QUOTE: Originally posted by hdtvnut You might consider deepsixing the ESU decoder and 100 ohm speaker and put in a Tsunami. This may not do anything for the top speed, which should only depend on the gearing, but it will certainly give you more customizable and more realistic sound. The whistle control with the ESU is a joke. Hal
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
QUOTE: Originally posted by tstage Thanks for that advice. I, like Hal, will be receiving my new Trix Mike today in the mail (50%+ of MSRP). (Boy! Did anyone else sense that the surplus of them dried up as fast as they flooded the market?) It will come with the older v.2.0 LokSound decoder so I have been looking at my options about upgrading or replacing it with either the newer v.3.5 decoder or the QSI or Soundtraxx decoders. It's good to know that v.3.5 has the playable whistle.
QUOTE: Originally posted by 4884bigboy Are you sure? The review in MR said the whistle duration was fixed, making it impossible to sound actual RR signals. Did they do a second run with newer decoders?
QUOTE: Originally posted by hdtvnut My Trix Mikado at the new lower price (40% less) should come today, and I'll probably put a Tsunami in it later. Hal
QUOTE: Originally posted by tstage F1 (or bell) - Turns sound on or off instead of F8 F3 - Turns bell on and off Bell and whistle can NOT be played simultaneously Took me a 1/2 hour to figure out how to turn on the sound. There was nothing mentioned in the manual. Just wanted to give you a heads up. Tom
QUOTE: Originally posted by hdtvnut As far as steam decoders go, Jeff, I don't agree with you about the Tsunami. I can sync the chuff pretty well over the entire speed range by using the speed table method. The articulated double chuff can be synced or slipped at various rates.
QUOTE: But NO decoder can give truly accurate and consistent chuff sync without a cam type input.
QUOTE: Tsunami has both variable length whistle and "toot" functions.
QUOTE: I think the Tsunami's 16 bit sound is cleaner than Loksound, and I have both here.
QUOTE: Loudness should not be an issue with both having 1 watt amps, but the Tsunami has the big advantage of a wide-range adjustable equalizer that allows tayloring the output spectrum. This is valuable because there is so much variation in the characteristics of small HO speakers and the installations used. On the one hand, there is a much wider selection of 8 ohm speakers available than 100 ohm. On the other, the Loksound decoder is smaller physically partly because of its 100 ohm amplifier and it can fit in places a Tsunami won't
QUOTE: Loksound has download capability, but for the near term, Tsunami offers more American soundfile choices.
QUOTE: My slow speed control is extremely good. So far, I have only tied volume of the chuff to accel/decel rates, but the chuff timbre can also be varied.
QUOTE: I don't use DC, but Tsunami allows automating the bell sound and tying some whistle signals to throttle manipulations in DC mode. In fact, the Tsunami has so many features that few people, me included, have spent enough time studying the large tech manual to know them all. Loksound may have as many (I doubt it), but they need to come up with a better, less cryptic tech manual.
QUOTE: Tsunami is also $30 cheaper. To each his own. Hal