I have three older Athearn blue box DC locomotives I’m planning to convert to DCC using LokSound 5 Direct decoders. I’ve been trying to figure out which sugar cube speaker to use but there seem to be a ton of different sizes and shapes.
Has anyone here installed a sugar cube speaker in an older Athearn loco?
Then you can measure the space you have inside the shell, length, width, and depth, without interfering with any of the mechanism. And then get the biggest speaker with enclosure that will fit - in the case of sugar cubes, it may actually be an array of 2-4 speakers.
The Athearn blue box has limited space inside so a speaker inside the cab roof may be a good solution. Also remove that bonfire of a cab light and install LED’s for the headlight.
once you determine which decoder you wish to use, that decoder will determine what is the appropriate speaker ohm rating you require. Then space available will determine which size speaker will fit or suit the space available. I hope that makes sense.
if you need to don’t be afraid to cut out some weight to make space available.
The shop that basementdweller refers to is called the ‘Streamline Back Shop’. They have an excellent range of products and their site is a goldmine of information.
Sure do PC101. All three loco’s are going to be getting a complete overhaul.
Full disassembly, cleaning and re-lubrication of the gears, new motor mounts, removal of all corrosion, cleaning and polishing the wheels, full rewiring including replacing the brass power pickup strips with wires, replacing the 12v blubs with LED’s, adding additional lighting, adding hand rails and grab irons, and last but not least, Kadee couplers.
In short they are getting the works. I am looking forward to getting started on the project. Just waiting on a few more parts to arrive.
Well nicely said, you can never get enough information -
Therefore, I suggest reading first “white paper” mentioned here, and then check the whole web site, it offers a lot of completed “drop in” solutions for different locomotives of different manufacturers, lot of them follwed by video. I did not buy from this shop, but comparison videos of factory installed speakers and it’s own speakers are impressive.
I unfortunately did not take pictures of the two I did for someone else (I on’y have one BB loco and it’s a long way from even getting DCC - plus it’s not a loco that matches anything my current prototype had). I guess I skipped photos because they weren’t my locos, silly idea I guess. Decoders and speakers were supplied to me by the owner, but as I recall there was considerable room under the radiator fans that still cleared the drive. It was 11 or 12 years ago, the speakers weren;t sugar cube style, just the typical ovals in a rectangular enclosure. One of them had dynamic brakes so I had to file a bit from the clip the held the DB housing on to get the speaker to sit flat, but that was it. Unlike the BB switcher I have, an SD or GP BB or RTR has a good bit of space under the hood once the old metal bar contact is removed.
Thanks for posting that info. The white paper is the best article I have read to date. I did not yet view the related videos. I gleefully added 2-4 micros in several of my HO locos, an apparent error. I will find it interesting to retrofit a couple with this fellow’s speakers.
To add more spice to the “soup”, now read this, it claims exactly the opposite concerning if small rectangle speakers should fire in or out: Small speaker comparison.
In any case, a lot can be learned from such articles/videos, but at the end - your ear is the final judge, what you prefer.
When it comes to OP’s original post, which sugar cube could be used, I researched a few days ago which small speakers to buy, I selected three/four (different dimensions) that I would like to test:
I find the frequency response and sound pressure level of these speakers interesting, especially the first one 13 x 18 mm. The last one (11 x 15 mm) is probably more interesting for European locomotives, because there is sometimes not much space for even a sugar cube speaker.
