Tsunami 2 sound decoders for N scale?

[ednadolski]

Are these decoders (yet?) available for N scale diesels, and has anyone here seen or used them?  How do they compare to the ESU LokSound Select Micro?

Thanks,
Ed

[nstars]

We have a Tsunami 2 decoder in a steam loco and in a Fairbanks morose C-Liner. The Tsunami 2 is in my opinion a major improvement over the first Tsunami. The motor control was always the weak point but it's now close to the Loksound.

The steam version has some nice features which for me sets it apart from the Loksound. So far I haven't been impressed by the loksound steam versions although the Full Throttle version is much better. However, I still like the Tsunami 2 more.

Loksound diesel sounds were for me the best sounds available, but the diesel version of the Tsunami 2 comes very close. I still give the edge to Loksound, but only with a small margin. Loksound does have the Full Throttle feature, but for some reason I'm not completely convinced about the advantages. Especially with multiple unit consists I'm not impressed as it can only work with advanced consisting which removes the small differences between the different units.

Marc

[leedabsme74]

concur with nstars

[jdcolombo]

Agree that the new generation of Sountraxx decoders (the Econami and Tsunami 2) have much-improved motor control; maybe a tad behind ESU, but so close you're not likely to notice any difference in real-world operations.

I also think that the Tsunami2 has excellent steam sound (chuffs, in particular) and the 7-band equalizer circuit is very useful for the small speakers we use in N.  I haven't used a diesel version, so I can't comment on prime mover sounds.

The one area in which I think ESU still outshines Soundtraxx on the steam sound front is the electronic matching of chuffs to driver rotation.  The Econami and Tsunami 2 use a single CV to match driver rotation to chuffs; this works pretty well, but there can be some mis-match at very low speeds (e.g., speed step 1).  ESU, on the other hand, uses two different CV's - you set one of these at speed step 1, and set the other at about quarter-throttle.  The result is nearly perfect matching of chuffs to driver rotation.  I'm very picky about chuff/driver rotation match; a mismatch, particularly at very low speed (where it's easy to spot) drives me nuts.  As a result, I have adopted the ESU over the Tsunami on my steam installations, even though right now I'd rate the actual sound from the Tsunami as superior to the ESU (that may change as ESU releases new sound files).

For diesels, you're on your own.  I've never used a Soundtraxx diesel sound decoder.

John C.