Intermountain SD40-2

[flight2000]

Or for how long you can stand the noise before muting the model!   

Took me 13 months to stop my sound experiment in HO scale and return to the Normal side of the house....

No sound for me.... 

Brian

[nscaler711]

Idk, maybe I'm the odd one out here (in general Yes I am already,) but I like sound equipped locos. I don't generally get tired of it either, as long as its volume is kinda low. I think alot of that has to do with I don't often get to see the real beasts in person so its kinda nice hearing the 710s, 645s and even the 16FDLs rumble around....  Granted I don't sit and follow my train around, or do switching maneuvers...

But anyways I am excited for these... I wouldn't mind having a few. I do hope I can get them speed matched with my Katos though, as (depending on how they look) they will be mixed in a consist lead or otherwise just so I can get the general effect of them rumbling around... Though I am hoping they don't reach HO S/E prices... Otherwise I may as well go back to HO. HO has more potential for better sound... But we all know why, so I don't have to explain that.

Sorry for rambling on... Brains all mixed up tonight...

[peteski]

Idk, maybe I'm the odd one out here (in general Yes I am already,) but I like sound equipped locos. I don't generally get tired of it either, as long as its volume is kinda low. I think alot of that has to do with I don't often get to see the real beasts in person so its kinda nice hearing the 710s, 645s and even the 16FDLs rumble around....  Granted I don't sit and follow my train around, or do switching maneuvers...

Exactly, if you are in a layout room for a 3-hour (or longer) operating session and there are about a dozen locos generating constant noise at the same time, that gets tiring really quickly. Especially when the volume is fairly high (but even at low volume, it gets tiring).  Diesel sound is more annoying than steam, but both will drive someone up a wall after a while.   I do like sound (as a gadget) but on limited basis. Someone earlier mentioned silencing the engine sound and just having the horn/bell working. I actually like that idea in the above mentioned setting.

[jagged ben]

I refuse to run a sound loco without adjusting factory settings.  Generally speaking I turn the main volume and horn to the max, and turn all the other effects down to about 15-20% volume.  I don't want to hear anything except the horn from more than a few feet away.  (Maybe the bell from a little farther than other sounds.) If I were running on a private layout I would turn the sounds even lower but at the club when the public is there I find there is a lot of ambient noise so the volume needs to louder to hear at all.

If the makers of these products put a little more thought into the artistry of sound design, rather than playing essentially unedited sound effects at unity volumes, the annoyance factor would be greatly reduced. 

[jdcolombo]

If the makers of these products put a little more thought into the artistry of sound design, rather than playing essentially unedited sound effects at unity volumes, the annoyance factor would be greatly reduced.

Amen to that.  I do pretty much the same thing - bump the "overall" volume to max, then adjust the individual sounds down from there.  The prime mover usually ends up at about 30%, along with things like the radiator fans, turbo whine (that one is even lower - maybe 15%), pop-off valves, etc.  I will say, however, that one problem the manufacturers have is that they don't know what kind of speaker or acoustic environment the decoder will end up paired with.  It's not unreasonable for them to expect that individual users will need to customize the sound profile for their individual situation, but I agree that they could be a bit more judicious with their defaults!

John C.

[jpwisc]

Exactly, if you are in a layout room for a 3-hour (or longer) operating session and there are about a dozen locos generating constant noise at the same time, that gets tiring really quickly. Especially when the volume is fairly high (but even at low volume, it gets tiring).  Diesel sound is more annoying than steam, but both will drive someone up a wall after a while.   I do like sound (as a gadget) but on limited basis. Someone earlier mentioned silencing the engine sound and just having the horn/bell working. I actually like that idea in the above mentioned setting.

I have sound and non-sound engines on my layout. My ops last a little over 2 hours, the non-sound engines sit and the sound engines do all the work. It's boring without sound now.

Last weekend I was at a 7 hour long ops session. I witnessed the same thing there. Crews gravitated to the sound units. They add a dynamic to the realism. Silent trains are dull. It is sad to watch an operator his an uphill grade and he's making the prime mover nothing noises noise with his mouth, because you know that real trains make that noise.

I do turn off most of the unnecessary sounds (I don't need flange squeal) and adjust the prime mover like JDColumbo, so it is about 30% volume.

[peteski]

I have sound and non-sound engines on my layout. My ops last a little over 2 hours, the non-sound engines sit and the sound engines do all the work. It's boring without sound now.

Last weekend I was at a 7 hour long ops session. I witnessed the same thing there. Crews gravitated to the sound units. They add a dynamic to the realism. Silent trains are dull. It is sad to watch an operator his an uphill grade and he's making the prime mover nothing noises noise with his mouth, because you know that real trains make that noise.

I do turn off most of the unnecessary sounds (I don't need flange squeal) and adjust the prime mover like JDColumbo, so it is about 30% volume.

I guess it depends on the size of the layout too. having a dozen Diesels running on a 20'-20' or 40"x40' layout with floor-to-ceiling scenery would make a big difference. Turning the constant sounds (like Diesel engine sound) way down also helps of course.   Then various people have different noise-annoyance threshold. 

[tehachapifan]

What I currently have going on is all non-DCC or sound units running on 2, continuous loop, DC mainlines and a slowly increasing number of DCC sound units that I typically run individually on an industrial branch line. I enjoy this setup very much as the (typically long) mainline trains, usually with 4, 5 or 6 locos each, make enough general noise on their own that the absence of sound decoders really isn't that much of an issue to me (plus, I can still keep and run my DC fleet). Meanwhile, the sound units that I run on the industrial branch fit nicely with the mainline trains either running or not. With this arrangement, I definitely do not get tired of the sound units at all, even if they are the only thing running. I find that running a non-sound loco on the branch to be far less enjoyable now. Quality of sound is key, however, and the importance of a proper, air-tight sound chamber with appropriate speakers cannot be overemphasized.

[wmcbride]

I think N, in many ways, is perfect for "scale" sounds.

I thank John Colombo for his patience in teaching me how "to fish" regarding sound installations. I got that first FVM ES44 done and turned the volumes way down as he and Jagged ben advised above. Right now the farthest extent I am running is about 12 ft from me. With the sounds turned down, the engine really does sound at a distance -- when it's at a distance. It also sounds closer when it gets closer. Of course there isn't that deep rumble one would get trackside but then many of us aren't really trackside. My slant range to my engines at closest approach may be a scale 4-500 ft away. So, to me, the sound is OK.

Now sitting at a 10 ft HO switching layout with an awesome LokSound engine can get a bit tiresome after a while. However, the "Full Throttle" feature is pretty cool. The nice thing about the LokSound is that hitting F8 to turn off the sound still leaves the horn and bell functioning. And what kid, of any age, doesn't still want to blow that air horn?

[jdcolombo]

I have sound and non-sound engines on my layout. My ops last a little over 2 hours, the non-sound engines sit and the sound engines do all the work. It's boring without sound now.

Last weekend I was at a 7 hour long ops session. I witnessed the same thing there. Crews gravitated to the sound units. They add a dynamic to the realism. Silent trains are dull. It is sad to watch an operator his an uphill grade and he's making the prime mover nothing noises noise with his mouth, because you know that real trains make that noise.

I do turn off most of the unnecessary sounds (I don't need flange squeal) and adjust the prime mover like JDColumbo, so it is about 30% volume.

My operators like sound, too.  But I've also found that for some reason, sound makes folks run the trains at more prototypical speeds and generally pay more attention to things like slowing down for towns and crossings.  I first noticed this about myself with steam - and I could readily understand how hearing the chuffs made it a lot easier to maintain scale speeds.  But the interesting thing is that I've observed this with diesels, as well, and I'm not sure exactly why - maybe it is because you can hear the prime mover throttle up, and when it hits Run 8, you don't think about pushing the throttle higher (on most of the ESU files, Run 8 occurs at about 50-60% of full throttle, unless of course you're using the "Full Throttle" feature).  I personally just get a kick out of hearing the EMD567 V-16 in my GP7/9's throttling up and down as they are switching the Lorain local, and same with the ALCo 244 in my RS-3's assigned to the Fostoria local.  At N-Trak shows, yeah, not really interested in hearing the prime mover drone on for hours, but kids love the horn and bell, and usually there's so much ambient noise that you can't hear the prime mover anyway. 

So I'm pretty much sold on sound, if it's done right.  And "therein lies the rub" as Shakespeare once said . . .

John C.

[davefoxx]

I have to admit that I'm really starting to enjoy sound onboard.  I have a BLI E7, which I know could be improved, but, as it is, I am beginning to enjoy it more than the silent locomotives in my fleet.  I accept that N scale locomotives are just not capable of big bass sounds.  Like others, I reduce the sound volume, which is a big improvement.  My daughter loves the bell and the horn.

So, I decided to commit this morning and reserved a Seaboard Coast Line SD40-2 in the Family Lines paint scheme:



If this locomotive meets with my approval, I'll add a Seaboard System SD40-2 when that arrives in the next batch.  Oh, and I'll remove the SCL from the cab sides and patch it for the SBD. 

DFF

[basementcalling]

Exactly, if you are in a layout room for a 3-hour (or longer) operating session and there are about a dozen locos generating constant noise at the same time, that gets tiring really quickly. Especially when the volume is fairly high (but even at low volume, it gets tiring).  Diesel sound is more annoying than steam, but both will drive someone up a wall after a while.   I do like sound (as a gadget) but on limited basis. Someone earlier mentioned silencing the engine sound and just having the horn/bell working. I actually like that idea in the above mentioned setting.
[/q7uote]

Jus go back and up vote the post!   

[mu26aeh]

Just leaving my LHS, these are shipping this week from IM  !!!!

I ordered a second, non sound unit. 

[mu26aeh]

They are showing up tonight (Wednesday) on evilbay.  Wonder if someone got their hands on them already, or just have a shipping notification within next 5 days.

[jagged ben]

Are the sound equipped ones coming with these shipments?