I’m thinking of adding locomotive horn sounds at the 3 road crossings I have on the layout. Speakers under the bench work at the crossings seem like the way to go.
Does anybody know of a product that works well for this?
I checked google and it appears that MRC has something called Symphony 77, but the speakers look like they belong on a desk, not mounted under the bench throughout the layout. Does it work well? Perhaps the speakers are modifiable, or I’ll have to build my own.
I know there are on-board sound systems, but that’s not the direction I’m heading.
They’re basically jsut computer speakers. You can mount them under the layout. Removing the case to mount the speakers is not a good way to go, speakers need an enclosure - not just on-board sound but stationary speakers as wel. Mounting them can be a simple as zip-tying them to hooks in the appropriate spot or you can get fancy and build little shelves under the crossings.
OK, that sounds good as far as it goes. LION wants to do something a little more. Him wants to mount microphones under the table at certain locations, with an amplifier and speaker so that the sound of an approaching train increases and then diminishes as the train passes.
I do not know what sort of a circuit or system to try.
Perhaps an external sound card (the kind in a case) will allow me to plug a microphone into one end and a speaker into the other end without having to have a computer in the middle.
Or maybe there is something else that I can try? What do you think?
Yes, they look like computer speakers. I assume they would just plug into the unit, and could be replaced with others. Good suggestion about the zip-tie.
Is the Symphony a decent product? Looks like it has a library of sounds, which I’m not really interested in at the moment, but finding just a horn sound by itself would be tough.
Radio Shack has a little amplifier for $15 that might work. I’m not sure how well it works with microphones but after reading the comments I gather that it will amplify a microphone. Check their web site and look for item #277-1008.
Doug, while I forget it’s name I have a MRC sound making thingie that predates the unit you are looking at. I sort of like it, then I used stereo speakers for a computer so I could make it louder. Like it better then.
What I did not like was the sound did not move, in other words not following the train’s. Then I went DCC with sound and pretty much forgot about the thing. Heck, I think it is still plug in and power is on, somewhere! [(-D]
Depending on how big your layout is to make the sound follow the train I would add a few speakers and make a simple switch board where you can turn the sound off at point A and turn it on at point B.
I cannot fault the sound quality of what I have. Going to have to dig it out and ply with it again.