Bachmann Berkshire with ESU LokSound

[jdcolombo]

Hi folks.

Well, I just couldn't resist.  I tore out the stuff in the Bachmann Berk's tender, and replaced it all with an ESU LokSound and a Knowles Dumbo speaker.   While I still like the Tsunami's basic sound better than the ESU Heavy Steam file, the engine runs more smoothly with the ESU and the bigger speaker makes a huge difference in the sound.  See what you think:

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John C.

[Kentuckian]

I do think the "chuff" is deeper, and the whistle is . . . . keener?  Sound is hard to describe.  I ordered the Grand speaker from digi-key; I hope it sounds as good.

[peteski]

I do think the "chuff" is deeper, and the whistle is . . . . keener?  Sound is hard to describe.  I ordered the Grand speaker from digi-key; I hope it sounds as good.

Don't forger that an air-tight speaker enclosure is what makes the most difference in sound quality.   

[jdcolombo]

I do think the "chuff" is deeper, and the whistle is . . . . keener?  Sound is hard to describe.  I ordered the Grand speaker from digi-key; I hope it sounds as good.

The Grand is the direct replacement for the Dumbo.  It should actually sound a tiny bit better, but as Peteski notes, the key is putting it in an air-tight enclosure.  My Dumbo speaker was set in an enclosure made of .040 styrene.   The enclosre looks like the one you will see at the 2:20 mark in the following video:

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Humongous difference from the factory 15mm round speaker sitting in the bottom of the tender floor.

John C.

[Smike]

That sounds fantastic. I like the sound of the enclosure that extends beyond the length of speaker. I may employ that design in my Kato Gevo install, to squeeze a bit more fidelity out of the fox knowles speaker . Thanks for sharing your work and ideas as always.

[Santa Fe Guy]

Stunning difference John. I listened to the demo on the M B Klein video the other day and its like chalk and cheese and the weathering what else is there to say.
Thanks to for all the work you put into showing your sound installs. It is opening up a whole new chapter in N Scale.
Rod.

[Kentuckian]

John,

For the enclosure that extends beyond the length of the speaker, what is the gray material?

[jdcolombo]

John,

For the enclosure that extends beyond the length of the speaker, what is the gray material?

It's .5mm lead sheet.  You could use styrene.  I used lead sheet to add a bit of weight to the enclosure, because it is more inert (no vibrations) than equivalent-thickness styrene, and also because lead will bend and conform to any irregularities in the sides of the box to insure a complete air-tight seal (I used thick CA cement to attach the lead sheet to the rest of the box and overlapped the top of the speaker just a tiny bit to make sure of an air-tight seal).

I often also use .5mm or 1mm lead sheet for the bottom of a speaker enclosure.  The enclosure in the speaker comparison video used 1mm lead sheet on the bottom.  The enclosure that I used in the Berk used .020 styrene for the bottom, because I was slightly concerned about the possibility of one of the tender truck "arms" that stick up into the tender hitting the bottom of the enclosure and creating a short.  I think I was being paranoid (and I could have used some kapton tape over the lead sheet to fix any problem), and when I do this conversion for my other two Berks (which I'm going to do, despite paying for the Bachmann sound setup), I'll use lead sheet on the bottom of the speaker enclosure for its weight and inert nature.

John C.

[Mike C]

How hard is the conversion ? Do you use the stock Bachmann tender board with the solder pads for decoders ? Or do you completely gut the tender ?  I have 6 other locos that I am contemplating adding sound to  and haven't messed with sound decoders before , although I have hard wired some regular DCC decoders.

[jdcolombo]

I completely gut the tender.  The base circuit board comes out, along with the decoder.  I leave the old speaker in place (but with the wires cut off), along with the plastic "sub-floor," and then I hard-wire the tender trucks for electrical pickup.  But this sounds worse than it is: I did the whole conversion in two hours.

I'm about to convert my other two, and I will document the conversion steps with photos, and then post a new thread here on The Railwire showing exactly how I did it.  As sound installations go, this one is pretty straightforward.  The hardest part is the wiring, but if you get a 6-pin harness (made by TCS and available from several dealers), you can probably do the whole conversion in less than an hour (not including making the speaker enclosure, which would be another 30 minutes or so from scratch).  If this is your first one, I'd figure four hours.   But it's just not that hard, and if you've done decoder installs before, you shouldn't have any problems.

John C.

[Mike C]

 Thanks John , I'll be looking for the photos !

[Cajonpassfan]

John, nice work, as usual.
Where do you get your lead sheet? Here in California, lots of illegal stuff easier to obtain  then lead   
Otto K.

[peteski]

John, nice work, as usual.
Where do you get your lead sheet? Here in California, lots of illegal stuff easier to obtain  then lead   
Otto K.

Hmmm.  In New England every Home Depot carries rolls of 0.040"  lead flashing.

[mmagliaro]

rotometals.com has a very nice selection of real lead sheet.  I buy the 1/32" thick stuff for engine and car weight.
They also make it in 1/64" and other thicknesses.   A 12" x 12" sheet of 1/32" costs $10, plus the shipping.

[Kentuckian]

I just ordered mine from zip metals.  About the same price.  We'll see  how the service is.  My local Home Depots just carry aluminum flashing.