You’re simply describing SurroundTrax from Soundtrax. large speakers around the layout, train location detection switches the sound to the speaker near the loco. SUpports multiple locos running at the same time, too.
–Randy
… And I thought multiple engines with sound got annoying after a while ! I can’t imagine multiple subs all responding to those same engines as well !
Mark.
Tsunami’s low end is 62.5Hz. It works fine with the right speaker, given again, we’re speaking of scale sound. It can growl when piped through a stereo system. But, the best HO speaker I’ve found only goes to 200Hz. If there’s better out there, please advise. Tsunami’s have 3 bands(almost half of them) below 500. 500 is their midrange.
Richard
Richard - which speaker are you using with your Tsunami decoders?
Randy
Do you have info on that?
These are the main 3 guys I buy speakers from. The first guy has some Intermediate Oval Speakers that go down to 200. He also has some Bass Reflex which sound good, but no specs on frequency range. The 1.22HB goes down to 330. I try use one of the Intermediate Oval and one of the 1.22(or smaller) in each install. I always use JMRI to set up the equalizer and sometimes move speakers/enclosures around to maximize sound quality. All of my enclosures are custom made so that I can maximize speaker size and sound quality. I also have to frequently cut/file on the inside of loco and frame of speaker.
I learned by and am still learning by experimenting with the equalizer and various speakers to see if and how they will respond to a particular frequency range.
http://www.dccinstallsandsales.com/
I have used the mega bass speakers and they do sound better than the average oval. Yes, they need an enclosure, But in a pinch the tender shell will work. Mike is right that these have been around for a while.
They are the only speakers I have seen for this application with decent sized magnets on them. They look like little guitar amplifier cabinet speakers. I have used most of the current crop of speakers (with the exception of sugar cubes - on the list) in steam sound installs. I think the best sounding is an old PFM side ported speaker left over from an early PFM install. Close second is the mega bass.
Sound is such a subjective thing that it is hard to make definitive statements about it. Suffice to say if it sounds good to you, it sounds good - but maybe not to me!! To this end make adjustments and try various approaches until things sound as good as they can to you. Not all of my installs sound the same due to the enclosure, shell configuration and a host of other factors.
I don’t expect to see great bass response in small speakers due to the finicky nature of bass sound in audio technology (the waves are long and bounce very funny). You generally need pretty good sized cone/speakers to create good bass sound.
Your mileage may vary,
Guy
I’m a bass guitarist and a past recording “artist”/engineer. Bass frequencies are omni-directional. They kind of fan out across the floor and…build up in corners of the room. That’s why recording listening rooms have bass traps (usually cylindrical foam tubes) in the corners.
Bass speaker cabinets, both stereo systems and bass guitar amplifiers are often ported. They use a hole sawed hole in a “tuned” portion of the plywood cabinet to direct the omni-directional bass frequencies out of the cabinet into the room at a more straightforward manner. The tuned aspect also has something to do with choosing the best low bass frequencies/ and “air puffs” you can get out of the speaker/cabinet.
Because of these acoustical factors, I firmly believe (and from what I"ve heard) speaker enclosures are the best choice to accomplish the above even if in a more miniature manner. Downward facing speakers also generally give the best bass sound in HO anyway, because those omni-directional frequencies (high frequencies travel in more of a straight line) are allowed to bounce back off of your benchtop/roadbed, etc. and spread around a bit more.
This stuff is subtle in our scales but it does make an obvious difference in most installations.
Some advocate just using the tender shell or body as the “larger” enclosure and claim the sound is better but that’s a minority opinion by a large margin.
The use of two speakers stacked or otherwise does sound pretty cool at least on the steamers my friend has done installs on. I attend operating sessions and if the sound is kept subtle (very) all locos can run without driving everyone nuts! If you can hear it 10 ft. away it’s probably too loud.
Hope that helps even though I’m not an electrically savvy/technical guy.
Jim
The electronics of sound are fine; in fact, superb. The problem is physics; those mean old air molecules won’t scale down.
Here’s a review from Tony’s Train Exchange about speakers that put out useful output down to 150 hz.