D1056WesternSultan Posted June 10, 2019 Share Posted June 10, 2019 I am looking to upgrade the pre-fitted speaker in my Bachmann 32-376DS sound fitted class 37 37693. It is fitted with a loksound v3.5 21 pin decoder and a very basic rectangular speaker. I am looking for a suitable 100 ohm replacement speaker or advice on how to improve the sound from the existing speaker. The existing speaker is attached to a plastic frame which in turn is attached to the chassis. There is no sealed sound box as such. Any advice most gratefully received. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
charliepetty Posted June 10, 2019 Share Posted June 10, 2019 That's easy!!! Just make the chamber behind it sealed and airtight. The diaphram will only work correctly (Louder & Deeper) IF the sound chamber behind it is airtight. We could do it for you including a reblow to Legomanbiffo Sounds. charlie@dckits.co.uk 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
D1056WesternSultan Posted June 10, 2019 Author Share Posted June 10, 2019 Hi Charlie, Thanks for your advice. I will seal the chamber and see what happens. i suppose I could alway smake a deeper chamber out of plastic card, I had the chip reblown by Howes (sorryt) several years ago so its already much better than the Bachmann sounds. I will soon be after some Legomanbiffo sounds though to replace TTS class 60 and 67. They are truly awful I see the class 60 is on Loksound v5 chips now. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRman Posted June 10, 2019 Share Posted June 10, 2019 For the 37, Charlie's advice is good, but you can do slightly better still if you get hold of a bass enhanced or bass reflex speaker (still 100 ohm). My own 37s with sound also have v3.5 decoders, and have one bass enhanced speaker with another smaller round speaker in one of the nose ends, wired in parallel. Volume must not exceed 50 with this setup, but I find volume settings of 20 to 25 more than sufficiently loud. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
D1056WesternSultan Posted June 11, 2019 Author Share Posted June 11, 2019 SRman, where did you get your speakers from as I have found there are very few 100 ohm speakers available that will fit in the space available? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobjUK Posted June 11, 2019 Share Posted June 11, 2019 You could try turning the speaker over (compared to the photos) and sealing it, airtight around the edges, to the roof fan opening (if it has a grille rather than a solid insert). Temporarily removing the insert / changing to a grille may be worthwhile if not. A carefully applied bead of blu-tack to stick and seal it may work as an experiment. That makes the whole loco body act as a baffle and should give a significant improvement to a simple "open" speaker. Whether it's good enough is another thing altogether. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRman Posted June 11, 2019 Share Posted June 11, 2019 (edited) 3 hours ago, D1056WesternSultan said: SRman, where did you get your speakers from as I have found there are very few 100 ohm speakers available that will fit in the space available? I have bought 100 ohm speakers from a couple of different places over the years and still have a few sitting as spares. Digitrains and DCC Supplies are two I have bought from in the past, with at least the latter still showing a few. DC Kits (Charlie's mob!) also have some, and it is quite possible I bought a few off him in the past too. For the 37s, you need one of the smaller bass enhanced speakers, with the end tags cut off and, from memory, possibly a little filed off the top corners to fit within the roof profile of the 37. As Charlie said, it is vitally important for the best sound to make sure the speaker is sealed in its sound chamber; the bass enhanced and bass reflex types are completely sealed units anyway, but if you do have to file them down and accidentally go too far, seal any accidental holes up again. Edited June 11, 2019 by SRman 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
D1056WesternSultan Posted June 11, 2019 Author Share Posted June 11, 2019 Thank you all for your useful comments. I have glued the original speaker to the mounting frame and sealed all the joints between the speaker and the frame with a bead of black tack. I am not expecting too much of an improvement but am sure it will be better than before. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRman Posted June 11, 2019 Share Posted June 11, 2019 30 minutes ago, D1056WesternSultan said: Thank you all for your useful comments. I have glued the original speaker to the mounting frame and sealed all the joints between the speaker and the frame with a bead of black tack. I am not expecting too much of an improvement but am sure it will be better than before. I can guarantee the sound will be much better than before. Even with standard speakers, that's the first thing I do, before playing around with alternate speakers and combinations. Bachmann's speaker mounting is not really a sound chamber at all, and has several very large gaps to fill. I have on a couple of occasions with other, more difficult models, created an entire sound chamber out of Blu-tack. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platform 1 Posted June 11, 2019 Share Posted June 11, 2019 Hi, I went through this scenario with a Bachmann 37254 some years ago. I couldn't get a decent sound from the supplied 100ohm speaker at all; always thin and weedy. I replaced it with a DCC Supplies DCCS2040 (20x40mm), then sealed it all round completely with blue tack - what a difference! Much fuller sound. DCC Supplies (no connection, just satisfied customer) has discontinued the DCCS2040 and were showing a DCCS1635 as replacement with a better frequency range, but that's no longer listed on their web site either. Maybe one of the other suppliers has a 20x40mm 100ohm speaker of decent quality? Good luck with whatever you decide. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
D1056WesternSultan Posted June 11, 2019 Author Share Posted June 11, 2019 (edited) I have to say the improvements to the basic supplied speaker has made a difference but it is still at Platform 1 says 'thin and weedy'. I suppose that as 100 ohms decoders are now very old the manufacturers are not making suitable speakers. I see ESU have just culled their complete range of conventional speakers in favour of a'one size fits all' sugar cube set up. I have an ESU 100 ohm base reflex speaker that I may try and butcher to see if I can make it fit. Edited June 11, 2019 by D1056WesternSultan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
charliepetty Posted June 11, 2019 Share Posted June 11, 2019 On 10/06/2019 at 21:04, D1056WesternSultan said: Hi Charlie, Thanks for your advice. I will seal the chamber and see what happens. i suppose I could alway smake a deeper chamber out of plastic card, I had the chip reblown by Howes (sorryt) several years ago so its already much better than the Bachmann sounds. I will soon be after some Legomanbiffo sounds though to replace TTS class 60 and 67. They are truly awful I see the class 60 is on Loksound v5 chips now. Eveything we do is now on a V5 Decoder, new features are slowly being introduced without telling people !!! Charlie Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Phil Bullock Posted June 11, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 11, 2019 I am with SRman - seal it to the chassis with black tak or blu tak. But for best improvement please make sure seal is complete - looking at what you have done can still see gaps, destructive interference will still apply if any sound waves can escape from the back of the speaker Phil 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
D1056WesternSultan Posted June 12, 2019 Author Share Posted June 12, 2019 Phil Bullock, thank you for your comments. I made sure the speaker was glued to the frame and then fully sealed with black tack. the photos sadly don't show that. I have to say the sound is much better and louder! I need to turn it down. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
D1056WesternSultan Posted June 12, 2019 Author Share Posted June 12, 2019 Has anyone ever chopped one of these about to make it easier to fit in a loco? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
40034_Nick Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 1 hour ago, D1056WesternSultan said: Has anyone ever chopped one of these about to make it easier to fit in a loco? Your best bet is to butcher the tank under the loco and place it in there and cable up to PCB. All my 37s have butchered tanks. I melt the tank plastic and speaker carefully together with an old soldering iron. works great for me just make sure you dont make a hole in the speaker housing.. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
saxokid Posted August 22, 2019 Share Posted August 22, 2019 On 12/06/2019 at 08:57, D1056WesternSultan said: Has anyone ever chopped one of these about to make it easier to fit in a loco? Ive used few of these cut down and fitted into few of my 37 sounds from Howes reblown 3.5 decoders. Just matter of taking your time... 3 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrisr40 Posted March 5, 2022 Share Posted March 5, 2022 On 22/08/2019 at 03:45, saxokid said: Ive used few of these cut down and fitted into few of my 37 sounds from Howes reblown 3.5 decoders. Just matter of taking your time... Hi Saxokid, would you mind telling me how as my speaker has just expired ? Many thanks Chris Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold tarifa Posted March 5, 2022 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 5, 2022 Hello 1056WesternSultan, You may find this installation of use. It uses the speaker as supplied fitted in the fuel tank. Mike. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now