Sound add-on units?

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Do sound units that you add on too you locomotives like Soundtraxx work on DC? Are there any DC friendly sound units available besides factory installed on BLI and QSI products?

Thanks

2

I don’t think so. All the sound decoders that you can buy seperate from the locomotive are DCC decoders so they wouldn’t work on DC.

3

The ones that Mrc makes are supposed to be,but they are very cantrary,need alot of voltage and are generic sounds,not like soundtraxx,or qsi.They are however a way to get sound into a unit without spending 100.00 or more.They sell on e-bay for about 49 for the diesel and I think 59 for there steam.I have run a geep on dc with mrc decoder and it did work.

4

Soundtraxx started with DC sound systems. I believe the DC ones are called Sierra.
http://www.soundtraxx.com/sierra/index.html

And perhaps Phoenix.
http://www.phoenixsound.com/index.html

5

The SoundTraxx Sierra system is for G scale only. SoundTraxx decoders for HO scale work only on DCC. As mentioned above, MRC sound decoders claim that they will work on DC, but their sounds are shoddy compared to SoundTraxx of QSI. Consumers can’t purchase QSI systems.

6

The new Tsunami decoder, when if finally hits the market, is designed for DC and DCC. All of Soundtraxx’s other decoders that will fit into an HO unit are DCC only.

However, consider that sound systems function even better in DCC. A good comparison could be made by testing a BLI unit, like the GG1 or E7, in both modes.