Has anyone who has purchased a MRC #1023 Diesel Sound Box had the same problems as I with it? The generic engine sound is either at idle or “rev’s” up from idle but then is constant in sound despite the throttle settings. MRC told me it was probably the throttle I was using (Dallee Yardmaster). That made little sense to me, since the Sound Box is supposed to adjust as the track voltage is increased. Obviously, this is occuring as the engine increases in speed, “pulse power” or not. Another quirk is the tendency for the box to “short out” (with brief static noise). This in effect ends the sound that is sounding at the moment, as the bell. Finally, lately, the thing has begun to cycle through various sounds–some that I have never heard from this box-bells, horns, etc. Strange! I will contact MRC again but thought someone may have had similar problems with theirs. Overall, I like this thing (since I have no sound equipped locos as yet) but these problems are irritating.
The Sound Box is supposed to randomly play various sounds to add to the “realism”. So it sounds like part of your problem is in fact a “feature”. As far as your other problems/questions go, I have no idea.
Sounds about right. I havent used the sound boxes, but everything I have used from MRC never works right. The exception are the DC power packs. IF you ask me, MRC is a company to definently stay away from.
I have had the problem of my sound box not throttling back down with the power pack, but it only occurs when there is no active engine on the layout. In other words, if there is no motor to actually react to the power changes, the sound box becomes confused. As long as I have an active engine, no problem!
A member of our local HO scale club brought one of those things and asked me to check it out because he wasn’t sure whether it was functioning properly or not. His complaint was similar to those stated here, in that the Sound Box didn’t keep up with the throttle settings, and some of the sounds didn’t make sense…
The instructions say to set your throttle on address 3 to use the Sound Box, but I discovered through experimentation that it doesn’t seem to have any effect on performance no matter what address you set your throttle on. If you go by what MRC’s instructions call for, you could only run locomotives that are set on address 3, which is not true.
I opened it up to have a peek, and discovered that it is nothing more than a MRC sound decoder permanently set on address 3, connected to a larger speaker, with a built-in power supply.
Thanks to all who responded. I guess the ultimate answer is sound-equipped engines and to put up with the weaknesses of the Sound Box for now. At least the bell sound is nice and the horn is better than the one I try to do! Dallee makes excellent “on site” sound boards but they are expensive. Hey, I remember the old Athearn H-F “rubber band” drive diesels! We’ve come a long way to be complaining about sound!