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I have recently fallen in love for DCC w/sound equipped locomotives; to the point of I can't even run an engine that doesn't have sound (plus I don't have any in Japan with me). My question is for when I have a bigger layout, is it noticeable to run a consist of 2-3 locomotives if only one has sound? Does the sound of 1 engine make the entire consist sound good? Or will I be more satisfied with each locomotive having its own speaker? I model the modern era. Any input would be great!
I have gravitated to the same curiosity. With the recent Intermountain locos that I bought, I found that I can MU them as additional locos in a consist and still have control of the sound and lights even thought their speed is controlled off the primary loco. Ya can't do that with MTH or BLI. I'm not absolutely sure with Kato but if memory serves me well, I have had to break a Kato loco out of consist to turn the lights off.
I have gravitated to the same curiosity. With the recent Intermountain locos that I bought, I found that I can MU them as additional locos in a consist and still have control of the sound and lights even thought their speed is controlled off the primary loco. Ya can't do that with MTH or BLI. I'm not absolutely sure with Kato but if memory serves me well, I have had to break a Kato loco out of consist to turn the lights off.
I regularly MU my BLI diesels with each other as well as other brands with no trouble. I have noticed the issue seems to be more with some DCC systems than decoders.
On my home Digitrax layout, everything works as it should. On our club NCE layout, it rapidly turns into pure chaos. No MRC equipped engine will consist with anything else, not even itself, and the Paragon 2 stuff from BLI activates everything on every locomotive when, for example, the horn button is pressed, horns blow on all BLI units. Some of my Digitrax decoders won't consist at all on the NCE system, while others have no trouble.
So, weigh your options carefully when you do select a system, then you will have to be selective on what decoders you operate with that system.
i think that running sound in both engines sounds better, when you are standing right next to them, but it is not something that is dramatically more noticeable. not enough for me to justify putting a sound decoder in the second loco if it is just going to be in a lashed to a sound unit.
My question is for when I have a bigger layout, is it noticeable to run a consist of 2-3 locomotives if only one has sound? Does the sound of 1 engine make the entire consist sound good? Or will I be more satisfied with each locomotive having its own speaker?
Two locos should be fine with sound in only 1. Three is a harder call. Those usually work better with a sound on either end and a dead one in the middle. At the museum we run 2 or 3 sound units in each consist of 3 to 7 locos. The units are not all sound just because of the power consumption issue.
And as the prior poster noted, it makes a great deal of difference based on the distance from the trains. If one is always right up next to the unit the difference is much more noticeable than if one is always more than 3' away. Finally, running on a plywood prairie is going to sound way different than running through a fully sceniced heavily wooded mountains and valleys.
