Is buying a locomotive with sound and dcc cheaper than buying a locomotive and doing it yourself? i cant decide whether to purchase one that is already set or to try and attempt the work myself
Aftermarket sound chips are usually more expensive, and if you don’t have that much experience, then you’d be better-off with a pre-installed sound decoder.
You’ll have to make your own decision, but here’s some thoughts that might help:
– How much is your time worth to you? If you have plenty of time and nothing better to do then that might influence your thinking towards doing it yourself. If you have little time and other stuff that you need to do, a simple store-bought solution might be better.
– Do you have the requisite skills to do the installation? In similar fashion to the previous, if you have the skills you might want to consider it. Otherwise not.
– Is a store-bought solution available? Obviously in this case there apparently is. Not all locos though are available with factory dcc and sound. Though a second option that’s nearly as good is having someone else do it for you for a fee.
– Does the factory solution sound good to you? One of the main reasons why people do it themselves, or else have someone do it for them, is so they can select the exact model of decoder and sound modules to put into the loco. Often times the factory version is a reduced functionality version.
– Is the factory version specially manufactured to fit the specific loco? If so then you might want to consider just purchasing the factory version. Its possible that there may be difficulties installing a third-party decoder and sound module into the loco. That usually isn’t the biggest issue anymore these days, but its not unheard of either.
Ultimately the decision is yours, but I hope this helps!
John
Big problem for must is finding a spot for the speaker. Most of the time you have to cut out weight for to mount the speaker and it enclosure on diesels. Steam engines would not be as hard, they go in the tender.
I have seen a lot of DCC sound diesels in the $180.00 to $220.00 range. Say you buy a $90.00 diesel and a Tsunami decoder for around $100.00 then the speaker and enclosure $10.00 so it is about them same unless you catch some sale items.
My self, I rather buy one ready to go.
Cuda Ken
Buying a sound equipped locomotive is the way to go in my book.
Untimately, it is less expensive, a heck of a lot less time consuming and flawless compared to all of the bad things that could happen if I attempted to do it myself.
Are the decoder/sound card what you want?
Without DCC/sound, do you still the DCC pin socket so you just plug your own in or do you have to wire it? Is there room for a speaker or do you have to modify the chassis?
I prefer factory installed and all of my sound units are factory installed. I have an SW1 that came with the NMRA socket that I just plugged a decoder into - no option for factory sound.
Enjoy
Paul
I would buy the engine with sound and DCC. There’re enough engines waiting for a sound decoder.
Wolfgang
If a model, especially a diesel engine, is available with sound and DCC, I prefer to buy it that way instead of trying to find room for a speaker and decoder as an after-market installation. I have too many already that cannot have sound put into them because there’s no place to put a speaker.
Models that are sound/DCC equipped usually have a modified frame to accommodate the speaker, and a non-sound model might require major milling or other modifications if you want to add your own sound.
I’ve put after-market sound into several models that were not so equipped when new. Overall, they would probably have been cheaper if they had been factory sound equipped when purchased.
It isn’t a minor consideration for many of us that there is a warranty on engines, but not necessarily if they have been opened and altered in any way…including installation of a decoder or a sound decoder and speaker. With factory sound, you get the whole meal deal plus fully warranted. It is just that, as with everything else of any material value, you pay.
-Crandell
Even in the case of some, like Atlas, that are offered with and without sound yet use the same chassis (so adding speakers isn’t a big problem), the price difference between the two is usually less than the cost of an aftermarket sound decoder and speakers, not to mention the time to install it all. Even if the speakers drop right in, there’s still the lights to hook up and so forth.
And for others, like P2K Geeps, the new runs with sound not only have the sound decoder sna speakers, they are also newer runs that won’t have the cracked gear problem. And ‘off’ roadnames are available from places like Trainworld for less than the cost of a sound decoder and speakers. If you already have one you like, swapping shells isn’t too difficult, and you can resell the old chassis with new shell to maybe lower the total cost of going sound even more.
–Randy
For me it’s not a question of which is cheaper but rather which is better. In some better quality locomotive the sound decoders are top shelf BLI using QSI decoders for example and other such as Athearn Genesis were using MRC (JUNK) so you need to do your home work. If I would have to generalize I would say in most cases although it’s not cheaper but I find better to supply and install your own sound decoder speak and enclosure. My reason for saying this is you get to customize if you will each installation. When you buy off the shelf sound equipment you get what they give you. Sure it may be a good decoder but how is the speaker quality and the enclosure? I picked up a trick form a guy who works at mt LHS regarding making speaker enclosures out of sheet lead. Zero reverberation.which results in better sound quality. For me the bottom line is sure you may be spending a little more initially but the end result is far better then an off the shelf application.