I would like to know which sound decoder you will recommend for Kato E8/9 A-unit and P42 Genesis.
Thks
Jimmy Low
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Blog: http://mytrainmaster.spaces.live.com
With heavy, heavy frame modification (making your model light), I would recommend LokSound Micro.
MRC has a new N scale sound decoder.
David
Thks David. I want to avoid heavy frame modification if possible. 
Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of room inside either engine for anything other than the Digitrax drop-in decoder replacement (non-sound, of course). There certainly isn’t any room for a speaker. Like David says, you’ll have to mill quite a bit of the frame away. It’s a pretty heavy engine (the E8, I mean, and I would guess the P42) so you could probably lose some weight with a minimal impact on performance.
Nevertheless, N scale is not at the drop-in sound decoder stage yet.
Hmm … looks like it leaves me no choice. Is there a milled frame I should be using? Aztech? I can get a friend to replace for me before shipping to Malaysia. I don’t think it is as easy as taking a saw and remove the unwanted part.
Dave / David, which model and make of the sound decoder do you recommend?
Dave, I saw your PRR website. Impressive.
Jimmy
Jimmy,
I don’t use onboard sound, so I couldn’t tell you. I actually use an Sountraxx HO-scale low-end generic diesel decoder mounted under the layout with a speaker. I program it with whichever roadnumber is on the diesel I plan to run. I hook the leads up to the programming track when I want to re-assign the number.
It’s tedious, but affordable.
In terms of milling the frame, I would suggest a Dremel tool rather than a hacksaw. It will be messy, but you’ll have much better control. You can remove just a little at a time unit it all fits.
Another option is to get another E8 and gut it completely (running A-A or A-B) and have that one just contain the sound system. If you always run them together, you can just give them the same DCC address.
I got two of the first production run MRC drop-in sound decoders. They seem quite neat and have the same foot print as the Digitrax. The only mod required to get rid of some dimples on the plastic tray. I am going to put them in P42 and will let you know how it goes. I have high expectations with these.
I personally would not bother with LokSound Micro, they are too fragile. I had 2 and both worked for a while and decided to just die. Their wirings are too small and fragile. After a while, all the wires falls out and with normal soldering equipment, it’s almost impossible to repair it yourself. Even with needle tip, it’s still too wide and not easy to not touching the adjacent wires. And next thing you know, the speaker wires goes and so forth. Seriously, any plastic model kit glued together by glue is more robust than that. They are not cheap either. Huge dissapointment. And one thing I can’t understand, it comes with 6-pin plug which no one uses. I will give credit to their customer service though.
Good luck.
Hmmm…
I would love to be wrong about this subject. I just checked MRC and indeed they have a “drop-in” sound decoder for the P42, “soon to be released.”
I have heard nothing but bad things about MRC decoder quality, though. I hear that their DCC (Prodigy) system is great, but their decoders are junk and their customer service is poor. I have no personal experience with that, but I have hear enough rumors to that effect that I’m a bit nervous about dropping $85 for one of them.
Now, since the P42 and E8 share roughly the same frame, I would guess this decoder would fit both, right? Any mods required for the shell? I see the speaker looks like it sticks up a bit… The E8 shell doesn’t have much room above the frame.