Hello all! Your favorite newbie is back with yet another question. I am looking into the MRC 1644 sound decoder for my Kato engines. I have read all kinds of reviews on it and it seems like its a pretty solid decoder with a fairly easy install. Do any of you guys use it? I would appreciate any info or feedback on it. Some of the big things I have read that are downsides for it are that it requires modifications to the shell and or frame and that it has poor speed control. Is this true or was it just error or foolishness on the part of those writing the reviews?
That is what I hear from a lot of people. No personal experience but I guess consensus is that they are 'sketchy' at best.
I have 2 units and both are sad!!!!!! I'm looking for a way to install LokSound decoders but that is a project.
In a 70 ACe unit you will need to do some machine work to make this decoder fit. Sound is not all that good. Speed control is very poor. My unit will not start to move untill you get to speed step 30 or better. Then it takes off quick.
That's exactly what I have been reading but then I have found videos on youtube of engines that are supposedly equipped with em and they seem to run and sound awesome. Can you guys recommend a good decoder?
The ideal would be if there was a way you could see one demonstrated in person and see if it was good enough for you. If not and you still want to try "easy" sound then order one and try it out. Worst case is you hate it and you put it up on Trainboard MarketPlace, Ebay or whatever for a real good deal and consider it tuition paid to the school of experience. On the other hand you may not care about fine motor control, extra functions, perfect sound, etc at this stage and you just want a locomotive that has sound and it may work for you. You just need to go into it with your eyes open. Unfortunately this is the only "Drop-In" for sound at the moment. You also might talk to Mike Fifer. He is on the Board and is one of the advertisers. He has some videos of his installs on YouTube and could provide you with some details of his experience.
I actually saw one of Mike's videos on YouTube. He said it's a good decoder in his comments and the video was pretty solid. I may just order one and see.
That problem can be changed by modifing the CV setting. Try playing with CV 2 and 3, and maybe 5 and 6
Sound is the limiting factor in N-Scale and will take a lot to over come. This is where size matters. Speakers reproduce sound by vibrating and moving air. These little speakers cannot move enough air to produce a decent sound quality. Almost like using Ipod ear phone at a distance. I really enjoy having sound in that it is the final component to replicate the proto experience, especially hearing the diesel crank and start up. For the time being I think stationary sound is the way to go (Link sound decoders to amps). I have been playing around with a setup and looked at MRC sound system/ It seems to be the most viable solution. You have to play around with the speakers to find the one you like. Inobu
I have set and reset these CV's and many more and still this is a poor seed control decoder. Poor control no mater what you change the CV's to.
i used to have a mrc1644 in an ac4400. it is crap. not worth the money. i still want to give some pros/cons here : pro : - easy installation con : - poor sound - extremely poor running characteristics - i found no way to read back cv settings - decoder resets every now and then - extrmely sensible to dust on the tracks i'm aware of the physical limitations of n-scale engines. but i have two bli engines with the paragon2 sound decoder. excellent sound, excellent running characteristics. i'd strongly suggest to wait until there are other sounddecoders available. you're gonna be unhappy with the mrc1644.
I looked for the paragon2 and I just found some HO scale stuff. Is there a website I can look at with some on there? If there are any other sound decoders for N scale I would like to look at them as well. I'm running into brick walls and every site I check either does HO or bigger or just has the MRC decoders.
Unfortunately right now we n scalers are kind of hung out to dry on sound decoders. At least with respect to drop in decoders. Whoever jumps into this market with a unit that is reliable and puts out some volume is going to cash in BIG TIME! BLI's sound in the E's has set the bar for comparison as far as I'm concerned. If we could get that kind of sound quality for a modern hood unit... dream on.
I don't really care if the decoders are drop in or not. I am more than happy to get out the soldering iron and put in a wired decoder as long as it's a good one. If there is a wired one thats good please let me know.
ESU LokSound Micro and Soundtraxx Micro Tsunami seem to be the best ones at the moment. I have not used either yet but I know others have on this board and you can find examples installed on YouTube.
By the time you remove the material so you can get a Tsunami (a micro at that) in this locomotive you will have to have a second locomotive to move it. And I do not think there is room to do that. You have to leave the motor and flywheels in place plus leave a way to pick up the power to the frame halves. So there are very few places you can remove material. Then you have to fit a speaker into it too. BTW you need to save some room for that 220 mf capacitor, where are you going to fit it? The only way I know would be to MU two units, one with the sound and speaker and the lead locomotive would provide the power. Until someone does a decoder that looks like the MRC units we N scalars are hurting for sound units. We know that it is possible as MRC has done them, they just are of poor quality. Maybe the market for this is too weak. With all of the newer diesel units out there it looks like someone is missing a large market place. Maybe next year.
