Thank you John, Bob and Carl. I still have to add lettering to label each item. Looking at the front of the panel from left to right top row - 12 volt AC/DC LED pilot light, DPDT center off switch (switch up for main / switch down for program), DPDT on/off switch (on for decoder #1), DPDT on/off switch (on for decoder #2). From left to right bottom row - DC power jack (main track), DC power jack (program track), Fuse (Rail A), Fuse (Rail B), 1/8th inch stereo jack (audio output). Jerry
Nicely Done! Well done Jerry! You have a heck of a great solution for your layout! And I think it is a great solution for many other peoples layouts. I am going the SoundTraxx way since I have a very large layout that will be operating many trains at a time and I am already using the BDL168's (22 so far) and transponding. I think I will try your technique on a set of 3 4x8 panels I am going to build for my nephew. It will add a lot more pizazz! The one drawback I see is that this will not work so well for steam since it would be difficult to match the chuff rates unless all of the steam units were the same model. But that was not a constraint, and this is just an observation. I may have to build a small office layout and try this too!
Thanks David. I hope you have as much fun as I did playing with this project. The ability to achieve full bodied sound is next to impossible in an N scale diesel loco at this time. There is not enough room for a speaker capable of delivering the low end response. On the other hand an N scale steam loco has plenty of room for a good quality speaker capable of reproducing the needed low end frequencies by using the tender as a speaker cabinet and therefore does not require the same solution. Just for grins I hooked this up to my home theater system and the rumble of the prime mover running sounded and felt like I was standing next to a live locomotive.:tb-ooh: The point being that the only limitation to good sound is the sound system. Jerry
The box is a Bud Industries, Inc. case - mfg part # PC-11414 purchased from Allied Electronics. I also bought bolt on ½ inch rubber feet, since I am not fond of the stick on pads. The 4 inch height allowed me to use a standard size 80mm cooling fan. The fan is a SilenX 80x80x25mm - 9dBA - 20CFM iXtrema Pro Fan with Fluid Dynamic Bearings (IXP-54-09) purchased from FrozenCPU. I have successfully used this fan in my A/V computer server that is part of my home theater system for its low noise factor. All other parts were bought at Radio Shack and Action Electronics. Jerry
Thanks for the list of materials! I will be constructing a few for my smaller setups. Well I have a left over high quality stereo I will use with the nephew layout, so this will help really make it sound good. I can plug the office layout into the existing super Hi-Fi system I have installed already. But on my big layout, things are going to be quite a bit more crazy. Based on the Soundtraxx design, I will need about 12 of those units, which means I will also need to have a bunch of amplifiers as well. Not such a bad thing, I have all sorts of amps lying around after a recent home theater upgrade. My problem is that I will have 4 12 inch subwoofers on the corners of the layout, one in each corner of the room. I have to add a few mixer boards so I can merge the bass from four of the satellite systems, but that is where the fun is for me! I juist need to remember to turn it down and not have the volumes set to theater levels :mbiggrin:
Jerry, thanks for sharing your set up. I plan on using stationary sound on my layout and this will help a lot in the set up. Nice Work.
Thanks Carl, David and Stan for your interest in this project. Sharing is what TrainBoard is all about.:tb-wink: Now before anyone builds too many of these units it would be prudent to look closer at the SurroundTraxx Multi-Train Sound System for DCC and other similar systems. There are many options available for incorporating sound on an N scale or smaller scale layout. Check them all out and then decide what will work best for you.:tb-cool: Jerry
This is not what you asked-- but this is what I use. It works for a smaller layout. I have a top of the line sound system that is outdated and impossible to replace. It is the SDX-1 by CVP which digitally reproduces the sounds of a SD40-2. I also have a PDH (Programable Diesel Horn). Now these were not designed to work with DCC. The SDX-1 senses track voltage and revs up as voltage increases. So I just installed a decoder in it and made the orange and gray wires to to the track sensing inputs. So I'm fooling it. The decoder is sending "track voltage" to the sound system. To use it, I just program the decoder to the same road number as my lead locomotive. The sound system is powerful and will rattle the windows. It is not directional to the locomotive. But since I have a small bedroom layout, it's OK.
I was usingsound with speakers under the bench work on the "original" JJJ&E for over nine years. I was using Soundtraxx DSX sound only decoders wired to speakers under the bench work. The DSX Sound only decoder was programmed into a consist of locomotives and reacted to the changes in the throttle of that consist. I had 25 different sounds on that layout, about half steam and half first generation diesels and they were all programmed into different consists of locomotives. You can do this very easily with a minimum of equipment.
Bob, were you getting all the different loco sounds out of one sound decoder or did you use a separate decoder for each loco consist? thanks!
John... Over the years, I accumulated 25 DSX Sound only decoders. Each decoder was wired to a speaker under the bench work. Each DSX sound decoder was consisted with an individual locomotive.The decoder acted like a locomotive in the consist and reacted to changes in the throttle. I started using this in 2001-2002. BTW, Soundtraxx recently discontinued production of the DSX sound only decoder in the past year.
