I was thinking of buying one of these but wondered about the sound quality
Ever since i bought a Mike on ebay with a “professionally installed” {yea i know} Sound traxx decoder
which has very poor sound quality I hesitate on other purchases
All my other Locos have Factory installed Quantum Sound
Which is great
Do any of you have any Tsunami Decoders ? Whats your opinion of the sound quality ?
I have that exact loco with Tsunami installed. It’s a great little piece and runs very very well. The sound quality is higher fidelity, more realistic, and considerably louder. But it still isn’t as loud as QSI which uses two speakers. The upside is most consider the volume of QSI to be too loud when added to a layout with other locos. Once you turn it back it will match the tsunami’s level.
I just replaced a DSX sound decoder in my Athearn Genisis 2-8-2 with a Tsunami. I had room for two med oval speakers rated at 1 watt (1.5 X 1in). Wow what a great sound. I put my BLI 2-8-2 with QSI on the track next to it. The Tsunami sounded significantly better. More bass (2 good sized oval speakers vrs 2 small round speakers). I think it is a superb sound decoder for $79.00. I also just received a PCM 2-8-8-2 with Loksound. Don’t like the loksound much at all. Can’t wait for the QSI after market sound decoders to come out next month or so. I will replace the Loksound with the QSI 2-8-8-2. I wish the manufacturers would use better quality and larger speakers, particularly the steam versions. Diesel’s are a tight fit as is but most tenders have enough room for a couple of oval speakers. Get rid of the tinny sounding .3 watt round speakers they like to use. Terry
They probably will once they get rid of all those round speakers found in a shipping container floating in the South China Sea. (approximately 4,500 containers are lost at sea each year-this doesn’t include containers lost in ship sinkings) [:-^][;)]
Jon
I have one that is DC love the look but have noticed it runs with a slight rocking motion
when only pulling a caboose and i am wondering if it just may be the wheel arrangement
When i put a string of coal hoppers behind it It’s smooth as silk
It doesn’t seem to matter if im using Pulse or Full wave.
I could buy the kit and do the install myself but my soldering looks like goober weld
It isn’t the sound unit, it is the installation. Should be easy enough to fix.
The sound quality is not going to be the issue here. So far Soundtraxx has not issued a Tsunami decoder with sounds for a dual drivered steam engine. The “chuff” sounds will NOT match a 2-6-6-2. If one wants to get the right exhaust sounds they will have to load the sounds themselves. Or I guess one could install two sound units, one for each set of drivers.
Sorry Texas…you are WRONG on this one.
There is a CV in the tsunami decoder that WILL make it work with an articulated steam locomotive. You can even set the rate at which it goes in and out of sinc. this feature is available on ALL the tsunami locomotive chipsets (from the logging to the heavy).
David
Guys… A compound articulated steam locomotive only has 4 exhaust beats per revolution, the same as any standard two cylinder locomotive. A simple articulated loco has 8. And, as far as I know, the Tsunami can be set up to mimic whichever arrangement you want to have.
Interesting !
Didn’t know that !
Guess i’ll have to read the Programming Manuals
Yuck
Wow that is way cool. And in this case I am GLAD to be wrong, as I have always been a pretty big fan of Soundtrxx. That makes their product much more flexible. I did not see that CV option, and I had been wondering why Soundtraxx dropped the normal articulated decoder. Learn something new every day. Is it adjustable for both low and high pressure cylinders on the front set of drivers?
Lets see, I posted approximately this same note in another thread about a month ago - I guess I had better find it and make a correction there.
Okay forgive my ignorance, but I though a simple articulated loco had a matching set of high pressure chambers for the front and rear. While a compound articulated fed the second set of drivers off the low pressure exhaust of the first set of drivers. I could see how the later would make for a different “chuff” sound between front and rear. Is this what you are talking about Texas?
Virginian: I did not know a compound articulated loco had their rear/front drivers locked/in sync with each other.
Davidm is correct on the articulated steam. I’ve got a PMC Big Boy and with the Tsumani “heavey steam” decoder. Also an Allegheny with the Tsumani. They are both set up for the chuffs every four revoultions and are out of sinc with each other - sounds just real thing. It is a little different hearing it for the first time. But, when I played some of the DVD’s of the Big Boys, it is really dead on. It does take a bit of programing - way more than I’m able to do as yet.
I also had the speakers upgraded. Don’t matter how good the decoder is if your speakers are crap. Hummm… maybe Klipsch woud be interested!!!
Yes, exactly.
On a side note there are a few locomotives which have multiple sets of cylinders that are not articulated.
Digital, the front and rear cylinders are not locked together, but only the front ones actually exhaust on a compound. The steam from the back cylinders goes to the front ones.