Sound Decoders for Tower 55 GEVO's?

[nstophat]

Has anyone recently installed a sound decoder into a "DC only" Tower 55 GEVO in HO scale? If so, which decoder & speaker combo did you use and how easy was the install? 

Thanks in advance,
Russ

[edwardsutorik]

I surely don't know if anyone has. I know I haven't.

But I do have some T55's with sound, if that helps.

Anyway, top of the list is to make sure your loco(s) still run. The T55's have a bad habit of drive train failure. I ran my three a couple of years ago, and they seemed happy enough.

But. To your real question:

I think your only and best choice of speaker(s) is Scale Sound Systems. I've installed one in an Athearn GP9, and it was a remarkable improvement over the old speaker (Athearn's CURRENT speakers are very good and don't need replacing). If you go to their site (Scale Sounds) and explore, you'll find they offer a whole bunch of different sizes--what I think they call "universal". They list them by dimensions. You'll have to open up your model (you would, anyway) and figure out what'll fit. I believe there's a lot of room inside these models, so your options are large. You MAY want to install two of them, for more sound.

Now to decoders. I would probably pick Loksound. Another choice is Soundtraxx. And, of course, there's TCS. Like I said, I'd pick Loksound. One thing to keep in mind is that different brands of decoders don't always play well together. So if I wanted to run this engine with three other Athearn models (all with Soundtraxx), I'd pick Soundtraxx instead. I've actually got on my bench a perfectly nice sound equipped Athearn engine that I'm going to convert to Loksound, because all of its running mates will be so equipped. I'll save the old decoder for something elso.

Since I haven't even opened up my own T55's (yet), I can't tell you how hard or easy it will be. I believe lots of people stick their speakers in with caulk or sticky foam tape or something--kind of up in the corner of the body. That's surely easy, I guess. I tend to like to mount mine with screws and stuff. It's all gonna depend on what you find inside. And your personal inclinations. I do a lot of machine work, so the idea of just sticking a speaker in with Liquid Nails, or whatever, is not very appealing. To me.

I'd say it's easy for someone who's done a bunch before, and it's "difficult" for a first-timer. Mostly meaning take it slow and think a lot. And neatness counts, believe me.


Ed

[bnsf971]

I had three of them, once upon a time. All three ended up needing gears, which I got from NWSL. As for the decoder, mine all had Soundtrax sound decoders factory installed (yuck), and replaced them with Soundtraxx. I kinda, sorta, remember there being something weird about it, like there were two circuit boards, one for lights, the other was sound. Whatever it was, it wasn't something that made the install difficult enough to be memorable.

[NS4122]

I think you meant to say they came with Digitrax sound, which I agree was "yuck". I eventually gutted mine and installed Soundtraxx as well with no problems. If I was doing it today, I might use an Athearn LED light board and a 21 pin Soundtraxx board so I could replace the bulbs with LEDs with no resistors needed. I would also try to use a pair of Scale Sound speakers.

Aug 28, 2022 3:30:11 GMT -8 bnsf971 said:

I had three of them, once upon a time. All three ended up needing gears, which I got from NWSL. As for the decoder, mine all had Soundtrax sound decoders factory installed (yuck), and replaced them with Soundtraxx. I kinda, sorta, remember there being something weird about it, like there were two circuit boards, one for lights, the other was sound. Whatever it was, it wasn't something that made the install difficult enough to be memorable.

[edwardsutorik]

I believe there was a problem with these models with the "ball joint" at the end of the drive shaft going to the trucks. It's a plastic piece, and they've been known to fail, in the manner of P2K truck gears--split. I bought some replacement ones, and they arrived split ALREADY. A solution would be to make the part in brass.

The sound in mine seemed at least adequate. Far worse is the sound and performance of my early Athearn MP15AC's. They will absolutely get redone, when I'm in the mood.


Ed

[nstophat]

Gents:

Thanks for the responses. I am fully aware of the gear issue these units have and have that covered. I do appreciate the DCC/Sound insights as well.

Russ