Kato Sound

[Bfagan]

Why isn't Kato putting sound in their engines.  They have what I consider the best product on the market but no sound.  I have and engine with sound that I got from Broadway Limited and it's great.  Wake up Kato, get with the program.

[SkipGear]

Because prices are already climbing, adding sound doubles or more the price of a loco. Also Kato is not a decoder manufacture. The succesful companies promoting sound, are using their own propriatory system or have close ties to the sound provider. Kato has neither.

Kato does offer certain units with sound through their Kobo outlet but you pretty much must buy them direct from Kato because they are somewhat made to order.

It's easy enough to put sound in Kato diesels with the MRC decoders and the latest versions work pretty well. They are as close to drop in as you will get with sound.

There is also the fact that not everybody likes sound so you are selling to a small portion of a small market.

[sizemore]

Wow. How bout you send that to Kato directly (http://katousa.com/contact.html).

Have you looked at Kato's KOBO offerings? They are highly priced for a standard decoder. Most dealers do not order large quantities of the KOBO offerings, as most modellers are more inclined to buy DCC-Ready and have the choice to either add a standard decoder or sound decoder and save some shillings.

To go further, would you rather pay $150 - $190 for a single locomotive from Kato? When you compare it to BLI, your getting a single locomotive and a $30 dummy which eases the pain, but considering Kato usually sells primarily single units, and the occasional powered A+A/A+B sets your talking bukoo dinero to get a set of locomotives with sound.

The S.

[Hyperion]

I wouldn't judge all sound based on your BLI experience.  Their sound is awesome; by and large the others on the market pale in comparison and wouldn't have me reaching into my pocket for another $100+.

Besides, its not like Kato is unique in this regard.  Most notably, Atlas also doesn't use sound.  Nor does FVM.  Athearn doesn't use it on its whole lineup (I dont believe).

I love sound.  Didnt think i would before I bought a BLI E9,  but it was great. But sound makes infinite more sense in HO where, since locomotives cost more, the sound cost is more easily absorbed and where the implementation of sound is more widespread.  And I say that because sound is kind of an all or nothing deal, if you like ityou want it in every unit.  But at this point that's either simply not possible or is extraordinarily expensive and difficult to do in almost all locomotives on the market.  Its a fsitly easy task to install sound into any unit you want inn HO

[peteski]

Currently there are several Kato Kobo sound-equipped Mikados available at M B Klein ( http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/N-Scale-Steam-Locomotives-s/1457.htm ) if you are willing to spend $240 a pop.

IMO, sound in N scale is still a novelty and the sound quality is fairly poor (when compared to the larger scales). The problems is lack of space for decoders and the biggest problem is of course tied to the laws of acoustics: both the speaker size and enclosure sizes imposed by the small size of N scale models is something which cannot be easily solved.

You want big and realistic sound? Move to O scale.    Or get one of the under-layout sound systems. The physical limitations are even more severa in Z scale and I don't think in my lifetime we'll see widely used locomotive-installed sound systems in Z scale.

[SkipGear]

I disagree completely.

I don't want O scale sound in my N scale loco's. Sound should be scaled appropriately to the model. If I can here my sound loco from more than 6 ft. away, it is too loud. I don't understand why everybody want's the room to rumble when the loco is only 3" long. If I am standing next to a full size loco, the earth should shake, not from an N scale loco though. The sound should only be heard from an appropriate scale distance away (compressed just the same as your layout) and get louder as it gets closer, then fade into the distance. If you hear it the same volume everywhere on the layout, it totaly ruins the effect of sound.

[rogergperkins]

The link to M.B. Klein steam locomotives is the those with DCC installed. They are not listed as having a decoder with sound.

[Hiroe]

You want big and realistic sound? Move to O scale.   

Nyet! I regularly get tired of hearing all the "Big and Realistic" sounds in everyone's locomotives, over at the O-scale club. After about 10 minutes of it, I end up having to go around the layout, dialing up each offending loco, and turning the sound *OFF* via the F8 key.

It's fine if the trains are moving, and they're not set too loud. However, all the idle noise they make while sitting still is maddening. And I'm already crazy enough as is.

[rogergperkins]

Hope this is still within scope of the question about sound.
I have 3 of the BLI n-scale E-units: 2 E-6A and 1 E-7A with DCC and sound.
I rather enjoy listening to the sounds of the engines idling as they are stopped at a
station. I like the passenger announcements and maintainence voice transmissions as well.
However, I must admit that having all 3 running at the same time on a layout in a 12 x 13 foot area can be annoying.
I have not seen any n-scale steam locomotives in person; but found the ones I saw via youtube disappointing for sound quality.

IMHO it seems a real challenge to create 1:160 ratio sound.

[peteski]

The link to M.B. Klein steam locomotives is the those with DCC installed. They are not listed as having a decoder with sound.

Darn, you're right! I thought at the price those go for (even with the MBK discount), those would have been sound-equipped! 

[robert3985]

I have not seen any n-scale steam locomotives in person; but found the ones I saw via youtube disappointing for sound quality.

IMHO it seems a real challenge to create 1:160 ratio sound.

Athearn Big Boys and Challengers with Tsunami sound are fabulous.  I have several, and I cannot get enough of the rod clanking, brake-squealing, dynamo winding up as the headlight slowly gets brighter, Alco reverse lever clanking, bell ringing, chuff going in and out of sync sound on these models!

The sound can be dialed down for use on a quiet home layout, or turned up enough to be heard well at a noisy show on a modular layout.

No, the sound isn't perfect, but it's exponentially better than the old MRC sound decoders in these engines...and infinitely better than no sound at all.

It will take a leap in technology to get decent bass out of a speaker that fits an N-scale engine...and it may never happen.  Personally, I'd go with a synchronized subwoofer under the layout if that were possible.

Until then, I am extremely happy with Soundtraxx Tsunami N-scale sound for steam (I'll be installing one in my son's Kato GS-4 converted to a GS-3 in the next few weeks), and ESU Loksound for N-scale diesels.

I am perfectly happy with installing my own ESU and Tsunami sound decoders and speakers in whatever engines I must to get sound.  This includes Kato motive power and I have no desire that Kato should offer engines with sound DCC already installed.

Cheers!!
Bob Gilmore

Cheers!
Bob Gilmore

[wmcbride]

If one dials down the BLI Paragon sound it gives a very nice scale effect, disappearing to a murmur on my track at about 6 feet away.

Bill McBride

[Bremner]

I am thinking about a different route for sound...when I convert to DCC, I am thinking about getting ONE sound decoder and hooking it up to a shelf speaker.....forget a 1 inch speaker and milling a frame...let's think about an 11 inch speaker!