adding sound to a dcc equipped 8-40cw item 83504

[frankieonenut]

i Have 8-40cw with a standard decoder factory installed for direction and lighting.What decoder and make will fit into this shell.I also have sd-45 that i want to do the same.Any help would be really great

[Tylerf]

Is it an atlas loco?

[frankieonenut]

sorry ,forgot to mention ti's a bachmann spectrum series

[Tylerf]

Ok, i dont know much about that loco but does the Exploded diagram show any speaker eclosements?

[Tylerf]

I dont are a speaker enclosure on the diagram so youll have to make one which is somewhat harder. The hardest thing is finding space. Next are you going keep the factory decoder and add a just sound decoder or are you replacing the decoder with a full function sound decoder?

[Yampa Bob]

Hi Frankie,

Some modelers mount the speaker in the fuel tank. That doesn't make sense to me, and it disturbs my sense of directional hearing.

I recently installed a Soundtraxx Tsunami standard in an Athearn AC4400. I put the speaker with attached enclosure in the top of the shell, just under the horn.  I didn't drill any holes or even mount the speaker, in fact the shell had a special plastic bracket that the speaker assembly slipped into.

The engine sound is perceived to be coming from the engine area, and the horn sound, being directly under the horn area is also very realistic.  The Tsunami is very loud, I even packed a piece of foam around the speaker to slightly muffle the sound.

If you have room in the top of the shell, you might consider the same method. Before I recommend a decoder, please try to measure how much vertical distance you have between the existing decoder and top of the shell, on both locomotives.

The Soundtraxx Tsunami is a bit thicker than a standard decoder, also about twice the length.  The standard size has a wiring harness attached for hard wiring, however the harness can be unplugged from a JST 9 pin connector that is on the decoder body.  You would have to obtain an adapter harness that has an 8 pin plug to connect to the board.

The diesel Tsunami is made in several "prime mover" versions for EMD generations, and recently available in GE versions.  I will search to see which version is correct for your locomotives, once the space available is known.  I also have the part numbers for speaker and enclosure if you want them, and will be glad to walk you through the installation by email if you so desire.

[LeeTrainsYuma]

Yampa Bob, I would like your thoughts about the sound for this loco as well, if you could copy me on the instructions you have, either post or email.
I was looking at putting th espeaker under the fans, as the lid (grills) comes off and in looking at the specs of the speakers there seems to be enough space in there for an oval standard 8 ohm speaker. Even thought to go as far as drilling out some of the space between the screening or looking for a replacement for it if the sound wasn't satisfactory but not overly enthused about that tedious work but if ya gotta then ya gotta.....

THansk in advance, Lee

[frankieonenut]

Hi Frankie,

Some modelers mount the speaker in the fuel tank. That doesn't make sense to me, and it disturbs my sense of directional hearing.

I recently installed a Soundtraxx Tsunami standard in an Athearn AC4400. I put the speaker with attached enclosure in the top of the shell, just under the horn.  I didn't drill any holes or even mount the speaker, in fact the shell had a special plastic bracket that the speaker assembly slipped into.

The engine sound is perceived to be coming from the engine area, and the horn sound, being directly under the horn area is also very realistic.  The Tsunami is very loud, I even packed a piece of foam around the speaker to slightly muffle the sound.

If you have room in the top of the shell, you might consider the same method. Before I recommend a decoder, please try to measure how much vertical distance you have between the existing decoder and top of the shell, on both locomotives.

The Soundtraxx Tsunami is a bit thicker than a standard decoder, also about twice the length.  The standard size has a wiring harness attached for hard wiring, however the harness can be unplugged from a JST 9 pin connector that is on the decoder body.  You would have to obtain an adapter harness that has an 8 pin plug to connect to the board.

The diesel Tsunami is made in several "prime mover" versions for EMD generations, and recently available in GE versions.  I will search to see which version is correct for your locomotives, once the space available is known.  I also have the part numbers for speaker and enclosure if you want them, and will be glad to walk you through the installation by email if you so desire.

Thanks Bob for posting.Your info is very knowledgable.Iplow snow for the state of New York and have been working ungodly overtime.In the next couple of days I get down to bussiness and check this out.My e-mail is frankspringer@frontiernet.net Feel free to send me that info and I'll drop you a line back.Thanks again for your help,Frankie

[Yampa Bob]

Frankie
I have also been busy plowing snow in our ranch compound and lanes. I'm running out of room to store the white stuff.  I have your address and will drop a note later.

I suggest downloading all the technical manuals from Soundtraxx and reading them thoroughly. The "Tsunami Quick Start Guide" is a good place to start.  It has pictures of the decoder and several options for speaker location.  While on the page, be sure to read the tutorials in the "Quick Links" section at the bottom right.

http://www.soundtraxx.com/index.php?p=manuals.php

My thought is, don't cut or drill holes until you experiment with speaker location. With the speaker front covered and sealed by the enclosure, I used the entire shell area with some foam padding.  The method is shown in the manuals.

The install in my 4400 was a breeze, took about an hour, mostly just studying the shell.  I was fortunate in one respect, the loco has both JST 9 pin and NMRA 8 pin sockets on the board.

I chose Soundtraxx due to my policy of  "why settle for less if I can afford the best".  Tsunami's aren't cheap, total cost for my setup was about $120. I used a Soundtraxx oval speaker, the matching snap on enclosure cost as much as the speaker, but assured a precise fit and saved a lot of time making one.

Lee, I don't have any written instructions yet, the manuals cover almost everything.  I need to work up a few notes on a few issues not detailed in the manuals.  The main thing is recovering from the shock of the price tag, the rest is easy.

Regards.

[Yampa Bob]

Frankie

Tsunami part number for SD45 is 827102

Part number for Dash 8-40 is 827108

Please refer to Lee's thread for more details.
http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/board/index.php/topic,8091.0.html

Need to get you two in the same thread.