Bill, Installing the speakers and decoders in the boiler is indeed the
best way to go, but I personally will not deny having some neat engines
on my layout that they won't fit into. Case in point, any of the
Rex/Putt engines, the bulk of the BTS engines and indeed most small
engines. I hate to give up pulling power aka. weight just to move the
sound a few inches. Chuck Porter sold me a very nicely made 0-6-0 BTS
engine. I barely got a Tsunami and a smallish speaker in the tender.
The Tsunami had to lay diagonally in the tender shell. No chance of
putting it into the boiler unless you put the motor in the tender as it
was a cast pewter boiler.
Most of my engines will continue to have the speakers in the tender and
where necessary the decoders will reside there also. That being said,
the great downfall of all these lights, sounds and effects are all the
d...@# wires needed. Breaking those tiny soldered connections can make
you loose hair. Keeping the speaker in the tender means I can usually
use a larger speaker for better sound. I've stated before that several
of my engines use a vintage PFM type speaker. If you take a typical
high end 12 woofer and shrink it down you will get one of these. I
think they were designed for On3 so they just barely fit a standard USRA
tender in width. Indeed the HB type speakers thatI have started using
are similar and impressive for their size but building an enclosure
takes a bit of room. I will still pick the sound from the PFM's over
the ones I've gotten from RailMaster and Litchfield Station in recent
months. When I have to go to a smaller speaker the newer versions and
some priorly used Soundtraxx versions do pretty good. I hate to use
anything smaller than 1 inch.
For those with coal tenders, I might suggest a possible compromise that
I used on my Southwind Vanderbilt tender. I put the speaker in the coal
bunker aimed upward. I then put some fine brass screen over that was
held down with some caulking. A layer of black fabric over that assures
a dark background but still allows the sound to emit. Next a layer of
coal mixed with glue is spread over the fabric. Shape the c oal for a
realistic pile. The sound now comes up within a few inches of the
engine rather from underneath the engine. It should work for many
engines but the round shape of the vanderbilts is tough for a speaker of
any size.
Using custom made weights as demonstrated by Rusty is certainly a great
solution for those having the ability to make up the combination.
There has been alot of discussion about the low frequency sounds such
as the chuff, engine rumble, and larger whistles being omini
directional. So some people are using large stereo type speakers under
the layout for that sound. The higher frequency sounds such as horns,
whistles, bells, steam hiss etc. are best emitted by the smaller
on-board speakers. I wish I could hear (and see) a layout with that
effect.
The acoustics in the railroad room or the dealer hall will have a large
effect on the quality of sound you can or cannot hear. In most cases
all you're on board sound effects at a typical train show will be a
total waste--not that you can't hear them close up but they're mixed up
with room noise contamination.
Bob Werre
BobWphoto.com
Bill Lane wrote:
> All,
>
> Putting a speaker in the boiler and pointing it straight up at the
> stack is
> the ONLY place for a good installation. Of course the size of the
> boiler can
> be an issue. But that is why we are in S Scale to have room for such
> things.
> I put the decoder in the boiler as well. There are NO wires - EVER for any
> reason going between my locos and tenders if they have a drawbar that
> detaches from the tender. I will put a motor decoder only in the tender to
> run the back up light if it is necessary.
>
> Thank You,
> Bill Lane
>
>
>
>
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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