# Tsunami Sound Install In Athearn



## Geep Fan (Aug 4, 2011)

I have an Athearn RTR GP 38-2 that i want to install a Tsunami sound board and a speaker. Can anyone post a photo of a similar install and show me how they handled the speaker mounting in it?

Also and the same with any blue box locos they have installed a speaker enclosure in?

Thanks,
Corey


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## gc53dfgc (Apr 13, 2010)

Well I imagine when you say rtr you mean the new ones that look nothing like the insides of the old blue box era ones. If you do I will be able to help you with that in a few days once I get my GP38-2 that I bought which is DCC equipped but no sound. If you mean a blue box engine I would imagine your best bet would to get some super detail parts like radiator and dynamic brake fans and grills to replace the current ones then glue the speaker and enclosure to the roof of the long hood where the grills are with some CA so sound can get through easily. Then glue the decoder itself to the roof in the middle or make a mount out of plastic to hold it and put that right under the dynamic brake grills so it can stay cooled easier. That should keep the decoder out of the way of the motor and spinning driveshafts and the same for the speaker. Make sure to glue or tape the wires to the roof as well so they do not hit the spinning drive shafts and cause a mess. I will post on here again once i get mine in if you are looking for how to do it for the new rtr.


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## Geep Fan (Aug 4, 2011)

Yes sir it's the Newer Athearn Ready To Roll i guess they call it. It's the retooled GP 38-2. however the motor isn't that much different looking that the old BB and it is not DCC ready either like some of the new RTR models. Its in the Iowa Interstate paint scheme which is hard to come buy. I do have some blue box to do as well. 

Thanks for your help!
Corey


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## NIMT (Jan 6, 2011)

You have asked the 100 dollar question, Sorry your going to get the 5 dollar answer from me.
I have done installs of DCC and Sound in hundreds of Engines and equipment and no two are ever the same! Not even 2 of the same model or type! You need to find space anyway you can.
You'll need to do the install step by step, most speakers are too large for Blue Box engines and you'll need a fairly small and shallow speaker in order to fit, The speakers with the large baffles on the back never work.
When I first got into doing installs, I used to use a chunk of soft clay to test for proper clearance for the speaker and decoder.
Isolating the motor from the frame is one of the most important requirements for Blue Box units, Second would be rewiring the pickups to the new decoder to get good power.


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## gc53dfgc (Apr 13, 2010)

Those two things are easy Sean. All blue box engines come pre isolated with the exception of that little metal pin on the bottom of the motor which can be simply cut off to isolate it and then a piece of electrical tape or tape of choice to insure a good insulation. And if you remove those extra metal clips like you told me to do I think a decent speaker and baffle could fit in there. Soldering to the oldmetal pieces on the trucks is not very hard to do either. That is if you have okay soldering skills and a steady hand.


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## Geep Fan (Aug 4, 2011)

Thanks for the help guys. Got to figure something out on this one as it's one of my roads main pieces of equipment and IIAS paint schemes are difficult to find. 

Corey


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## gc53dfgc (Apr 13, 2010)

See if you can get a picture of the insides of the locomotives so I can get a good feel of what you have.


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## NIMT (Jan 6, 2011)

I'll second the pic comment!
GC and I can get you threw it with pictures for reference.
For years I didn't cut the body at all on blue box engines to get the speaker sound out, I just installed them with the speaker pointing down and they are plenty loud.


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## gc53dfgc (Apr 13, 2010)

ah Sean but think of all those cool fancy super detailed fan grills.. There is even a way to power them with little pager motors so they spin to and it can all be controlled by DCC. That is my next project, to get working fans in one of my DCC trains.


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## Geep Fan (Aug 4, 2011)

Thanks guys. I got photos and will post them. Also... this is the newer chassis with the screw in motor mounts. I also have a Genesis GP15-1 motor i bought on ebay, i believe it will screw right in to this same mount and both units use the new hex drive. So if i can get a decoder to fit i can replace the motor and have it run like a top of the line loco!

Corey


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## NIMT (Jan 6, 2011)

GC,
What you think I haven't already done the working fan thing?
How about two computer cooling fans 2cm I do believe, They worked rather nicely and were connected to a sound chip that when you hit the fans the sound came on and the fan did too!
Remember I've been doing DCC controls and installs for too many years!


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## gc53dfgc (Apr 13, 2010)

I never said you haven't but you never said you have so I brought it up because I find it a cool feature. What were the 2cm fans used for on yours Dynamics? I plan on just using a pager motor and the blades from those super detail kits and seing how that works. I like the idea of having them activate when you activate the sound but how did you do that? CV reprograming or a special chip that you specially programmed to do that?


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## Geep Fan (Aug 4, 2011)

Here are the photos. Note that speaker is pretty tall and thick. It gets wedged about halfway up the side. It’s 3/4 at the top and bottom edge but in the middle it is wider at that point. the shell is a little less than 3/4 wide... I had to sand down the sides of the speaker but it still gets wedged up in there, so have to use smaller than that.


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## NIMT (Jan 6, 2011)

Geep Fan,
Yes, that is usually the problem!
gC,
It's a lot easier to use a pancake style motor like the computer video card fan, Attaching the fan to the pager motor and attaching the pager motor to the body is quite the pain! the computer fans become the dynamic fans!
Programing the output of the sound decoders CV's is easy enough to get it to work.


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## gc53dfgc (Apr 13, 2010)

I think you are going to need a smaller speaker for that to work. I know the one I installed in my SD40-2 is not that big in length or thickness. It was also way to loud for me even though it was a lot smaller so I ended up turning the volume down to like 1/4 of the full volume level and still plenty loud. So an even smaller one on full should be enough. Again I am supposed to get a engine in soon that is almost exactly the same as yours with the exception of a decoder installed into it.

Sean,

Where do you find these little motors for your fans that you sue for the dynamics? I often frequent Newegg.com and they have nothing that small so where do you get them? I also realise that doing it with the pagers will be a pain but it is the only way to get the radiator fans unless there are some that are like 1cm or smaller.


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## NIMT (Jan 6, 2011)

gc,
Most of the time I get them off of old computer equipment.
But you can get them new at digikey.com


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## Geep Fan (Aug 4, 2011)

Thanks GC, i think i got it planned out now. Will post photos when i get it done. Got to order the stuff yet. Thanks all for your help!

Corey


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