DCC & Sound Decoders

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Getting back into model railroading and had some questions about decoders:

  1. Are DCC and sound decoders typically separate units?

  2. Do any manufacturers offer both on one decoder?

Mike

2

Sort of a history of development. Took a while for DCC to be developed, both at the NMRA “amateur” level and then the comercial level to its current level of acceptance and thankfully much more affordable than a few years ago. Once we had digital control, could digital sound on board be far behind? I think we will see more combination decoders as time and demand grows. The biggest drawback on sound is getting the required sounding device on board (speaker) without significant milling out of chasises on small locos (diesel switchers in particular). I suspect that we will continue to see stand alone decoders for DCC as well as sound for some time until the latter gains more commercial demand, that is “we want to pays our money for them” and there is a significant improvement in sounding device availability and installability. Stay tuned we could have a break through before the electrons of this post wing their way to the forum screen! Try one of the DCC specialists like “Tony’s Train Exchange” for availability of DCC/Sound combination boards and what they fit.
Will

3

Thanks Overdurff, am I correct in assuming that for most HO steam locomotives the DCC decoder is in the engine and the sound decoder/speaker is in the tender?

Mike

4

Actually most are in the tender, the loco is full of motor and weight!!

Ken.

5

Mike:

Most sound decoders include a motor decoder as well, so everything is all one unit.

As mentioned, the trick is finding a place to put the largest speaker possible. Small speakers tend to sound tinny. The larger the speaker you can get, the better the bass sounds.

If you buy QSI-equipped locos, the sound has already been installed for you. Digitrax just announced sound decoders at a very attractive price, and of course there’s Soundtraxx and MRC if you want to install sound decoders yourself.

Soundtraxx offers a sound-only decoder so you can add sound to a loco that already has a regular motor decoder. However, now you need to find space for two decoders – or you can do as I do and install the sound-only decoders in a dummy unit.

So you have lots of options, and every day that goes by, your options regarding DCC and sound increase.

6

I think the price of sound will be coming down now that there is more competition in the marketplace. Check out Litchfield Station www.litchfieldstation.com too for a good dealer. Manufacturers: www.soundtraxx.com and www.soundsliketrains.com for a couple manufacturers of aftermarket sound boards.

Regards
Peter
conford