Atlas Drop In Sound Decoders?

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I just picked up a U23B that didn't have a decoder, and before I go grab one of the usual suspects for it, I wanted to think about sound.

I thought I heard there was a drop in sound decoder for these things. Am I right? If so, is it any good?

[mu26aeh]

The upcoming Atlas GP38's are going to utilize a similar, if not same board that the Intermountain SD40-2's have.  I'd hold out until one of those is available or follow one of @jdcolombo tutorials 

[conrail98]

But I think those are speakerless, or at least the speaker is separate. Ed, are you looking for one that comes with a speaker already attached/embedded?

Phil

[mu26aeh]

But I think those are speakerless, or at least the speaker is separate. Ed, are you looking for one that comes with a speaker already attached/embedded?

Phil

Well, given that some here don't like the ones IMRC used, that might not be an issue 

[peteski]

(small) speaker already attached/embedded?

Small embedded speaker on decoder board (with no enclosure) = pi$$ poor sound quality.

[conrail98]

Small embedded speaker on decoder board (with no enclosure) = pi$$ poor sound quality.

I don't disagree however I was only asking what Ed wanted in his question since he asked for "drop-in",

Phil

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Yeah, that's what I was talking about. If the only options don't have enclosures, never mind.

[conrail98]

Yeah, that's what I was talking about. If the only options don't have enclosures, never mind.

The only one I know of is the MRC one which doesn't have an enclosure,

Phil

[jdcolombo]

I've said this dozens of times, but since the subject continues to come up, I'll say it again.  The only way to get decent sound in N scale (or any other scale) is to use the best speaker you can in a fully sealed enclosure with an appropriate internal air volume.  For N scale hood diesels, this means an 8x12mm or 9x16mm cell phone type speaker, in an enclosure with at least 500 cubic mm of internal volume - and more is better, at least up to 1000 cubic mm (1 cubic cm).  I understand the allure of drop in decoders with attached speakers.  They are simple.  But they sound terrible.  The current state of technology and the rules of physics combine to mean that retrofitting good sound will take work, including at least some frame milling for the speaker installation.  It is doable, even without major tools like a milling machine (I did my first couple of dozen sound installs using a Dremel with various cutters and cut-off wheels). But it does take time and patience (but probably no more of either than a nice building kitbash or careful track laying). We're modelers; we can do it! 

John C.

[peteski]

Someone down-voted Ed K and my posts. 
Why? because we did not approve of a poor-sounding speaker?  Yet John posting pretty much the same opinion gets an up-vote?  WTF!?!?! This place is nuts!  Ease up on the down-votes - whoever you are you phantom voter.

[nscaler711]

Someone down-voted Ed K and my posts. 
Why? because we did not approve of a poor-sounding speaker?  Yet John posting pretty much the same opinion gets an up-vote?  WTF!?!?! This place is nuts!  Ease up on the down-votes - whoever you are you phantom voter.

Fixed it.
- Your Friendly Neighborhood Audiophile.

[tehachapifan]

I've said this dozens of times, but since the subject continues to come up, I'll say it again.  The only way to get decent sound in N scale (or any other scale) is to use the best speaker you can in a fully sealed enclosure with an appropriate internal air volume.  For N scale hood diesels, this means an 8x12mm or 9x16mm cell phone type speaker, in an enclosure with at least 500 cubic mm of internal volume - and more is better, at least up to 1000 cubic mm (1 cubic cm).  I understand the allure of drop in decoders with attached speakers.  They are simple.  But they sound terrible.  The current state of technology and the rules of physics combine to mean that retrofitting good sound will take work, including at least some frame milling for the speaker installation.  It is doable, even without major tools like a milling machine (I did my first couple of dozen sound installs using a Dremel with various cutters and cut-off wheels). But it does take time and patience (but probably no more of either than a nice building kitbash or careful track laying). We're modelers; we can do it! 

John C.

Completely agree with everything you say here, John. On top of this, without naming a particular brand, have you heard some of the sound file samples that go with some of these drop-in boards? Sheesh!! No chance of anything sounding remotely good with files like these along with a crappy speaker with no enclosure. No wonder there's so many people who think you can't get good quality sound in N scale!

....for clarification, in case anyone thinks I'm referring to MRC, I actually have 3 MRC "sounders" installed in sound cars and the sound files are pretty darn decent, albeit somewhat simple compared to, say, an ESU file. Two are set to an EMD 12 cylinder 645 and one is set to one of the Alcos. The horn selections actually sound really great, but I installed separate speakers and enclosures on all of these.

[reinhardtjh]

The Digitrax SDN144A0 may fit.  It's advertised for the Atlas GP38 and similar.  The Digitrax decoder selection tool picks it for the B23-7 but not the U23B.  I know the frames are slightly different so maybe it won't work.  You're better off if it doesn't, the decoder sucks, for the most part.

The whole SDN144 series has a design problem where the audio amp sucks too much power away from the motor drive circuit.  Often if you blow the horn/whistle the loco will slow dramatically or stop.  Digitrax's solution was to tell you to turn off the BEMF, but then the motor ran like crap.  A very carefully designed sound file (these are user programmable) can minimize the problem, but it takes some finagling.  John McMasters, of the Digitrax Sound yahoo group is/was excellent at it, but he seems to have taken a break.

The SDXN146 and SDXN136 decoders are much, much better (but not as good as LokSounds), however none are drop-ins for Atlas frams.

You'd be better off waiting for the ESU decoder to arrive and use that one.  Even if you have to create your own speaker enclosure.

SDN144A0:


Edit: Spelling and formatting.

[AKNscale]

I've always heard bad things about the MRC decoders and Digitrax I've had issues with as well.
For one, the speaker is enclosureless and always gets stuck "in" the body when I slide the body off. Two, the last time I looked up any of these decoders there was only one that was 16 bit, and it wasn't one that would fit a U23B. Three, the sound selection was quite lacking, especially for 8 bit sound. Lastly, there's the infamous "Digitrax stall." Any kind of hiccup and the decoder cuts out and completely restarts (severely annoying for a $60 decoder!). I like Digitrax, but I think they really need to step their game up to stay competitive in the sound market as I will gladly go through the extra work to wire a decoder in if the difference is better as it is now. And right now it's night and day(that's not even taking the speaker into consideration as that can be changed out.

I haven't had any experience with the drop in LOKsound decoders yet, and the only thing I'd be concerned about with them is the lack of space for a good(9X16 in my opinion) speaker. Hopefully I'll get one or two to play with soon. But at this point, in Nscale, I'd recommend going a wired decoder(I stick to ESU) with a good(enclosed) speaker to truely get your money's worth.

Just My True .02