Sound

[cudaken]

 Thanks Mark, do you have the web address that you bought yours from? Is there room for a second speaker in the tender?

 How many cars have you dragged with yours?

 

                        Cuda Ken

[mardamkit]

Ken,

The Tsunami is a 16 bit sound system, while the QSi, Esu & others are 8 bit. The Tsunami locos only have one speaker. Tsunami recommend two speaker for the best sound.

How does it compare. I recently received a LIFE-LIKE USRA Heavy 2-10-2 with QSi [with two speakers] & a Bachmann USRA Light 2-10-2 with Tsunami [with one speaker]. They were pretty close but the Tsunami has a crisper sound, as you would expect. The Tsunami would clearly romp away, if it had two speakers.

The negative side of the OEM Tsunami is the unreliable chuff rate on DC [at least]. Last time I ran my Light 2-10-2 I had the chuff rate of a 16 cylinder loco.

My Bachmann Mountains can outhaul my 2-10-2s by an extra 4 or 5 cars on flat ground.

For your Mountain with Tsunami, $159 is definitely the most you would pay for an ONLINE purchase.

"List 310 - Arrived 12-14-2006 - Tsunami Sound DC & DCC - 4-8-2 - Price $159 - plus Postage"

Cheers
Mark

[knewsom]

My wife gave me one for Christmas, and it sounds great.  A little loud out of the box though.  I have not had much time to play with it, so I do not know about the pulling power of it.  It does sound clearer than my BLI QSI Equipped locos.

[Hoople]

I have a southern pacific one without sound. It runs well, and it is a pretty good puller for a bachmann.

[nfmisso]

I have one, but without sound, and it is an excellent running loco.  I added a little weight and it pulls okay now.  Be advised that the N&W paint job is the very old one, with the little "Norfolk and Western" under the cab windows on the loco, not the Post-war Norfolk and Western on the tender and just the number on the loco.

To add to this information;  the N&W streamlined thier USRA Heavy Mountains (N&W class K2) in the late 1945 thru mid 1946.  And in the 1920s rebuilt the K2 class with Worthington BL feedwater heaters to match the K2a locos of 1923.  The Bachmann model represents the as built K2.  With commercially available parts, the model can be made to represent any K2 or K2a up to the '45-'46 streamlining. 

It is possible to to make a streamlined K2/K2a from a Spectrum USRA Heavy (or Light) Mountain.  The easiest method is to get a Bachmann (not Spectrum) J shell, and cut it to match photographs.  You will still need a bunch of other detail parts, especially the Worthington BL feedwater heater (CalScale and others).

[cacole]

Bachmann has contracted with SoundTraxx to use the Tsunami decoder in their Spectrum models, so the sound should be excellent.

[Virginian]

I have one, but without sound, and it is an excellent running loco.  I added a little weight and it pulls okay now.  Be advised that the N&W paint job is the very old one, with the little "Norfolk and Western" under the cab windows on the loco, not the Post-war Norfolk and Western on the tender and just the number on the loco.

[CAZEPHYR]

 Just wonder in anyone has tried the new Spectrum with sound?  K-10 trains has one for $199.99 and prices seems fair. I like my cheap Bachmann GS-4 (none DCC) and for $80.00 still fun to run. With some added weight they will dragg 20 hand picked cars up a 2% grade.

 Ken at K-10 has never ran one so he cannot tell what they sound like or dragg like. I asked a sell on E-Bay and he said the new system sound better than te QSI systems I have in my BLI's. He all so stated that is should pull better than the GS-4's. One down side to be is the lack of traction wheels my BLI's have. Only the Class J has them installed, the Hudson does fine with out them.

 Let me know what you know about them first hand or reviews you have read.

 

                    Bolier Head Ken

I have no idea of what they sound like, but here is a listing for them.   This is the heavy mountain with sound.  

 

84203

N&W

118

-

2

$159

[cudaken]

 Just wonder in anyone has tried the new Spectrum with sound?  K-10 trains has one for $199.99 and prices seems fair. I like my cheap Bachmann GS-4 (none DCC) and for $80.00 still fun to run. With some added weight they will dragg 20 hand picked cars up a 2% grade.

 Ken at K-10 has never ran one so he cannot tell what they sound like or dragg like. I asked a sell on E-Bay and he said the new system sound better than te QSI systems I have in my BLI's. He all so stated that is should pull better than the GS-4's. One down side to be is the lack of traction wheels my BLI's have. Only the Class J has them installed, the Hudson does fine with out them.

 Let me know what you know about them first hand or reviews you have read.

 

                    Bolier Head Ken