I received my soundbox today and will install on the weekend. I ordered it last Monday from Chuck at Feather River Trains and it arrives on the other side of the world in less than 7 days, hows that for service. [ February 27, 2006, 01:54 AM: Message edited by: Colonel ]
I Have been experimenting with the sound system with mixed success. The system itself sounds great however if you want one for switching I highly recommend it. The problem seems to be with the idle to running rate of the engine sound. On Dc a pair of wires is connecting to the track voltage to detect when a train increases speed however in normal operation it does not increase in revving sound at the same rate as the controller. I'm thinking that in N scale the voltage increase is minimal 0 - 6 volts where as HO would most likely have higher voltages. I still have some experimenting to do but I cant see it improving. The instructions are very basic and doesnt offer a great deal of advice. I have to say the bells, horn, brakes, coupling sounds do add a new dimension to the layout especially for switching, even the acceleration rate at low speed is acceptable, it would have been nice if the acceleration rate matched the speed of a loco when it's on the mainline.
Ok I did some more experimenting today and think I found the solution. Because the track voltage is low to operate trains in n scale I decided to try and modify the wiring. I still connected the track sensing wires directly to the throttle however I place a variable wire reistor (0 to 100 ohms) between the throttle and one of the track feed wires. What this does is the voltage to the sound system is now higher than what goes to the track so more power is required to operate a train. After some tests I found 15 ohms is what you need in series with the track to enable the sound system to work. Now when I throttle up the sound system is at second notch as the train moves and runs at a higher rate when train operate the main line. All I need to do now is see if I can add additional speakers around the layout but need to think how to do that.
One way to add more speakers to an MRC Synchro unit is to run the audio output to a line in, aux, or tape input on a home stereo system. On two different systems here, the MRC unit's volume wants to be between 1/8th and 1/4 to match the input levels on the stereo without excessive noise or distortion. I use a Y cable to spread the mono MRC signal across a stereo L and R input. You can get somewhat better sound this way, especially if the amplifier includes a graphic EQ. Reverb is a plus but it is hard to apply it seperately, the bell and whistle benefit, while prime mover samples do not. Another option would be to run the Synchro unit's output to a line level input on a PC soundcard. From here, you could expand the sound to a 5.1 system, but the rear satellite speakers may behave unpredictably, depending on which system your soundcard or speakers use to decode surround sound. I currently feed the MRC unit into an old Radio Shack audio mixer, which also recieves signals from a PC's CD player (headphone outputs), and also from the PC's soundcard line level outs. The CD player plays one of two background mixes, various trickles and gurgles from small streams spread across the stereo field to match the location of the main waterway on the layout, plus background bird calls for daytime operations, and insect noise, mostly crickets, for night time operations. The PC plays back triggered samples, whistles, bypasses, animals and birds. I use a freeware utility to map the samples to keystrokes with an identifier of "qq". The whistles for example, will trigger from keyboard input of "qqw1" through "qqw0". Bypass samples require some tweaking with the pan (balance) control to adapt them to your layout, and it's up to you to get the timing of closest approach right, but really make the sound system sparkle. Be careful with the bass if your speakers are mounted to the benchwork. When the MRC Synchro unit is blended into the multiple sourced and layered sound system described above, it suffers a little by comparison, since the MRC samples are probably only 8 bit/11K sample rate, where the CD and PC samples are 16 bit recorded at 44.1k sample rates. It's not glaringly obvious, but the difference in sound quality is noticable. Expanding to a 5.1 monitoring system has been delayed here, while wading through the different specifications and technology. The biggest problem to date as been to find an affordable solution to encoding or storing sample mixes in 5.1 format. If you're careful about how much you have going on at one time, you can save the samples as Windows Media files, or as discrete 6 channel samples, but there is a finite data rate to avoid exceeding. Discrete 6 channel audio can be burned to DVD-A format and played back on any DVD player that suopports the DVD-A standard (many or most do). Encoders for any of the recognized 5.1 formats will allow you to stay under the bandwidth limit for 5.1 sound, but are expensive, figure on several thousand dollars for most of the major formats. Using discrete 6 channel audio avoids the high cost of encoder software, and should allow you to treat the rear satellite speakers from a 5.1 system as a sound source, rather than processed ambience. This is theory, I haven't tested it yet, but will post up with results when I do. [ March 08, 2006, 11:25 AM: Message edited by: jeffers_mz ]
Jeff, Thanks for the advice I'm going to add a few more speakers in the next few weeks but not sure how I will do it. Here is a link to a video of me switching a loco using the mrc sound as well. Switching with sound [ March 24, 2006, 11:58 PM: Message edited by: Colonel ]
I watched the video, you sure did make that J real hard, I wonder if the freight is damaged now. LOL Sound was a idea,, till I realized how much it would cost me. But ya never know, if I decide to get back in the hobby, i might go that route. Wyatt
Colonel, I recommend getting a PC into your setup as early as possible. You can play CD's and samples and organize the samples, and and and...Any old 486 or P-1 will do, and you can add a better soundcard, processing software, better speakers, etc piecemeal when conditions permit. I'd like to see your video, and make some of my own, the triggered sample bypasses get rave reviews here in 1:1, bt I'm way out in the sticks, on slow dial-up, and most videos hang the machine before playing. Do you have a website or still pictures? Wyatt, the MRC units go for $55, and the rest of the system here was just stuff laying around the house. Over the long run it will cost some money to upgrade everything, but it sounds good now for not much of an investment.
Welcome, Jeffers! Thanks for the great useful info. I would have never thought to included background noise, like birds and stuff into a sound system. Very cool. I need to get into that... I have a 40-dollar Walmart sound system I could hook it into.. The subwoofer works well with train vids, why not for model trains?
Guys, Colonel, The video was much more convincing that I thought it would be. You have now just added another 'to-do' to my list of things to investigate. Thx for sharing the videos.
I have a Crown power base amplifier and a pair of KRK studio reference monitors that I plan to use for sound on my layout. Yeah I know, it's overkill. The thing is I want to deep deep rumble of diesels even if it isn't coming right from the diesel itself. I also have a audio mixer I plan to run sound through, so I can play DVD's of train car roll by sound, and mix it with other train sounds. Have any of you tried running that cheap sound unit through a larger sound system like I have yet? How does it sound through bigger speakers?
Does this potentially damage the engines in any way ? Can we get a simple diagram posted for all that a non electrical wizard (like me) can understand ? Thanks colonel for your hard work in the research department of the Trainboard. I was a little put off by the lack of response in the throttle department and I would have thought MRC could've provided the fix for us N Scalers.
I got both the MRC Synchro Sound Box for Steam and Diesel for Christmas..... After a major basement remodel, I was finally able to uncover and reconnect my layout over the last week and hooked up my Synchro Sound units... I have DC, cab control (2 cabs) and hooked up the steam unit to cab A and the diesel unit to cab B.... The instructions were fairly brief and did not address using the unit for multiple cabs... Since the engine sound rates are tied to the variable DC I don't think the unit can work with both transformers.....The only limitation in my scheme is that I can only run one diesel (on cab B) and one steam (on Cab A) at a time with sound....I suppose you could purchase two units (one of each) and wire them to each transformer and turn down the volume of the one not in use but that gets expensive.... I mounted the speakers under my table and drilled five 5/8" holes for each one and camouflaged them on top with clump foliage and trees.....The mounting was my wife's suggestion.....good idea I must say... I'm having fun with the units and can only say that the starting voltage is a little tricky since my locomotives all seem to want to start at slightly different voltages.....My older Rivarossi's are slow to start while my newer Spectrum 4-6-0 starts quicker....And since I've got steam locos of varying size (4-6-4's, 4-6-0's, 0-6-0) the chuff rates don't always seem to be in synch.......still pretty good though and the other sounds are nice....
Has any one else tried one of these systems yet?. I thought about getting the unit and mounting it under my heavy industrial area. Can the prime mover sound be changed in dcc to match the start-mid-high voltage?? Adios Wyatt
Hi Wyatt, they discontinued them after only 1 year. I have 1 Steam and 1 Diesel now. We played with them at train shows, and they were a lot of fun. Kids really like playing with them too. There are a lot of settings you can play with, but the prime mover is generic, or follows no specific prototype.. They show up on ebay every so often, and I am sure a few hobby shops still have some, but they are gone from most of the internet sellers shops.
Wyatt, I have some of these units. I think they are pretty cool. I have only used them in DC, so I have no direct knowledge of DCC. I'll be starting that adventure soon as I just purchased a system. According to the manual you can you can program, Start Voltage, Acceleration, Deceleration, and Max Voltage. This is a link to the manual for the older 1022's & 1023's. The 1025 is the newer one and has both diesel and steam. They are easy to find around. I have a 1023 and a 1025. http://www.modelrectifier.com/resources/trainsound/0001022_0001023.pdf
Thanx guys.... I found some of the 1025's. There are a couple of Ebay sellers that have them in thier stores. I just might pull the trigger and get one and see what it is like. I was at Discount Model trains in Addison Tx., they had a fp-45 in N with the Tsunami,, sounded real good. It may not be good enough for some , but for my step son and myself, it is just fine. Next question ,, in DCC mode,, do u have to use the control box that comes with the unit,, or just use the DCC throttle to activate the sounds by using the numeric keys? Ya'll have a good one,,adios Wyatt
I just ordered one of the mrc sound boxes. I am just starting out on N guage, so the next loco will have sound, or I will install. But for now will enjoy a quick start for the holidays. I just joined the board here, and already I got the info I was searching the web for and cound not find anywhere. A full course on the sound box. I'll be doing a lot more reading. thanks Got mine in the mail today (11/14/09) got it hooked up and it is great. Very easy to hook up and use. Using it on my N guage. Great for a beginner. Sounds are great. Frank
