# N Scale DCC Sound qualities questions



## BrokeCurmudgeon (Feb 8, 2016)

I am looking for feed back on the Model Power N 876111 2-6-0 Mogul Steam Engine. Has anyone have experience with this locomotive. I am most interested in the sound quality, level and fidelity coming from this little N Scale loco. I am trying to decide between a Broadway Limited Paragon2 PRR M1a/M1b. However the larger Broadway Limited may be too big for my 12" radius. The Mogul would be better suited to my layout, time era and sharp 12" radius. Comments? :dunno:


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## Brakeman Jake (Mar 8, 2009)

BLI recommends a 9 3/4 in. radius for the 4-8-2 so it should handle your 12 in. curves just fine though it would look even better on 15+ in. curves.BLI sounds are usually pretty good.Sorry,I can't comment the Mogul.


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## rrjim1 (Mar 12, 2015)

I own a Broadway Limited Paragon2 PRR M1a and I'm very happy with it. IMO the sound is great coming from a small speaker. It's got plenty of volume for n-scale and most people turn the volume down.


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## traction fan (Oct 5, 2014)

*Hard to hear*



BrokeCurmudgeon said:


> I am looking for feed back on the Model Power N 876111 2-6-0 Mogul Steam Engine. Has anyone have experience with this locomotive. I am most interested in the sound quality, level and fidelity coming from this little N Scale loco. I am trying to decide between a Broadway Limited Paragon2 PRR M1a/M1b. However the larger Broadway Limited may be too big for my 12" radius. The Mogul would be better suited to my layout, time era and sharp 12" radius. Comments? :dunno:


BrokeCurmudgeon;

My only experience with N-scale sound was both good and bad. I installed a sound decoder in a Kato F-unit. The sounds the decoder produced were great, but the volume was not so hot. This is a common problem with on-board sound. It is especially noticeable in smaller scales. The problem is not the sounds in the decoder, it's the tiny speaker. A little tiny speaker just can't reproduce anything like all the sound quality that the decoder has. Connecting the decoder's speaker wires to a home music system will blow you away. It's amazing. You will think you have a real locomotive in your living room! 
Of course we can't have some wires coming out of a moving loco and feeding a fixed sound system. What I did was to install a larger speaker in a dummy B-unit. This was a lot better than the original arrangement which had the speaker up against a solid part of the locomotive shell. I mounted my surplus laptop computer speaker facing down through the mostly open bottom of the B-unit. I have not run the mogul but since it is a small locomotive, and probably has a small speaker, in its small tender, you may have a similar problem. I don't know, I hope you have a better experience than I did. 
There's an interesting article in the April Model Railroader about "The Future of the Hobby." One thing discussed is this problem with sound quality. Their solution was to leave the sound decoder(s) outside the locomotive, mounted under the layout. The sound output from the decoder is connected to the input of a wireless headphone's transmitter. The operator wears the headphones and gets great sound, as loud as he wants, without bothering the neighbors. I had a similar idea a while back, but I was going to use speakers under the layout. I like the headphone idea and I will try it someday.

Good luck;

Traction Fan:smilie_daumenpos:


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## BrokeCurmudgeon (Feb 8, 2016)

"There's an interesting article in the April Model Railroader about "The Future of the Hobby." One thing discussed is this problem with sound quality. Their solution was to leave the sound decoder(s) outside the locomotive, mounted under the layout. The sound output from the decoder is connected to the input of a wireless headphone's transmitter. The operator wears the headphones and gets great sound, as loud as he wants, without bothering the neighbors. I had a similar idea a while back, but I was going to use speakers under the layout. I like the headphone idea and I will try it someday."
Traction Fan, I read the same article and it interested me also. I decided to go with the Mogul, mainly due to the size and cost comparisons between Model Power and Broadway Limited. The Broadway Limited is quite impressive but after watching the video about the Model Power Mogul I made my choice. After all, it is just about money, isn't it? Anyway, I will just have to grow my layout and buy more running stock.


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## rrjim1 (Mar 12, 2015)

Go here to listen to a U23B that I installed a Loksound decoder with a 8mm x 12mm speaker. I want sound that is the correct volume for a n-scale loco not sound from under the layout or wearing head phones. The sound file was what came in the decoder and isn't the correct file, I have finally finished the install and loaded the correct U23B file and started working on my second unit.


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## Cycleops (Dec 6, 2014)

I think rrjim1's video illustrates perfectly that you can get good sound, both volume and quality, from a small speaker. I have a Zimo in a small HO 0-6-0 switcher and the sound is more than adequate, so much so I have to set the sound CV at 30/255. I think many locos are set way too high which can even get annoying. I think the sound should almost disappear after two two train lenghs of say a ten car train.


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## BrokeCurmudgeon (Feb 8, 2016)

That sounds good to me!


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## Eusjim (Dec 16, 2014)

*Broadway limited PRR is great*



BrokeCurmudgeon said:


> I am looking for feed back on the Model Power N 876111 2-6-0 Mogul Steam Engine. Has anyone have experience with this locomotive. I am most interested in the sound quality, level and fidelity coming from this little N Scale loco. I am trying to decide between a Broadway Limited Paragon2 PRR M1a/M1b. However the larger Broadway Limited may be too big for my 12" radius. The Mogul would be better suited to my layout, time era and sharp 12" radius. Comments? :dunno:


I own the PRR Broadway Limited and love it. Run on 12 inch radius track. To achieve tight radius it eliminated flanges on 4 center wheels. Runs very smoothly at low low speed. Have to turn the sound down, but enjoy it so much I haven't gotten around to doing that yet. 
You can't go wrong with this one. Nicely detailed engine.


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## Sunsanvil (Jan 25, 2017)

traction fan said:


> What I did was to install a larger speaker in a dummy B-unit. This was a lot better than the original arrangement which had the speaker up against a solid part of the locomotive shell. I mounted my surplus laptop computer speaker facing down through the mostly open bottom of the B-unit.


Did you just mount the speaker on the bottom plate of the B unit or did you fashion an actual speaker enclosure?

I've been planning to experiment along these lines. My other hobby is audio engineering so I was looking at applying "real" speaker principals.  Basically need to find as large a speaker as will fit, probable use more than one in series/parallel (depending on the impedance of the amp), maybe even implement a bass reflex enclosure.


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