I have two MTH railking steam engines both with proto sound. Neither is a Proto 2.0 setup. Is there a difference in the “sound” of the chuffing in reguards to quality? I have one Lionel Steam engine with railsounds and the chuffing sound and whistle is far superiour to either of the MTH engines. I’m looking at getting another engine but with either the proto 2.0 or the Lionel with it’s railsound 2.0 (assuming that’s the latest lionel sound). One of my MTH engines has the speed control which I like very much but I’m not at all happy with the sound of the chuffing and the whistle and bell. It just sounds very poor compared to my Lionel engine. Any thoughts on the differences I would appreciate.
George
Do you have the original ProtoSound or LocoSound (only LocoSound engines, not PS1 engines, came with speed control). LocoSound was an intentionally “basic” sound package for people who wanted sound on a budget.
Either way, the difference between original ProtoSound or LocoSound compared to PS2 is night and day. Sounds are better, more elaborate, reproduction is far richer than the original system.
If you didn’t care for ProtoSounds (now called PS-1) you will definitely not like LocoSounds. LocoSounds are digitally synthesized sounds and bear little or no resemblence to what any locomotive (diesel/steam/electric) actually sounds like. PS-2 sounds are digitally recorded sounds of real locomotives. There are more sounds than present on most Lionel RailSounds equipped locomotives with the possible exception of Lionel’s newest version RS-5.0. Lionel’s sounds still have a significant edge in quality over PS-2, particularly in the horn/whistle area. People involved with the RS system are musician/recording engineers.
If the sounds are extrememly important to you, I’d listen to the actual engine you are considering buying at a local shop/show/club before making a decision.
And if you don’t like that sound, but do like one from another engine, have it down loaded to the engine that you want. [:p]
“And if you don’t like that sound, but do like one from another engine, have it down loaded to the engine that you want.”
Assuming it uses the same tach tape.
If you are running more then one engine at a time it really doesn’t matter if the sound is on or not it will probably be drowned out, depending on the length of the consist and your layout. I run about 7 engines at once and it sounds all garbled until the engine runs close to you. Same results with about four engines at once.
Just my 2 cents.
laz57
“If you are running more then one engine at a time it really doesn’t matter if the sound is on or not it will probably be drowned out, …”
Very true. I tend to throw the signals sound switch on most of my loco’s so I just get horn/whistle and bell sounds. Leave one steamer and one diesel in full sound mode.
I just figured out that the one “offending” engine does in fact have “locosound”. Not at all a good sound. I guess I may just turn the sound off for now. But I do now understand that the PS 1 and PS 2.0 are digitally recorded sounds like the railsounds on my Lionel. I will be shopping for a speed control engine with either PS 2.o ( as I understand it PS 1.0 doesn’t have speed control) or a Lionel with Odyssey speed control. Thanks guys, you have been a great help.