proto alco pa ?

[hoppercarmaker]

I have not been in the train room in several months. But now that the weather is cold it's time to put away the bike and get back to the impotant things Is there room in the proto pa for a sound system?

 

[railohio]

Are there even correct sound recordings available for these models or do they just use a generic diesel sound? Alco and Fairbanks-Morse prime movers have a very distinctive sound to them.

 

[UP SD40-2]

ANSWERS:

1- yes, the Proto Alco PA has enough room for a sound decoder:thumb: .

2- Loksound offers VERY GOOD sound decoders with the correct sounds:thumb: . from what i understand they actually record the engines they offer sound for. i have heard FM(for example)engines run several times, Loksounds decoders hits the mark on them:thumb: . (though they don't offer all engine models sounds.)

HOWEVER, you always get people that say NONE of the decoders are right, "they don't have enough bass", or whatever , look, they are tiny model trains, if you want to be that picky forget sound because at this time no small speaker is going to replicate the thunderous sound exactly like it would be if the real thing was right next to you. the models are scaled down, so the sound is scaled down:winki: .

Sound decoders like MRC's AD370 series don't sound like anything, they really totally miss the mark on ALL engines, yet MRC's Brilliance line, for example the one for "modern switchers" is a reasonably GOOD match for MP15 models:thumb: .
ANOTHER EXAMPLE, QSI's AC6000 sounds pretty darn good, but QSI's MP15 sound decoder is so far off it aint even funny:cry: .
each sound decoder manufacture has its good & bad sounding decoders.

 

[hoppercarmaker]

Thanks to all for the replies,walthers has the up alco's on sale.

 

[Russ Bellinis]

for anyone that is interested, you can download the Lokprogrammer program and then you can use the program to listen to the various sounds that are available, and if you want to totally get involved, you can add or change whatever sounds you want. If you want to change the decoders (programming) you have to buy the hardware, which is reasonably priced IMHO. I have the program and have checked out some of the sounds, but I haven't bought the hardware yet. Although I feel the price of a sound decoder may be in line, I just can't figure why I can buy a 19 inch color tv for the same price or cheaper.:mrgreen:

Charlie

It probably has to do with volume sales/production. I suspect that there is a bigger market for 19 inch color tvs than there is for sound decoders.