Lacathedrale Posted February 11, 2019 Share Posted February 11, 2019 Hi there, I'm looking to get a big steam loco to see if I like DCC sound for steam, and I've always had a soft spot for the brutish rebuilt Merchant Navy's. There are a few that are Hornby sound-fitted on the Hattons site for about £220, but I can also see I can buy the latest (?) model the Elder Dempster Lines and get it fitted with an Olivias Sound ESU LokSound 4.0 for about £50 more. I've not got the foggiest about Hornby's DCC sound chips, but I've heard nothing but great things about the Olivia's / LokSound stuff. Can anyone enlighten me please? Thanks, Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSpencer Posted February 12, 2019 Share Posted February 12, 2019 Hornby's own sound fitted locos have had loksound decoders, the same as Olivia's. This year they are releasesing a TTS chip for the rebuilt MN for about £40. I don't think any actual Hornby Production run of the rebuilt MN has been fitted with this TTS chip far (the original MN has been released once with a TTS chip). A full loksound chip will give more pleasure than the TTS version but then there is a big price difference between them. That said fitting the TTS chip may offer you some challenges in a rebuilt MN. Hornby's own sound fitted locos had tooling modifications to cope with factory fitting the loksound chip. But most (maybe all) of the normal DC production runs don't have the dedicated speaker space in the tender. Indeed early first runs of this class do not have even a 8 pin chip holder in the loco. Most runs have an 8 pin chip holder in the loco and no speaker space. If you get a normal loco fitted 8 pin MN, the solution will be chip in loco and speaker in the tender. Which means you will need to unsolder the speaker from a TTS chip, drill holes in the bottom of the tender, fight to fit the speaker there in, run a new long thin pair of wires between loco and tender that will join the chip and speaker again. You will have to think through as to how you will hide such a wire too. I,ve done that a few times on some classes, not for the faint hearted. Personally, I will try the TTS chip on a rebuilt West Country/Battle of Britain, the more recent models of those classes have a speaker space chip set up in the tender. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
S&DWatty Posted February 12, 2019 Share Posted February 12, 2019 I got a MN TTS Chip and fitted it to an unrebuilt BoB and it works fine. Obviously, the massive price difference between Loksound and TTS and that is manifested in the range and types of sounds, but the TTS is ok and the doppler effect whistle feature is one that I enjoy! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Black Hat Posted February 12, 2019 Share Posted February 12, 2019 9 hours ago, Lacathedrale said: Hi there, I'm looking to get a big steam loco to see if I like DCC sound for steam, and I've always had a soft spot for the brutish rebuilt Merchant Navy's. There are a few that are Hornby sound-fitted on the Hattons site for about £220, but I can also see I can buy the latest (?) model the Elder Dempster Lines and get it fitted with an Olivias Sound ESU LokSound 4.0 for about £50 more. I've not got the foggiest about Hornby's DCC sound chips, but I've heard nothing but great things about the Olivia's / LokSound stuff. Can anyone enlighten me please? Thanks, If I'm being brutally honest I would stay well clear of Olivias sound recordings. Compared with others available I don't think they are anywhere near as good. Howes do a Merchant Navy and in my opinion they are the best still at DCC Steam sound chips. Theres one in a video here after the black 5. The other option would be for the standard Hornby fitted engine, but this sound file set up does not quite match the wheel revolution to chuff rate. That said, its cheaper and comes fitted and overall is quite passable and most would not notice. Can recommend Howes sound chips highly. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lacathedrale Posted February 12, 2019 Author Share Posted February 12, 2019 Thanks for the advice and information chaps, also wow @The Black Hat, I didn't know what I was missing - those two are both fantastic. I will look into Howes too. Much appreciated, have a great day! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Black Hat Posted February 12, 2019 Share Posted February 12, 2019 Brace yourself, cos this is where the bug for DCC sound bites and after that theres no stopping it! Can recommend Howes for the ease of driving, but also because a lot of their chips come with the same set up so switching from engine to engine is easier. Also they have a really good selection of sounds that are needed for prototypical operation, rather than just additional extras. Things like track groan, wagon buffer clash, etc. There are some other ones out there, South West Digital still do some good stuff, and might still be the ones setting up a lot of Bachmanns efforts as they used to do that. Theres also digitrains, but they normally use Zimo for steam. Superiorsteamsounds from DC Kits has some greatly recorded sounds, but the Q6 I have only sets off in the same way every time, which I find disappointing. I think theres also YouChoos, and Coastal DCC sound, but for steam I tend to check Howes first then compare others to that. The Howes Castle sound chip is brilliant! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAF96 Posted February 12, 2019 Share Posted February 12, 2019 I fitted TTS to a DCC-Ready MN locating a cube speaker in the loco... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSpencer Posted February 12, 2019 Share Posted February 12, 2019 If you switch speaker, make sure its compatible with the chip. Manty model speakers that give excellent sound, also have low resistance and can blow a chip in the process. If you are buying loco and chip apart, you will have the same problem I mentioned earlier unless you swap for a sugar cube above (i think that will need some underside of the boiler cut to fit it). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAF96 Posted February 12, 2019 Share Posted February 12, 2019 Stick with an 8-ohm 1-watt speaker and you will be within TTS spec limits. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRman Posted February 12, 2019 Share Posted February 12, 2019 I bought a Merchant Navy with TTS sound, but didn't really like the TTS sounds at all ... at least, not for an MN. I thought they sounded more like a 2-cylinder job, so removed the sound and speaker from the MN and fitted it into the tender of a BR Standard 4MT, where, to me, it seems to sound more appropriate. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete the Elaner Posted February 12, 2019 Share Posted February 12, 2019 If you try a TTS & do not like it, you'll be stuck because you cannot get it re-blown. With a Loksound v4, you can have it re-blown, either with a project for the same loco from another manufacturer, or move it to another loco entirely. With TTS, you cannot adjust the chuff rate, so if you get 5 beats per revolution, you cannot correct it. You can also only play 1 'spot' sound, so you have a choice between injector, blower or fireman shovelling, but not 2 at once. If you then sound the whistle, the current sound fades out then back in again. The 'running sound' is on a different channel so remains on. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lacathedrale Posted February 13, 2019 Author Share Posted February 13, 2019 Gotcha, lots to think about, thanks!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSpencer Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 8 hours ago, Pete the Elaner said: With TTS, you cannot adjust the chuff rate, so if you get 5 beats per revolution, you cannot correct it. Most steam TTS chips I own, I tend to find it is more 5 wheel revolutions for one beat! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vixen Posted May 5, 2019 Share Posted May 5, 2019 (edited) I've got an Olivia's Castle and a Howes MN; The Howes sound is fantastic. Also have a Howes A1, also fantastic. I'm not a fan of Olivia's myself; When I got my castle the wheels were completely out of synch, I found the chuffs weak sounding, and whistles are preset tones/quills. My biggest issue, aside from the whistles, is the wheels tend to be out of synch a lot when people buy from them. It seems to be fairly common. I won't lie though, if it weren't for the wheel synch problems Olivia's does do okay steam sounds. However they share a lot between models and aren't always accurate to the model because they carry-over so much. Go Howes. Or Locoman. Won't regret it. Edited May 5, 2019 by Vixen Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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