Thanks for the links for both places. I will check out sbs and sugarcube audio. I have some locomotives that don't have alot of room for speakers. I hope these will give me some ideas.
Larry..so much excellent info.. so much for me to learn..lol. I'll probably re watch many of your videos as I approach various install considerations. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. Tom
Larry great video. I have used the sugar cube speakers from Brian at SBS4DCC and they are great. They really do give a good sound when mounted properly. Thanks for the great tip and for sharing. Ken
Great video, I'm just getting back into the hobby so some of my DC are gonna be rebuilt for DCC I looking to go the Arduino JMRI systems way we'll see .
Another great video Larry. Stream Line Back Shop have a great selection of their Sugar Cube speakers. I have installed many in the fleet of GP7/9s we have on our railroad. I did do some research on Shapways and found 16mmx9mm boxes and on Digi-Key the speakers. Cost per speaker was much less then what the retailers are selling them at. The biggest problem is waiting for Shapways to make them and ship. I have started to use iPhone 4 speakers in a lot of my installs now.
Funny, everything I have looked at on Shapeways seemed way too expensive. Guess I need to go back for a second look. I have some iPhone 4 speakers around here too, they compare well to the 11x13 mm sugar cubes and are a lot cheaper!
@@TheDCCGuy But is also depends on how many you are installing. So far I have done well over 20 installs. SLBS $9 a speaker, Soundtraxx $15 a speaker. So I get 50 speakers at $2.45 each from Digi-Key, and Shapeways enclosures for $1.33 each (20 on a spruce @ 26.50 each spruce). Granted there is shipping and handling on both, so I would have to say they are about $4-$6 each. Now if I had a 3d printer I'd figure out a way to make my own enclosures, but that is another rabbit hole I don't want to go down at this time. Modeling and 3d printing goes hand in hand, and I really want to see if that is another aspect of the hobby I want to pursue.
I guess you could do that with the 3D printed ones too since they are plastic. The gel type super glue tends to form a nice airtight seal on the speakers that have to be glued directly to the top of the enclosures.
The couple of sugar cube speakers (from ESU) that I have installed I just taped the various enclosure pieces together, that way I have the option of pulling them apart at some later date should I want to. Also tape is not (potentially) messy like adhesive.
wow thanks for this great informative video again! I bought a virgin loksound decoder and it came with a small speaker like in your video and no instructions about anything. I was wondering what those square black plastic boxes were used for! Thank god I am still waiting for parts before installing the decoder I would have missed that box and installed the speaker as is....
I hope you got the dealer to install the proper sound package for you. The plain vanilla version is a basic European diesel and you will either need to send it back for an upload or use the LokProgrammer hardware to do it yourself.
@@TheDCCGuy thanks :) I have the lokprogrammer because I plan to upgrade many DC engines. I guess after the first install the others will be easy enough to perform :) the fun is in learning it all
Thanks for the contact info. I'd like to see a video or two on how to wire multiple speakers to get the correct ohms & wattage set up for a given decoder, say Soundtraxx, Digitrax and/or TCS samples. Perhaps something like two sugar cubes in a steam loco & a small woofer style in the tender. Another interesting topic (at least for me), would be the frequency db spectrum of the same sugar cube with a shallow and a deep enclosure. Does it make a measurable and/or an auditory difference? Thanks again for the great presentation.
I posted a couple videos on speaker installations and in one fo them talk about wiring multiple speakers. I will in the future do an installation or two using the double speaker setups that I showed in this video-they’re on the list, which grows longer daily!
@@TheDCCGuy Thanks! I've been working through your presentations from the beginning. I finished up the JMRI pieces, which were very good. I'll look for the speaker ones you mention.
Great info once again Do you have any recommendations for an HO Atlas U23B? I’m interested in doing a few atlas locos but don’t really want to remove any weights to make room for speakers
The DCC Guy I was thinking that I was hoping I can fit the speaker in below the headlight bracket but I may have to look more into that Thanks I’ll review your videos again
The easiest and probably best would be decoders designed specifically for a given model. Most N-scale models have a chassis that basically fills the inside of the shell making it necessary to modify it to install a decoder a d speaker. Steam locos have the obvious advantage of a tender that in some cases is big enough to hold a decoder and speaker. Good lick.
Thanks for the great video. My current project is to install my first sugar cube speaker. At 13:00, you mentioned that you did an install on an Atlas RS-1. Can you point me to that? Thank you.
I’ll add a couple comments. First, good job. Good overview of the small cube-type speakers. The mention of the SoundTraxx power output being up to 2W is good.. just remember that when a decoder is reset, the volumes immediately go back up, so you’ll need to remember to change your volumes back down. On the STX cubes, the bigger 15 x12 can produce down to 100 Hz. 😳 but at low volumes. So it’s best to add a second cube to help boost the low-end while also helping use the 2W of power! Now these 2 cubes can made the low frequency sounds play better! For more details, check out the Sound Theory Webinar that I did : ua-cam.com/video/9CdJtdK8GEg/v-deo.html. I hope this helps!! Thanks Larry!
Good video. I always look forward to your UA-cam videos. Have you ever used speakers from a company called Scale Sound Systems (www.scalesoundsystems.com)? I see them in some of the sound decoder groups, but. have not had a chance to use their products. Thanks, Kennedy
Actually some do install them there and Streamlined Backshop (SBS) makes enclosures designed to fit inside the smokebox. The main problem is finding a model where the metal chassis weight doesn’t completely fill the boiler and smokebox. That is one reason SBS designed the curved enclosure for cabs, including steam loco cabs.
Thanks for the links for both places. I will check out sbs and sugarcube audio. I have some locomotives that don't have alot of room for speakers. I hope these will give me some ideas.
Larry..so much excellent info.. so much for me to learn..lol. I'll probably re watch many of your videos as I approach various install considerations. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. Tom
Larry great video. I have used the sugar cube speakers from Brian at SBS4DCC and they are great. They really do give a good sound when mounted properly. Thanks for the great tip and for sharing. Ken
Great video, I'm just getting back into the hobby so some of my DC are gonna be rebuilt for DCC I looking to go the Arduino JMRI systems way we'll see .
Another great video Larry. Stream Line Back Shop have a great selection of their Sugar Cube speakers. I have installed many in the fleet of GP7/9s we have on our railroad. I did do some research on Shapways and found 16mmx9mm boxes and on Digi-Key the speakers. Cost per speaker was much less then what the retailers are selling them at. The biggest problem is waiting for Shapways to make them and ship. I have started to use iPhone 4 speakers in a lot of my installs now.
Funny, everything I have looked at on Shapeways seemed way too expensive. Guess I need to go back for a second look. I have some iPhone 4 speakers around here too, they compare well to the 11x13 mm sugar cubes and are a lot cheaper!
@@TheDCCGuy But is also depends on how many you are installing. So far I have done well over 20 installs. SLBS $9 a speaker, Soundtraxx $15 a speaker. So I get 50 speakers at $2.45 each from Digi-Key, and Shapeways enclosures for $1.33 each (20 on a spruce @ 26.50 each spruce). Granted there is shipping and handling on both, so I would have to say they are about $4-$6 each. Now if I had a 3d printer I'd figure out a way to make my own enclosures, but that is another rabbit hole I don't want to go down at this time. Modeling and 3d printing goes hand in hand, and I really want to see if that is another aspect of the hobby I want to pursue.
I have been using the Loksound version of the sugar cube speaker and enclosure and create the assembly using regular styrene solvent - works great.
I guess you could do that with the 3D printed ones too since they are plastic. The gel type super glue tends to form a nice airtight seal on the speakers that have to be glued directly to the top of the enclosures.
The couple of sugar cube speakers (from ESU) that I have installed I just taped the various enclosure pieces together, that way I have the option of pulling them apart at some later date should I want to. Also tape is not (potentially) messy like adhesive.
Thanks Larry!
Great video, great info... Thanks
great info. thanks. lots of choices out there
very informative , thanks
wow thanks for this great informative video again! I bought a virgin loksound decoder and it came with a small speaker like in your video and no instructions about anything. I was wondering what those square black plastic boxes were used for! Thank god I am still waiting for parts before installing the decoder I would have missed that box and installed the speaker as is....
I hope you got the dealer to install the proper sound package for you. The plain vanilla version is a basic European diesel and you will either need to send it back for an upload or use the LokProgrammer hardware to do it yourself.
@@TheDCCGuy thanks :) I have the lokprogrammer because I plan to upgrade many DC engines. I guess after the first install the others will be easy enough to perform :) the fun is in learning it all
Thanks for the contact info.
I'd like to see a video or two on how to wire multiple speakers to get the correct ohms & wattage set up for a given decoder, say Soundtraxx, Digitrax and/or TCS samples. Perhaps something like two sugar cubes in a steam loco & a small woofer style in the tender. Another interesting topic (at least for me), would be the frequency db spectrum of the same sugar cube with a shallow and a deep enclosure. Does it make a measurable and/or an auditory difference? Thanks again for the great presentation.
I posted a couple videos on speaker installations and in one fo them talk about wiring multiple speakers. I will in the future do an installation or two using the double speaker setups that I showed in this video-they’re on the list, which grows longer daily!
@@TheDCCGuy Thanks! I've been working through your presentations from the beginning. I finished up the JMRI pieces, which were very good. I'll look for the speaker ones you mention.
Great info once again
Do you have any recommendations for an HO Atlas U23B? I’m interested in doing a few atlas locos but don’t really want to remove any weights to make room for speakers
Mark-I’d use one of the replacement board type decoders and a sugar cube in the cab as I have shown in many of my recent videos and articles.
The DCC Guy I was thinking that I was hoping I can fit the speaker in below the headlight bracket but I may have to look more into that
Thanks I’ll review your videos again
Thanks again Larry. What in your opinion would be the best for N scale?
The easiest and probably best would be decoders designed specifically for a given model. Most N-scale models have a chassis that basically fills the inside of the shell making it necessary to modify it to install a decoder a d speaker. Steam locos have the obvious advantage of a tender that in some cases is big enough to hold a decoder and speaker. Good lick.
Thanks for the great video. My current project is to install my first sugar cube speaker. At 13:00, you mentioned that you did an install on an Atlas RS-1. Can you point me to that? Thank you.
Yes, it was in the Nov 2015 issue of MR. The loco is the one shown in thumbnail for this video.
👍
How to connect the speaker to the decoder or PCB ?
Take a look at the two videos I did on speaker installations a few months ago.
The DCC Guy will do , tq
I’ll add a couple comments. First, good job. Good overview of the small cube-type speakers. The mention of the SoundTraxx power output being up to 2W is good.. just remember that when a decoder is reset, the volumes immediately go back up, so you’ll need to remember to change your volumes back down. On the STX cubes, the bigger 15 x12 can produce down to 100 Hz. 😳 but at low volumes. So it’s best to add a second cube to help boost the low-end while also helping use the 2W of power! Now these 2 cubes can made the low frequency sounds play better! For more details, check out the Sound Theory Webinar that I did : ua-cam.com/video/9CdJtdK8GEg/v-deo.html. I hope this helps!! Thanks Larry!
Good video. I always look forward to your UA-cam videos. Have you ever used speakers from a company called Scale Sound Systems (www.scalesoundsystems.com)? I see them in some of the sound decoder groups, but. have not had a chance to use their products. Thanks, Kennedy
Why is no one putting speakers in the smoke boxes of steam locomotives? That would seem to be the most natural place for them.
Actually some do install them there and Streamlined Backshop (SBS) makes enclosures designed to fit inside the smokebox. The main problem is finding a model where the metal chassis weight doesn’t completely fill the boiler and smokebox. That is one reason SBS designed the curved enclosure for cabs, including steam loco cabs.