My grandkids gave me a new locomotive with DCC and sound. It runs on my DC lanout and sounds great. I’m am ready to upgrade to DCC. I have several old deisel locomotives I would like to modify with DCC and sound. Can I purchase a single decoder that will do both? - or do I have to install a DCC decoder and then piggyback the sound decoder and spraker on that?
You can do it either way. The trend seems to be more towards a combined “all-in-one” DCC decoder/sound decoder, but Soundtraxx still makes sound decoders that piggyback on a regular decoder.
Soundtraxx, Digitrax and MRC (and others) all make decoders that do both.
Hi, Buzz. I hope you are having fun?
You can get any number of decoders that do both functions of running the train’s motion and controlling the sound…not to mention lighting control. Sountraxx, Digitrax, TCS, Lenz, they all have models from which you can chose. Just be aware that they tend to be tailored to a given series or models of diesels. So, you would do well to contact Tony’s Train Exchange and ask those folks which would be the best. In fact, I believe that they have a do-it-yourself listing. There are also intructions on Tony’s site about installations.
I used the ESU Loksound decoder from Tony’s Train Exchange to upgrade some of my diesels and it works great for both control and sound. I agree that Tony’s is very helpful with DCC decoder installations. However, there are many variables to decoder installations and it took me quite a while (and alot of milling with my Dremel) to get it right.
Loksound is one of the others. I’ve used them all at one time or an other. If you choose Loksound be certain to use their speakers, because they require a high ohm rating rather than the standard 8 ohms. I personally do not recommend the MRC Brilliance. I’ve had trouble programming them, resetting them, and I hate the noise they produce.
Another company that makes the sound unit separate from the decoder is Phoenix. However they are physically large units, so they only fit in the larger locomotives. You didn’t specify a scale so if you are talking G scale this isn’t an issue.
The real key to installing sound in units isn’t the sound processor, but the speaker. Once again you did not specify a scale. It can be hard to fit a speaker in an HO unit, and then even harder to make it sound as good as one that was engineered into the unit to begin with. Don’t get me wrong, an after-the-fact installation can sound much better than a factory unit too. It is just almost more of an art than a science. My best sounding units are, of course, the G-scale steam locomotives where I can easily fit a 4" speaker with a 16 oz magnet on it.