I did a search on this site to see if anyone had started a topic on paragon3 and only found a few announcments. So I thought I would put in my 10cents and see what others think.
The paragon3 system has a locomotive with a transmitter to send synchronized sounds to a reciever that can be hoooked up to a sub-woofer or any sound system.
I think that might be cool for a short while but I can't imagine sitting running my layout with "rolling thunder" sounds for an extended period. However, for $250 bucks (reciever and sub-woofer only) I might just think about this for a Christmas present for myself.
On my old DC layout I did have a guitar amp hoooked up to my MRC sound and power 7000 - which gave out ear splitting sound. But like I said before you can't put up with the noise for too long.
So what do others think about the paragon3 system - great idea or not?
Chris.
Loco Guy - is a state of mind - not an affinity to locomotives.
Sit back and enjoy your track...
I would like to think it will be a distinct and substantial improvement over any sound possible issuing from the tiny HO tenders. It will fill a room. And that may present a problem...several I can think of, actually. It might resound and transmit through the house if the layout is inside the home. It won't scale well and move with the locomotive and rolling stock. The steamer at the far end of the layout will sound as close as the diesel next to which you are standing. ??
I'll have to see some good quality videos to be convinced. The cost comes close to another locomotive, which isn't much of a contest for me.
Selector,
Thanks for that reply. I had not thought about multiple engines and the sound volume being identical if its close or far away. Nice post.
I too would like to see this in action on a video.
I preordered the reciever only from Trainworld for $85.
http://www.trainworld.com/manufacturers/broadway-limited/broadway-limited-1596-rolling-thunder-receiver-only/
I figured I can try my own subwoofer from my home audio system and if I like it I'll buy another (or two) to suit the layout needs. I even have a few subs around from old computer speaker systems.
So far the only Paragon III locomotive I have on preorder is the Pennsy S2 Turbine. I don't expect too much excitement from the exhaust sounds from THAT beast!!!
Just a big Whoosh.
I'll probably get the Commodore Vanderbilt Hudson, too, but don't hold any hope for cars for the train anytime soon. (Watch as Walthers, MTH AND BLI produce them, like everybody's doing now for the P.R.R. P-70s)
I guess the signal is supposed to be "handed off" to the nearest PIII locomotive so if your engine is at the other side of the layout the sounds should be diminished from the sub?
I do hope BLI is willing to retrofit some of the older PII boards for the PIIIs if this Rolling Thunder pans out... for a nominal fee, of course!
Should be a fun toy to play with. I can imagine having it on for the first few minutes when visitors are present, then keeping it turned way down for the remainder of the time.
Ed
With more realistic sound now becoming available, I think this will have an influence on layout design. It is an additional dimension we have to consider when planning our layout.
I can see more walk-around, shelf-type designs coming up, allowing us to follow the train and putting us close to the loco. I also see less hidden tracks.
Last year sometime I had put this up as a question before the BLI release, and was profoundly shot down in flames. I had just questioned (as a career musician) the wisdom of miniaturizing the sound as well as the trains and whether I could transmit the sound to my stereo.But everyone said I was an idiot. And not always so nicely.It's nice not to be totally wrong; that said, I'd like to see it in action, personally. (The 'Star Trek' total theme for my computer lasted about 10 minutes...)
Paul
There will still be two schools of thought on this. If you are trying to say that the train running along one wall of the room is dozens or even hundreds of miles from the train running along the other wall - room-filling sound is not where it's at. You can;t hear a train 100 miles away. If your goal is to experience awesome sound, the heck about realistic distances, then feeding the sound through a quality sound system is what you want.
The even smaller subset are those who build cab mockups with actual controls - you want lots of quality sound in there, too, for the full experience.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
For years, I've been suggesting that people who want "big RR sounds" buy a duplicate sound decoder for their layout and hook it up to an amp and a good speaker system. Tune the layout sound decoder to play all the bass sounds. Tune your locos to play the high sounds. When it's all hooked up, MU the layout decoder to the engine decoder. Now when you acclerate your loco, the bass layout decoder will shake the rafters while your loco decoder will play the bell and other directional sounds. And both decoders will be synchronized to each other because they're MU'd.The tricks are that you'd have to have one kind of sound decoder for each kind of engine (EMD, ALCO, GE, steam, etc.), and that the layout decoder would not follow the sound in a big layout. But if you only have EMD's or you only have steam, and the layout room is small, then it's no trick at all.The point is that this kind of chest thumping bass on a HO layout has been possible for years, it just takes some know-how and some money to make it happen.
Paul A. Cutler III
The problem with all sound systems is they are not realy compatible with the idea of multiple trains running at once, even on a moderately large layout.
If you just want to run one train and experiance the sound, the technology is out there - but a room full of them is just a din - no matter how its done or how good or bad it is.
You really want to enjoy sound?, switch to large scale and only run one train at a time..........
Sheldon
Sir Madog With more realistic sound now becoming available, I think this will have an influence on layout design. It is an additional dimension we have to consider when planning our layout. I can see more walk-around, shelf-type designs coming up, allowing us to follow the train and putting us close to the loco. I also see less hidden tracks.
Shelf type walk around layouts have been popular around here for three decades - sound or no sound. The problem is having multiple trains running - it sounds terrible.
I'm not really interested in just one train moving at a time.
What an irony - with only one train running at a time, why would you need DCC? - except to control the sound.......
Once again - different goals - different solutions.
There are Bose speakers that are only 3" that have a very deep bass. So sometime in the near future we may see Bose speakers small enough to fit into our HO trains. Now that will put a rumble in our train rooms.
DAVID FORTNEY There are Bose speakers that are only 3" that have a very deep bass. So sometime in the near future we may see Bose speakers small enough to fit into our HO trains. Now that will put a rumble in our train rooms.
They have deep distorted base, and even though the speaker is only 3" they require an encloseure with a volume many times the interior volume of even a large tender........
Speaker design is one of my other hobbies.......
I think there could still be a disconnect between the scale of what we see compared to what we hear. Having a tiny HO scale loco that is visually about 100 feet away, or more, producing ear splitting room filling rumble of bass would seem awkward to me.
It would seem more realistic to have deep bass rumble originating from below the locomotive and move with it as it moves along the layout. A big speaker sort of on rails running under the benchwork...I've read about that as a possibility.
If the Paragon system does that I think it is a real break-through.
- Douglas
Doughless I think there could still be a disconnect between the scale of what we see compared to what we hear. Having a tiny HO scale loco that is visually about 100 feet away, or more, producing ear splitting room filling rumble of bass would seem awkward to me. It would seem more realistic to have deep bass rumble originating from below the locomotive and move with it as it moves along the layout. A big speaker sort of on rails running under the benchwork...I've read about that as a possibility. If the Paragon system does that I think it is a real break-through.
The suggestion of a sub woofer following the loco on the layout is an interesting idea. Perhaps some company could invent some track with a "top" and "bottom" rail design. The top would be ordinary HO scale track with holes to link the under layout "gizmo" to rails that connect directly to the top track. Then drive a wireless sub woofer to match the loco speed and direction that gives all those bass sounds in the exact location you would expect from a real loco. The "realism" would be much improved.
I guess I'm the odd man out here. When I'm railroading on the LM&E, I want to be relaxing and enjoying my time there. Certainly not with heavy railroad sounds. I like to have the stereo on and enjoy soft background music of my taste that day which includes easy listening, big band, and even some Blue Grass. For me thats where its at. Not huff and chuff with a toot toot thrown in. Sometimes I've been known to have a little CCR playing, remember them ??
Now having said that, I do have a MRC train sound system for when the Grandson is over and wants to make a little noise. I never use it otherwise.
But that is only me and I recognize the right and passion of others to enjoy themselves in their train room in any manner they wish. I have even heard some who like to railroad in the buff.
Johnboy out ......................and back to Lester Flatts and Earl Scruggs
from Saskatchewan, in the Great White North..
We have met the enemy, and he is us............ (Pogo)
I too enjoy listening to music (classic rock) at night when I run my layout. I have even been known to listen to "foggy mountain breakdown" once or twice :-)
I love the startup sounds and whistles from the steam locos - but after a while I press the mute button. My IM ES44AC has a nice sound level so I usually let it run as it does not drown out the radio.
I had 4 MRC sound and power 7000's on my DC layout (which is now all DCC) but even those got a bit annoying.
Sometimes it's really nice to see 4 loco's running with all the sound turned off and imagine its an old DC layout. However, I do like the fact that my T1's will talk to me and let me know that the train is "ready to depart" or just doing a "radio check".
last mountain & eastern hogger I guess I'm the odd man out here. When I'm railroading on the LM&E, I want to be relaxing and enjoying my time there. Certainly not with heavy railroad sounds. I like to have the stereo on and enjoy soft background music of my taste that day which includes easy listening, big band, and even some Blue Grass. For me thats where its at. Not huff and chuff with a toot toot thrown in. Sometimes I've been known to have a little CCR playing, remember them ?? Now having said that, I do have a MRC train sound system for when the Grandson is over and wants to make a little noise. I never use it otherwise. But that is only me and I recognize the right and passion of others to enjoy themselves in their train room in any manner they wish. I have even heard some who like to railroad in the buff. Johnboy out ......................and back to Lester Flatts and Earl Scruggs
I have a fair amount of Flatts & Scruggs, and CCR - mostly on vinyl......about 1400 pieces at last count.......
And I too prefer music or quiet in the train room.......
But then again I run my trains with DC, control my turnouts and signals with relays, and like buttons you push to control most everything......
But I do have wireless radio throttles........