Soundtraxx Tsunami : Sound is very low


J

jagc1969

Member
Hello,

I have purchased recently a Soundtraxx Tsunami for ALCO 244 to be installed into an Atlas RS3. I have purchased also a Railmaster DS1436-8 Bass Reflex Speaker. I have completed the installation, and I have set all sound-related IPs to 255. The problem is that the sound is very low. In a layout you have to stick your ear to the shell to hear the sounds . The rest of the locomotives in that layout have Loksound decoders installed, and they sound like an orchestra, but this Tsunami...
I am European and very accustomed to work with Loksound decoders. This is the first Tsunami I have worked with.
Have you got any suggestion, please?
Should I replace the Tsunami for a Loksound Select?

Any suggestion will be welcome.

Thank you very much.


Juan.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Tsunami sound

Sounds like your speaker is too small or you need to adjust the CV for the sound volume. I have several Tsunami's and I have had to turn them all down for layout use.
 
I'd have to agree with the above post, double check all your sound CV's with the Tsunami manual, available online.
Either they are too low, or your speaker choice is an issue. My Tsunami's are plenty loud with only 14x25mm 8 ohm 1.0 watt mini-oval speakers.
Also be sure your enclosure is airtight, and you are not using the body shell as an enclosure. Both can affect the sound level and quality of sound.:)
 
There's also a setting in the tsunami's for the speaker size.
Another thing to check is the impedance of the speakers. Maybe they are odd ball high ones. 8 ohm or close is best.
 
You didn't happen to grab one of the old 100 ohm Loksound speakers by mistake did you ? ;-)

Just curious - Having been a Loksound user, why would you go to a Tsunami ? You'll never get that Tsunami to run as good as any of your Loksound decoders. (?)


Mark.
 
Mark R. said:
You didn't happen to grab one of the old 100 ohm Loksound speakers by mistake did you ? ;-)

Just curious - Having been a Loksound user, why would you go to a Tsunami ? You'll never get that Tsunami to run as good as any of your Loksound decoders. (?)


Mark.
Click to expand...

Thank you very much for your help , friends. I have installed a couple of bigger speaker and the sound is quite better.

Mark: I agree with you. Loksound offers better perfomances. The answer to your question is that until this moment I had installed sound decoders only in European locomotives. And here, in Europe, Loksound has no competitors in the sound decoder market. So, you can imagine what is happening. A Loksound decoder can cost more than double of a Tsunami decoder... Of course it is possible to get Loksound Select and Loksound Select Direct decoders at a more reasonable cost...but they are not stupid at ESU and it is not possible to get European Locomotives sounds loaded into the decoders that ESU builds for the American market.

I have decided to stick to Loksound Select and Loksound Select Direct decoders for American locomotives.

Thank you all again for your help, friends.

Best Regards,

Juan Antonio
 
Here's a screenshot of the relevant page on the manual (I tried copying and pasting, but it didn't keep the formatting)

CV 153 can be set to a value of 1-6 (decimal) for a preset equalizer control to match your speaker size. 0 is off (default), and 7 is the "manual mode" where you can boost or reduce the sound ranges at specific frequencies. I program it on the main in OPS mode so that I can hear the difference as I change the value and pick the one that sounds good. Don't always go by the description for each value on the manual. If you pick the EQ setting for a speaker larger than your actual speaker, it can sometimes sound BETTER and sometimes, it can make it sound like an old clunker engine that needs lube, rather than a clean brand new engine from the factory.

cv153.png
 
diburning said:
Here's a screenshot of the relevant page on the manual (I tried copying and pasting, but it didn't keep the formatting)

CV 153 can be set to a value of 1-6 (decimal) for a preset equalizer control to match your speaker size. 0 is off (default), and 7 is the "manual mode" where you can boost or reduce the sound ranges at specific frequencies. I program it on the main in OPS mode so that I can hear the difference as I change the value and pick the one that sounds good. Don't always go by the description for each value on the manual. If you pick the EQ setting for a speaker larger than your actual speaker, it can sometimes sound BETTER and sometimes, it can make it sound like an old clunker engine that needs lube, rather than a clean brand new engine from the factory.

cv153.png
Click to expand...

This is VERY useful.
Thank you very much.
 
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