Page 5 - 39. MRH13-05-May2013
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The next level in
sound realism?
The new hobby frontier
F
or some time now, loco sound has become a regular
expectation on HO and larger layouts, and loco sound
is even are found on a few N scale layouts. Recently,
SoundTraxx released their SurroundTraxx product, which allows
you to put the speakers under the layout and have the sound fol-
low the train around.
One of the big problems with loco sound, especially in HO and N,
is the tiny speakers and their inability to transmit the deep bass
rumble that's common with full-sized locomotives. SurroundTraxx
addresses that problem to a degree by having the sound follow the
train around, using much larger speakers mounted under the lay-
out. For N scale, especially, this makes decent loco sound practical.
Being a computer guy, I have to ask why we need to stop with just
loco sound? With programmable sound decoders from folks like
LokSound/ESU, why not put a sound decoder in the caboose that
has train sounds?
The caboose decoder could be consisted with the loco decoders
and be programmed so when the train starts out, there's a train
Publisher’s editorial - 1
Publisher’s Musings editorial
by Joe Fugate
MRH-May 2013
