Soundtraxx Tsunami Sound Decoder

[RexHea]

To back up my feelings about how great the Tsunami is, next week I am going to pull the QSI decoder out of my (HO)Lionel Challenger and install the heavy steam Tsunami in its place. (I have always hated the whistle in the QSI )

Tom: This address is more direct to the manuals.
http://www.soundtraxx.com/products/dcc/docs.htm

 

[Cjcrescent]

Oh yes they Do! Ive got them in my B&O E7's (Proto) and they sound great!

I bet they sound great. But look at the date of the post about the diesel Tsunami. At the time the post was made, there were no diesel Tsunami's.

They've only been out since summer.

 

[RexHea]

Good Catch, CJ! I can see how "kbk" missed that.
I've been posting right along and didn't even think to look at when this thread started. LOL

 

[railandsail]

To back up my feelings about how great the Tsunami is, next week I am going to pull the QSI decoder out of my (HO)Lionel Challenger and install the heavy steam Tsunami in its place. (I have always hated the whistle in the QSI )

I was doing some reading lately and it seems to me you might consider doing an upgrade on your QSI chip and then installing their HB (high bass) speakers....that could really correct the horn sound in particular, and the total bass sounds

http://www.qsisolutions.com/products/techinfo/spkrs/q-hb_spk_review.html

http://www.qsisolutions.com/products/techinfo/spkrs/q-hb_fantasonics_review.html

 

[railandsail]

What 'factory sound' was utilized for the Lifelike 2-8-8-2??
..and for the Rivarossi Allegheny??

Are there some photos or diagrams of these two installations?

I would like to install sound in my two Allegheny 2-6-6-6

Still looking for photos of 'stock' manufacturer installations, particularly the speaker installations. ???

 

[kbkchooch]

Good Catch, CJ! I can see how "kbk" missed that.
I've been posting right along and didn't even think to look at when this thread started. LOL

Doh! Man I feel like such a Homer!!!

 

[RexHea]

I was doing some reading lately and it seems to me you might consider doing an upgrade on your QSI chip and then installing their HB (high bass) speakers....that could really correct the horn sound in particular, and the total bass sounds

http://www.qsisolutions.com/products/techinfo/spkrs/q-hb_spk_review.html

http://www.qsisolutions.com/products/techinfo/spkrs/q-hb_fantasonics_review.html

For a long time QSI didn't have an upgrade for this decoder, so being satisfied with the Tsunami, decided to replace it. I never bothered to go back and check to see if one is now available. It is very interesting about the HB speakers and will consider them in future installations or replacements. Thank you for this valuable information.

 

[RexHea]

Doh! Man I feel like such a Homer!!!

Oh well, what can I say! All good topics need reviving every now and then.

 

[railandsail]

I also have just today acquired a used 2-8-8-2 loco with sound added. BUT they put the speaker pointed out (up) from the coal load? As I understand it this is not the best installation??
Also the engine does not run on a plain DC track, which I understand the Tsunami decoder should be capabile of ? Or is it a function of how the decoder has been programed?

Just today discovered that the Tsunami decoders are sold with the default setting on DCC rather than combo DC & DCC. That's weird. A DC user has to find someone with DCC to reset the decoder so it will work on plain DC.

 

[railandsail]

Important Sound Tip for Tsunami

SoundTraxx Tsunami Important Sound Tip
Be sure to set CV 153 (Equalizer) to a value other than zero (the default). A value of 2 is for a medium 1" speaker and works well. The sound will be less robust if the equalizer is not set.

I found this here:
http://www.ulrichmodels.biz/servlet/Page?template=dcc-sound

I also found their 'side-by-side sound samplers' to be very interesting:
http://www.ulrichmodels.com/Sound_Samples/SoundSamples.htm

I had a nice informative chate with a gentleman Steve who was very helpful....might be a good choice of decoder products and info.

 

[RexHea]

This is true, BUT: "It should read, "pick and adjust what sounds best". Every installation is different. The size of the area around the speaker, the speaker itself, the mounting of the speaker, and the type of enclosure that the speaker is in, all play a significant role in the quality of sound...not to mention your own ear .

In answer to other post, I would believe they come set to DCC because they are mainly for DCC. The fact that they work on DC is mostly for those that may operate on both types of layout, not just DC alone. However, a perk of these decoders is that a DC user could have sound using the decoder. IMHO

 

[railandsail]

...In answer to other post, I would believe they come set to DCC because they are mainly for DCC. The fact that they work on DC is mostly for those that may operate on both types of layout, not just DC alone. However, a perk of these decoders is that a DC user could have sound using the decoder. IMHO

But this 'perk' has long been std on the QSI range of decoders. The decoder senses whether it is on DCC or DC and adjust automatically....true?? It has a pretty full range of sounds in the DC mode.

My point was that it seems rather strange that a pure DC operator would have to seek out a DCC system to reset his new decoder so he could operate and have have sounds for himself. ...not so with QSI.

I have a couple of steam engines I bought used with Tsunami's in them. At my friends shop (no DCC) I was unable to get them to run, nor hear much sound at all. I thought they might be defective as I was led to believe that the Tsunami decoders worked on both DC & DCC layouts.

 

[RexHea]

Since I am strictly a DCC user, I can't honestly give a factual answer as to why they don't make the switch automatically or even if that is a feature, never had a reason to look into it. Have you investigated this in the manual? Maybe you could get on their forum or send them an email and ask the why's . I do know my Loksound does this sensing when power is first applied to the track. I have all my QSI's set for "DCC only" since they run only on that type of system and never paid any attention to anything else. I do know that sometimes there has been a conflict with QSI's, if this auto setting is used when running DCC...at least the older versions.

 

[railandsail]

Rather interestingly I was over to a friends DCC layout the other night and attempted to get some Blueline locos to run on his DC track (at least that is what he said it was switched too). They would not run.

I told him that I had never had any problem running the Blueline (sound only) locos on a pure DC track and getting most of the sounds. He even ran an old Athearn loco on that track that had no DCC or any decoder whatsoever.

So I began to suspect that there might be a slight leakage of DCC type current (AC current if I'm correct) on to his 'pure' DC track. That turned out to be the case. So any hint of DCC current would make the DC/DCC board look at the DCC in preference to the DC.

 

[RexHea]

Not quite sure what you mean "DCC leakage" on a DC track; there is no DCC to leak. The decoder does not produce a DCC signal. It only powers the motor with a (PWM) pulse width modulated signal, not the DCC composite signal as such. BTW: Technically, the DCC signal is a bi-polar square wave, more of an instantaneous reversal of polarity and not a sinusoidal or varing amplitude waveform as you would think in Alternating Current.

Do you have the decoder CV's set to run either DC/DCC or DCC only? I don't remember off hand what number this is, may be a bit in CV29. You will have to look that one up.

 

[railandsail]

I wasn't speaking of leakage from the decoder. I was saying that his power pack (whatever it is) is putting out a little someting other than pure DC, and then the receptor portion of the decoder board was thinking it saw a DCC type signal rather than pure DC. Does that make sense??

 

[RexHea]

I'ya...uh, hmmm! Don't really think so, but you know as well as I...strange things do happen. He didn't have the DC txf on pulsing did he? I'm just guessing.

 

[UP2CSX]

If has an MRC powerpack with pulse power and had the pulse power set on, that will indeed confuse a DCC decoder, since the pulse DC current doesn't look like regular DC or the modified sine wave AC. I have an MRC with pulse power and was orignally using pulse power to run my trains. When I got my first DCC locomotive that had an autosense DCC decoder, it would barely run on DC. Once I turned off the pulse power, it ran fine. Just as aside, using pulse power is a bad idea for most modern motors. They are much better built than older motors in terms of speed control but using pulse power will overheat them and burn out the windings in nothing flat.

 

[GN.2-6-8-0]

SoundTraxx Tsunami Important Sound Tip
Be sure to set CV 153 (Equalizer) to a value other than zero (the default). A value of 2 is for a medium 1" speaker and works well. The sound will be less robust if the equalizer is not set.

I found this here:
http://www.ulrichmodels.biz/servlet/Page?template=dcc-sound

I also found their 'side-by-side sound samplers' to be very interesting:
http://www.ulrichmodels.com/Sound_Samples/SoundSamples.htm

I had a nice informative chate with a gentleman Steve who was very helpful....might be a good choice of decoder products and info.

found this to be very interesting the 1st mention of any kind of setting for the Tsunami equalizer,now wondering that this setting cv 153 to a value of 2 is for a medium 1" speaker would that be good enough for say my 40x20mm speaker or is there a more appropriate setting value ?

 

[irocinblue89]

found this to be very interesting the 1st mention of any kind of setting for the Tsunami equalizer,now wondering that this setting cv 153 to a value of 2 is for a medium 1" speaker would that be good enough for say my 40x20mm speaker or is there a more appropriate setting value ?

I find adjusting the sound (CV 153 and others) on the main to be the way to go, For instance, I think I have my F-units set to a value of 4 on CV153. That's the setting that sounded the best. I used to keep the Tsunami manual right next to me while I did it. Now I do it with JMRI while it's running.