I own a beautiful Genesis Challenger (Athearn). The whistle sound is AWFUL.
Has anyone tackled this problem?
Any ideas?
Tony’s? Loy’s? Athearn? MRC?
Help! Please.
Ah, another opportunity for Athearn to do right by a customer.
aartlib,
Send Athearn a very vocal letter citing your problem and the fact that this is a top of the line model. Let them know in no uncertain terms that you expect a solution to your sound problem.
You might mention, if they waffle, that you contribute to this forum and you have read numerous postings criticizing Athearn’s response to problems. Your option as to what means you communicate with them(email, telephone, letter). If they are unresponsive write a letter to the CEO(they hate getting irate customer letters) explaining your dilemma and displeasure with the product. Hopefully, you won’t get pawned off on one of Uncle Andre’s MBA types.
Well, not to be contrary, but what do you expect them to do about it? If the decoder is working as programmed, and if the speaker system has its intended integrity, what you hear is what you get. My all-metal Lionel Challenger does not sound very much like the real thing, but I can get by with the approximation. You won’t get a vast improvement out of 70 cubic centimeters of “speaker” volume with another decoder or speaker. The lower tones of the Challenger cannot be replicated in such a small enclosure.
If the other sounds are also terrible, you may have a bad connection or a damaged speaker. If it is just the whistle that is lacking, well…
Also, I would never take the tone and approach that you were advised to use by the person before me. Not only is it too cynical, but if there is something wrong, and they offer to fix it, why would you be belligerent in asking them to do that? You get more flies with honey than you do with vinegar, my Mom always told me.
Good luck, however you proceed.
The problem is with the MRC sound system that Athearn uses and there’s nothing you can do about it but grit your teeth and realize that you’re stuck with a bad sound system.
selector
Interesting point, I wonder if other dissatisfied customers(posters on this forum) of Athearn products were successful with a “honey” approach. Guess its worth a try; aartlib just have your backup “pissed ***” communication ready for mailing/sending.
As a reference for cynicism re Athearn see Uncle Andre’s piece on the forum.
Jon
First…is the volume level adjustable? If so try running at 40,50, or 60% of volume. A lot of engines are shipped new set at 100% volume, and the distortion is terrible. Lowering the sound level will also give you more of the “impression” of sound compatible with your scale distance from the engine. Happy railroading! jc5729
Mine is still on order (over a year now), but if the whistle is that bad I might consider replacing the whole sound unit, or putting in a second one just for the whistle.
pull out the mrc sound decoder and put in a tsunami from soundtraxx . yeah i know that adds $80+ to the cost of the loco , but your chances of fixing it any other way are pretty low . try the letter writing method first , at least it won’t cost you anything but time . oh , and if athearn doesn’t offer anything helpful and you do put the tsunami in , write a follow up letter to athearn letting them know how you fixed the problem and how unhappy you are about it