Athearn Big Boy Speaker Transplant

[jdcolombo]

I got tired of the puny sound from the 15mm round speaker in Athearn's Big Boy, so I replaced it with a 14 x 25mm oval in a custom sealed enclosure made from 1mm lead sheet.  If you keep the overall enclosure height (w/speaker) to 10mm, it fits perfectly between the forward and center posts in the tender, just underneath the Tsunami board, in place of the 15mm round and it's enclosure/weight.  The whole replacement operation took about an hour, including making the speaker enclosure.

Now the "steamboat" whistle sounds much more tolerable:

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John C.

[Cajonpassfan]

John, nice, thank you.
Btw, where do you get lead sheet? Here in pc California it's impossible to find, not in stores anyway.
Regards, Otto

[jdcolombo]

Hi Otto.

I mail ordered mine from Roto Metals; I got a 1' x 3' sheet of both 1/32 and 1/24 (1/24 is a hair over 1mm; 1/32 is about .75mm).  It's been 3 years, but I think you can still get it from them, unless California prohibits shipping into the state.

John

[rogergperkins]

Why lead sheeting?

[jdcolombo]

Why lead sheeting?

It's inert and heavy.  You want something inert for a speaker enclosure to avoid resonances and the weight is almost always helpful for better tracking and wheel-to-rail contact to enhance electrical pickup.

John C.

[Cajonpassfan]

Thanks John. I might have to smuggle it in; hope the lead sniffing dogs don't find it...
Otto

[jdcolombo]

Thanks John. I might have to smuggle it in; hope the lead sniffing dogs don't find it...
Otto

Ship it to a PO box in Nevada . . . 

[robert3985]

Wow...hmmm...seems like I said that in another thread with your work in it!...You are very correct...the "steamboat" whistle sounds exponentially better.  I'm still sticking with using the alternate "Challenger" whistle in the TSU decoder, since my research indicates the BB, Challenger and FEF-3's had the same whistle on 'em.

However, since it's late at night and no stores (other than Walmart) are open, I'm gonna go down to the shop and build an airtight enclosure out of brass for the stock speaker and see if that noticeably improves the sound in one of my Big Boys...

TTYL!