Broadway Limited 4-8-4

[nw-modeling-list at nwhs.org]

On 4/7/2005, Jerry Shepardson wrote:

>I have one of the early Y-3 engines that was fitted with a Soundtraxx
>decoder shortly after I bought it. IMHO, quality is not as good as the
>Broadway A, especially the bell. Sounds "tinny" to me compared to the A.

Jerry,

Your P2K Y-3 probably doesn't have the dual speaker set-up that the BLI 
locomotive has.  The limitation on sound produced by even the older 
SoundTraxx decoders is the limited ability of the speakers we use in our 
locomotives to reproduce the sounds.  If you want to see what they can 
really produce, try connecting your SoundTraxx decoder to a good stereo 
amplifier and set of bookshelf (or larger) speakers.  Sounds awesome.  QSI 
realized the limitations of a single small speaker, and they have attempted 
to overcome as many of those limitations as they can with the dual speaker 
set-up they use.  I haven't measured the difference between the two, but I 
suspect the QSI is capable of producing more sound in the lower frequency 
range than the single speaker SoundTraxx.  Some would argue that there is 
also a difference with SoundTraxx only using an 8-bit in their old 
decoders, while QSI uses a 16-bit chip, but that difference is negligible 
to our hearing when reproduced with the small speakers we use.  The 
upcoming SoundTraxx Tsunami will use (according to info released by 
SoundTraxx) a 16-bit chip for sound.

Incidentally, I have a dual speaker set up with SoundTraxx DSX in one of 
the Y-3s with the larger tender, and it sounds wonderful.  At least I can 
play the hooter better than I can my BLI A. :-)

Cheers,
Kert Peterson
Fircrest, WA

Modeling the Norfolk and Western Ry in 1951, when Precision Transportation 
was still steam powered!  
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