Hey Folks,
I have a ton of dcc sound locos in HO, most I converted myself. Now Im in an apartment and want to try N scale. Whats your opinion of dcc with sound in N? Whats the best loco/decoder manufacturers match for say an F7 AB that pulls well and sounds good?
Thanks in advance!
DJB
DCC may be okay but sound in N scale is most likely going to be a disappointment due to the small speaker sizes that must be used.
Not…worth…the…effort…for many reasons that have been discussed here on these and other forums.
David B
Thanks Guys, I kinda thought this would be the feeling on this. I suppose DCC or perhaps just dc will do the trick!
DJB
I would have to say no to sound in N scale diesel but steam does offer room for decent sound. I have a Bachmann Spectrum 2-8-0 with a Tsunami and the sound is very good. However this can get pretty expensive if you have to have it profesionally installed like I did. This installation was definitely beyond my skill level.
Keep in mind if you try and put sound in smaller steam you have to put things in the tender. However, from the factory, the tender has weights in it to help with electrical pickups. When you remove the weights to install a decoder, speaker and capacitor you essentially reduce the locomotive’s electrical pickup ability by2/3rds to 1/2. This might not sound like much, but now your track has to be impeccable and your frogs have to now be all powered.
If you MUST have sound in N scale, then consider an Athearn Big/Boy, Challenger or Bachmann Spectrum J Class 4-8-4.
The Athearns have factory sound with a tender large enough for a decent speaker and loads of wheels picking up the spark.
The Bachmann Spectrum J Class tender has a die-cast floor. So, if you want to stuff a decoder/speaker cap in there you are not removing any weight that is needed for electrical pickup.
I cant think of any other N scale steam that is a candidate for sound install. All others would require some sort of compromise to get the auto-choo-choo.
Bottom line, with the exception to the few examples I listed above, sound in N scale is a trade off between sound quality and performance.
David B
Very good points regarding weight David. This is something that I wasn’t aware of and had some definite electrical pickup problems. I added a small amount of lead weight to the top of the tender and it now runs fine. I painted it black and it’s not that noticeable, however for the purist it might not be acceptable.
Thanks for your post. I was just thinking that I should post again to point out the weight problem that I encountered but you covered the subject nicely.
Sound for diesel locomotives is not here yet. Narrow hood units just don’t have enough room.
Now for steam I think that the Tsunami decoders do a good job of sound.
I have done many Kato Mikados and GS-4 units. They sound good and run very well.
As far as removing the weight in the tender, I have not had to remove any of the weight in my installs on these two locomotives. On the InterMountain AC-12, I do remove the weight to make a better speaker mounting. The weight of the decoder, speaker and capacitor is a tad bit more that the weight that I removed, plus I add a piece of aluminun for a heat sink, so all together I have more weight in the tender than it came with.