# regular old DC sound



## bmwr71 (Jan 30, 2010)

Been fooling with G trains for a long time and model railroading even longer and never have gotten interested in DCC. I am not one to want to run multiple trains on one pike or do a bunch of switching, just like to set a loco and cars on a track and let them go. I noticed that pretty much all the sound stuff talked about here has to do with DCC decoders. I have several locomotives due to the evil temptations of ebay and that is part of why I don't want to go DCC, don't want that new expense. But I do like sound.

I spoke about my desire for DC on board sound on the yahoo layout sound group and as most of those guys do small model railroading like HO or ON30, they generally think in terms of fixed on the layout sound and also DCC. One guy in Australia made a video for me showing how to use DCC sound with DC operation. He suggested a Tsunami decoder. I just looked up the Tsunami and the prices I saw were exactly cheap. So my question is if it is somehow better to use the Tsunami with DC operation or is it better to use some sound like that from Dallee?

I have thought of ideas like making some sound unit module that could be transferred to different cars or locomotives or perhaps a car with sound that has interchangeable bodies as to only need to buy a few sound units.

Doug


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

The Tsunami is a poor choice for large scale since it has limitations in current and voltage... believe me. 

All the DCC decoders that have sound will work on DC just fine. Find a used QSI for $125 or so and you will have one of the best sounding systems out there, and as a bonus, by flipping the direction switch, you can remotely control the horn and the bell. 

Greg


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

I've been looking to outfit some more of my diesels with sound. You can still get Phoenix on the bay but they are pricey. The Dallees aren't a bad price, but IIRC are not polyphonic and that's a high priority for me. I would love to find a used Sierra(s).


BTW, I have a Sierra steam for a B'mann Consolidation I would trade for a Sierra diesel.


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## Madman (Jan 5, 2008)

Doug, thank you for noting what I have felt for a long time. Keep it simple is my motto, when it comes to things I really don't understand fully. What level of sound quality are you after? There are plenty of plain old sound units that sound pretty good to me. The LGB unit that is in the green box car for one. It's a simple voltage regulated steam sound. Their motorized sound tenders have very good chuff, bell and whistle. You can remove the unit from the tender if you want to use it elsewhere. LGB's 65000 series sound units are excellent, in my opinion. Although at the moment a bit pricey on Ebay. I'm not sure that they are in production again under the new LGB company.


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## East Broad Top (Dec 29, 2007)

Find a used QSI for $125 or so 
How's he supposed to do that when you've been buyin' 'em all up???  

If you're looking for simple sound, you may want to try MyLocoSound's boards. They're analog, but sound pretty good (just don't ring the bell, but in fairness, I've never heard a good analog approximation of a bell from an analog sound system). I've got both their steam and diesel board in two of my locos, and from 10 feet away they sound quite credible. 

The Dallee stuff is good, but as noted, it's not polyphonic. That means when you blow the whistle or ring the bell, the chuff drops out. (The diesel boards reportedly get around this by recording the whistle with the diesel in the background, so you keep the diesel sound.) It's not noticeable when the whistle blows, since that's generally loud enough to drown out the chuff anyway, but losing the chuff when ringing the bell might be objectionable. But again, for the price, it's a good system. 

The Sierras are also very nice, though no longer produced and getting harder to find 2nd hand. 

You don't mention how you envision controlling the bells and whistles, but watch on the DCC systems--many of them do not have external trigger contacts which would allow for remote triggering via track magnets, etc. Some, like the QSI, allow you to quickly throw the direction switch or quickly bump the throttle to trigger some sounds, but if your control system doesn't allow for that rapid change, then you're out of luck. The latest QSI (the yet-to-be-released-but-theoretically-coming-soon "Titan") has remote triggers, but also carries an expected $200 price tag, on par with Phoenix's PB11, which is their analog DC-compatible board with external triggers. 

Later, 

K


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## Tom Leaton (Apr 26, 2008)

I had no idea that you could get a DCC sound system to work on a plain DC layout. I always assumed that the DCC plug had to be wired in series with the motor or something, so it was digital or nothing. So, to operate plain DC loco on a plain DC track using DCC sound, how do you wire the decoder chip----connect it to track power in the tender and use a chuff rate sensor? 
Thanks


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

usually the board wants to be connected to the motor... in the case of the QSI, it monitors the motor speed and changes sound not only based on speed, but on load... quite a cool effect. The Zimo, ESU and Massoth units can also do this. 

The new QSI is coming soon, and I would expect the older ones would be available used. 

In it's basic form a dcc decoder needs 4 connections, 2 from the track, and 2 to the motor, it's really not as intimidating as all the old wives tales out there. 

Greg


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## bmwr71 (Jan 30, 2010)

So how would I get the basic knowledge to know how to proceed with buying a QSI unit and how can I learn exactly all I need to know to install and use it like I want with regular DC operation?

Doug


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## Dan Pierce (Jan 2, 2008)

DCC decoders for analog operation can control engine motors, sound and even the lights. 

Of course on analog only one setup will work, but if you ever upgrade to DCC or visit a DCC layout, all the DCC features can be addressed/used. 

I am most familiar with Zimo decoders as I install them for Train-LI, but other mfg decoders will do similar things , download the individual manuals for more info. 
These come with settings for ditch and/or gyro lights, chuff/sound/smoke control by back emf or input sensors. 
These can be reprogrammed to different sounds/light configurations should they be removed and used in another engine.


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## mbendebba (Jan 22, 2011)

bmwr71: 
Massoth make a sound module that can be used in both DC and DCC operations, the massoth S sound decoder. For DC operation, you install it by connecting it to track power using the 2 attached cables. In DC operation the S decoder generates 4 random sounds, 4 "standing sounds", braking sound, starting sound, and simulated sychronized shuffs. In addition to the S decoder you would need a speaker so that you and others can hear all of this. 

Mohammed 
http://www.allaboutlgb.com 
http://www.massothusa.com


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