Scaletrains n scale dash 9 with self installed loksound 5dcc and a 9x16mm speake

[Steveruger45]

Thanks Steve. I did not know about the plug & play next 18 on the light board.
How good is your volume?
I just did an MT EMD FT and used the V-5 with a 9x16 speaker.
The sound is very weak.
But I don’t have much volume in the speaker enclosure.
I can hardly hear it.
Turned CV63 to 192 and did not notice much difference.
Horn set to 128 - still weak¡

Speaker enclosure volume is soooo important.  So is sealing the enclosure air tight.
For a 9x16mm speaker you need around 750mm3 in enclosure volume.
I try to mount the speaker diaphragm side up when ever possible and especially in a tight for height space in order to maximize the enclosure volume. That way the back of the speaker that sticks up so much is in the enclosure and it doesn’t effectively take away from the volume of the enclosure by being inside.

I would advise to check your speaker and enclosure first. You may inadvertently got some glue on the diaphragm which will surely dampen down the volume.  Yeah, been there and done that.
You didn’t mention what impedance your speaker is.  The lok5 micro is good for speakers between 4 to 16 ohms.  Most people have used 8 ohm to date and that’s what I used on this install too.

Remember that the enclosure volume is not only limited to a 9x16 box.   If you don’t have the height you can possibly compensate with more width and/or length, especially so in a wide body loco.

Yoda  says “use the space you have wisely”

Seriously though if all above fails you would probably be better off with an 8x12 speaker in an enclosure of 500mm3 rather than a 9x16 with an enclosure less  than 750mm3.

Turning up the volume to max max max is seldom the solution it generally just makes it only moderately louder but sound worse with a lot of distortion.

I like to set my master volume first at 80-90%.  Then I play with each sound level individually.
I usually start, like I said  in my earlier post, with Master volume at 90%, prime mover at 70%, horn 100% and the rest somewhere between 20-30% and then fine tune to my ear and environment from there.

My volumes are great BTW so much so I’m going to lower the volumes on most everything except the master volume and horn.  I intend  to lower the prime move down more to about 60% and mess around with the rest mostly down too.

Hope this helps some.

[tehachapifan]

Could the low volume be caused by improper speaker impedance? Is it an 8 Ohm speaker?

[Steveruger45]

It could be caused by too high an impedance.  The speaker impedance should be within the range capability rating of the amplifier driving it not only for proper sound but also not to damage anything.   
Example:- Running a larger speaker impedance than the amps rating is just fine. But, you will get less of the amps rated power though the speaker and the sound output by the speaker will, most likely be less but sound distortion would be less too, as you are driving the speaker well within its capabilities and not on the edge of it. Having said that if the speaker impedance is way too high relative to the amps capabilities you may find the speaker just isn’t getting enough power to work well at all.
However, running a too low impedance speaker than the amps rating would result in excessive current draw, and could damage the amplifier.

[woodone]

Thanks Steve ,for the information. I am using an 8 ohm speaker- can’t get any bigger to fit. This is in an MT EMD FT model
I milled a slot at the rear of the loco to set the speaker into. I have used this speaker before with about the same volume in the enclosure. Going to remove speaker and see if I can mill more material out and also replace the speaker just has a test.
This is my first V-5 , have used the micro select before

[Steveruger45]

Hi
I don’t think it’s a decoder problem.  I don’t have any of that loco but I’m assuming you are milling the frame something like the photo marked up here attached.  [ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[woodone]

Yes, that is where I have it mounted. A EMD FT looks much like an F-3 so I have a wide body.
So my speaker is mounted side ways to what you have shown . The speaker is 16 MM long so it just fits mounting them across the frame. This gives me more length to work with for the decoder mount.
I will see if I can post a photo- not my strong point. Photos always give me fits!

[Steveruger45]

Yes, that is where I have it mounted. A EMD FT looks much like an F-3 so I have a wide body.
So my speaker is mounted side ways to what you have shown . The speaker is 16 MM long so it just fits mounting them across the frame. This gives me more length to work with for the decoder mount.
I will see if I can post a photo- not my strong point. Photos always give me fits!

If using an iPhone or iPad for photos hold it so the home button is on the righthand side to get the photo to attach to your post the correct way up, yes and do show us how you get on.  I’m working on my second scale trains dash 9 now, programming the decoder, speaker already in.

[woodone]

Steve, you lost me on the photo posting with an IPad. Hold home button (where is that?) and I would think that I need to have the photo already in my phots on the IPad.
Sorry but I am really at a lose with this.

[Steveruger45]

Ah, no worries.
When taking photos hold your iPhone or iPad sideways so that the button which is normally at the center bottom, is now on the right side. [ Guests cannot view attachments ]
If you hold it any other way the photo will post sideways or upside down even though it looks perfectly correct to you when you add it to the post.
Millennials just know this stuff naturally, I had one of them show me at work when all my iPhone taken photos always got embedded in the programs we use at work came out sideways.   That’s how I found out the darn button at the bottom is called a “home button”. 😁😁😁because I asked the same question.  😂😂

Oh yes, your photo will be saved in your iPad or iPhone in the camera app. When posting on your iPad or iPhone and  when you want to add a photo to a post just hit the “+attachments and other options” symbol to access the add document/photo section and click add attachment and you will get access to your photos, select the one you want to add and choose one of the how to add options given like in line full image, in line thumbnail, end of post .... etc etc.
You can also make a gallery too, although I haven’t done that yet.
Here is a section describing adding photos and using galleries https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=42854.msg542647#msg542647

Hope this helps.