looking for a plug and play sound and light decoder for this loco ...im new too dcc ,,recieved this loco with the kato startere set N scale ,,whats a good plug and play decoder ?
Digitrexx are quit good. Come with all you need. Go to their website, they have a decoder selector tool so you get the exact decoder for your loco. Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
There are no real "plug and play" sound decoders for the Kato. You'll need to mill parts of the frame for the speaker and speaker box.
According to Digitrax website, the decoder you will want to use is the SDN144K1E 1 Amp N Scale SoundFX/Mobile/FX3 Function Decoder and the site does say you will need to modify the fit in the loco as previously stated.
I haven't tested them in person but from videos I have seen online the Tsunami has the best sound but is not drop in like the Digitrax, costs more, and uses a separate speaker where the Digitrax has the speaker built on the drop-in DCC board. I am still rather new to the sound thing for N-Scale and haven't the plunge yet. I have been still researching DCC and Sound stuff since it is all new to me. I am on old DC modeler but DCC intrigues me. I have not seen anything about Loksound stuff.
Actually I have a Digitrax decoder and it has a separate speaker. I use it for the Kato P42, which is slightly easier to do sound in since it's a full cowl body style loco. The included speaker was able to fit in the space between the top of the decoder board and the roof of the loco shell. Digitrax are the best affordable decoders, but I believe Tsunami is the best, followed by ESU Loksound a close second, then Digitrax and MRC a distant last. Tsunami and Loksound use 16-bit sound quality, while Digitrax and MRC use 8-bit. TCS is starting to enter the DCC sound market now with its WOWsound line.
