Richard Croft Posted January 14, 2018 Share Posted January 14, 2018 (edited) I’ve been doing a lot of sound fitting recently so I decided to take photos as I went along to share my experiences and ideas. Firstly I’ve fitted a ‘Mega bass’ Speaker into 2 Hornby Class 67’s. I swapped the loksound 3.5 decoders I had in these for TTS ones because of the better speaker options. The space in the tanks is very limiting so I found space inside to fit a bigger speaker. I swapped the metal moulding and fan grills for a bass speaker. By sticking the headlight contacts to the speaker the body can still be taken on and off I melted grooves into the speaker with a soldering iron so it fits into the legs that hold the original metal chassis part. The top of the speaker has to be cut off and re made using plasticard. The model sounds great. The speaker works well at high volumes so I can turn the master volume up on the TTS decoder. Richard Edited January 14, 2018 by Richard Croft Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Croft Posted January 14, 2018 Author Share Posted January 14, 2018 (edited) I also did a deltic, I don’t have a milling machine so I wanted to fit a speaker without cutting the main chassis block,ruling out things like the EM2 speaker. I decided that the best I could do would be to put 2 28x40 speakers in the tanks, on the bench they looked to be a good fit, they turned out to be a bit bigger than I thought so it was quite a hard job to get them in. Once I had cut a hole with a dremmel I had to file down the sides of the speakers a bit to get them to clear the tanks but eventually after a lot of messing about I got them in. I sealed them with glue which isn’t pretty even when dry but under the loco it’s pretty hidden anyway.Before putting the chassis back together I put a few layers of electrical tape over the back of the speakers to seal them and ran the wire through one of the screw holes, the body is now held in with 5 screws which is fine.The finished model would really benefit from legomanbiffos sounds, the Bachmann standard sound file is a bit lacking, the engine doesn’t seem to notch up enough but when it does it sounds great.Richard Edited January 14, 2018 by Richard Croft 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Croft Posted January 14, 2018 Author Share Posted January 14, 2018 One of my popular sound fits has been the class 60 with a megabass speaker, I have 3 with the same setup, a legomanbiffo and a Digitrains (Paul Chetter). but you can now use the TTS decoder too Theres actually a lot of space inside a Hornby class 60 if you dont mind losing the engine mouldings. The speaker then fits inside easily. in my other 60 I left slightly more of the mouldings in place which caused a rattle, so I mounted the speaker facing upwards in that model, they sound the same whichever way it goes. The speaker is secured with blutak. Once back together you can barely tell the engine moulding has been swapped for a speaker. A video can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVNi3IvRkGw Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Croft Posted January 14, 2018 Author Share Posted January 14, 2018 Ive also done a Flying Scotsman. This is the model which Represents Flying Scotsman today with modern warning flashes etc. I wanted the sound to come from the loco, not the tender.. Starting with the tender, the speaker needs removing from under the weight and a small hole needs drilling for the new speakers wire. Once this was done I left the tender and took the body off the model, almost breaking the speedo drive which links the wheels to the cab. That needs unfastening before you remove the body. Once inside I removed a weight small weight which was screwed on near the front of the loco. The speaker was stuck inside the body with sticky pads, I deliberately did it this way rather than sticking it to the chassis so the sticky pads couldn't be seen when the model was back together. no sticky pads were placed at the front edge of the speaker or it would be visible through the chimney The wire was then guided towards the back of the model with and held in place with tape and fed out of the back corner, near the rear wheel so it didn't interfere with the grooves that the body slots onto, it was then fed through the new hole I drilled and all connected back together. A relatively easy job and a great sounding model I think. I will try this on other steam locos. Richard Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Croft Posted January 17, 2018 Author Share Posted January 17, 2018 (edited) A model I've fancied doing for a while was a class 50, I know theres a fair bit of space inside when you remove the fans. I bought one recently so yesterday I had a go at fitting it. I had hoped to get a megabass straight in but it was just too tall. My solution was to take off the enclosure and seal the back of the speaker with blutak, this actually gave me space for 2 speakers These were wired up in parallel (8 ohm speakers) and fitted onto blobs of blutac facing downwards. The finished model has plenty of bass and sounds far better than the 20x40 it came with I will make a video once its weathered Richard Edited January 17, 2018 by Richard Croft 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharpshooter Posted January 17, 2018 Share Posted January 17, 2018 Nice tutorials Richard....must give a 67 and 60 a try with one of the Mega Bass speakers....cheers. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold MikeParkin65 Posted January 18, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 18, 2018 Interesting fits and I'll certainly try the mega bases. However I've also had good results with these - YouChoos YLR-302506 - I've got a Bachmann 47 with a Hornby TTS, an iphone 5 speaker under the fan grill and the youchoose facing down in the fuel tank. The iphone gives good treble whilst the youchoose gives a good bit of 'wallop' to the base notes. One advantage is that both speakers are relatively small for the sound they give out. Earth Movers are brilliant but a little too much for my attic setting! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tractor_37260 Posted January 18, 2018 Share Posted January 18, 2018 Most speakers - Mega Bass included, work at their best in an air tight sealed enclosure, so the sound waves coming from the front can't reach the rear of the speaker and muddle the sound. For the Mega Bass speakers a simple enclosure/box can be made from plasticard to fit the space available. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Croft Posted January 19, 2018 Author Share Posted January 19, 2018 Most speakers - Mega Bass included, work at their best in an air tight sealed enclosure, so the sound waves coming from the front can't reach the rear of the speaker and muddle the sound. For the Mega Bass speakers a simple enclosure/box can be made from plasticard to fit the space available. I agree, in my 67 for example I left some enclosure and built a new back. Where space is really limited though I've found sealing the back of the speaker with blutac to be just as effective, theres nowhere for the sound to leak out as such on that 50 because of the blutac, its just not got an enclosure for the sound to bounce around which doesn't affect the sound as much as I expected Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Croft Posted January 19, 2018 Author Share Posted January 19, 2018 Interesting fits and I'll certainly try the mega bases. However I've also had good results with these - YouChoos YLR-302506 - I've got a Bachmann 47 with a Hornby TTS, an iphone 5 speaker under the fan grill and the youchoose facing down in the fuel tank. The iphone gives good treble whilst the youchoose gives a good bit of 'wallop' to the base notes. One advantage is that both speakers are relatively small for the sound they give out. Earth Movers are brilliant but a little too much for my attic setting! I've seen those speakers, they look quite a useful size. I'm weary of connecting 2 speakers to a TTS decoder though knowing that you are only really meant to use them with an 8 ohm speaker, especially when I sell some of these speakers and do installs for other people, I wouldn't want someone to damage their model because of me. Richard Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Croft Posted January 19, 2018 Author Share Posted January 19, 2018 I’ve always really liked the Vitrains clsss 37. I like how you start off with what looks like a Lima model and a bag of bits and by the end of it you have something that in my opinion is more detailed than a Bachmann. I picked up a large logo class 47401 with a TTS decoder from eBay for a good price and fitted another one of my megabass speakers without an enclosure, the sound is great. I turned up the master volume to start with but it was a little too loud so I settled on 5 out of 8. Pictures below, video to follow. I am impressed with the TTS decoder, it’s not up there with the best loksound 4 soundfiles but I think there is still a place for them on most layouts. Richard Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Revolution Mike B Posted January 19, 2018 Share Posted January 19, 2018 (edited) You can get two of those Mega Bass speakers with their enclosures in a 50 with a little bit of filing Richard. I was going to put an EM2 in it but given the sound quality of the Voyager, this seems a better option. When I get Defiance back from being renumbered I'll do it and post a picture Edited January 19, 2018 by scoobyra 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Croft Posted January 22, 2018 Author Share Posted January 22, 2018 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coL-_dwXoq0 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Croft Posted January 24, 2018 Author Share Posted January 24, 2018 I was asked to improve the sound of the TTS HST, this proved to be a useful opportunity because last time I did one I didn't have the Megabass speakers which I now use. I started by taking the speaker out of the power car with 2 screws. the new speaker is a very tight fit, the only way to get it in there is to stick it to the inside of the roof then carefully put the body back on. It has to go as far back as possible or the body won't go back on. The dummy is much easier, again I took the old speaker out with 2 screws, then I stuck the speaker to the floor facing upwards, making sure it didn't get in the way of the bogie pivot point. I did a comparison video whilst I was doing this job. I recorded the dummy with the original speaker and the powered car with the megabass to show what a huge difference it makes. The video can be found below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1jtYTufqkk Richard 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chriswright03 Posted January 27, 2018 Share Posted January 27, 2018 I’ve always really liked the Vitrains clsss 37. I like how you start off with what looks like a Lima model and a bag of bits and by the end of it you have something that in my opinion is more detailed than a Bachmann. I picked up a large logo class 47401 with a TTS decoder from eBay for a good price and fitted another one of my megabass speakers without an enclosure, the sound is great. I turned up the master volume to start with but it was a little too loud so I settled on 5 out of 8. Pictures below, video to follow. I am impressed with the TTS decoder, it’s not up there with the best loksound 4 soundfiles but I think there is still a place for them on most layouts. Richard Richard just looking at this I see you have fitted the speaker over the bogie. I have seen somewhere about doing that with the 37 as well but could not find a way to make the TTS decoder speaker fit there on the Vitrains 37. I have cut the lugs off the enclosure and it would fit but the advice was to put it facing down so the sound went out through the bogie and I cannot see a way of doing that. I see yours is facing up so I assume to have the sound go through the fan but on the 37 there is a solid piece of plastic inside. Any ideas about the 37 please? As it is I fitted it facing down from the roof with double sided tape but am unsure how long it would stay there. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Croft Posted January 27, 2018 Author Share Posted January 27, 2018 I found with these that they are so loud it doesn’t really matter where the speaker faces, in this case it was facing up but not at the fan end, I put it at the other end because there was slightly more space and it sounded great. Richard Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Croft Posted January 27, 2018 Author Share Posted January 27, 2018 I have since fitted one in the tanks of a Bachmann 37, without any need to remove the switches, i’ll do a bit of info on this at some point, got a few more to do. Richard Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chriswright03 Posted January 28, 2018 Share Posted January 28, 2018 Isn't the Vitrains tank full of metal to add weight though? I will see if I can blu tack it to one of the bogies as it will be more secure than hanging from sticky tape in the roof. Thanks Richard. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAF96 Posted January 28, 2018 Share Posted January 28, 2018 I propped the cab doors open on one of my diesels to let the racket out. Rob 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Croft Posted January 30, 2018 Author Share Posted January 30, 2018 (edited) I’ve been fitting speakers into the tanks if Bachmann diesels, I’ve even managed to retain the switches for the lights. I had to remove the enclosure and cut the frame down, right up to the speaker driver. I’ve done a few now, waiting for 2 tts decoders to arrive to try those. One is finished with a loksound 4 decoder in too, that has a second, small speaker under the fans to drop the ohm rating. Richard Edited January 30, 2018 by Richard Croft 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shedmaster Posted January 31, 2018 Share Posted January 31, 2018 Hi Richard, Just nipping back to the Hornby Class 67 if I may briefly to add my thoughts ? I have just fitted a Hornby TTS sound decoder to my Hornby Class 67 with one of your 20x40 bass reflex speakers. I removed the screw mounting holes at either end of the speaker to enable fitment and then used the blu-tak method to secure the speaker and hold it still within the fuel tank enclosure, then soldered the speaker wires to the wires coming from the decoder, avoiding soldering anywhere near the actual decoder itself. I was fortunate enough not to experience the slow speed stuttering reported elsewhere after fitting. Now, after driving the real thing since their arrival in the UK, I hope I'm qualified enough to say that this speaker is ideal for the job in my honest opinion, it sounds just like a Class 67 should - I didn't feel it necessary to adjust any of the sound volumes or other settings at this time and the best bit was the ease of fitting the thing. I also ordered two of your 'Mega-Bass' speakers in the same order and these will go in a ViTrains 47, but I'm not sure you really 'need' these in a Hornby 67, when the 20x40 does such a good job and without the effort of modifying anything ? Thanks for your efforts on the forum and your youtube vids, sound fitted models have just become interesting again for me. All the best, Kindest Regards, Shed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Croft Posted January 31, 2018 Author Share Posted January 31, 2018 Hi Richard, Just nipping back to the Hornby Class 67 if I may briefly to add my thoughts ? I have just fitted a Hornby TTS sound decoder to my Hornby Class 67 with one of your 20x40 bass reflex speakers. I removed the screw mounting holes at either end of the speaker to enable fitment and then used the blu-tak method to secure the speaker and hold it still within the fuel tank enclosure, then soldered the speaker wires to the wires coming from the decoder, avoiding soldering anywhere near the actual decoder itself. I was fortunate enough not to experience the slow speed stuttering reported elsewhere after fitting. Now, after driving the real thing since their arrival in the UK, I hope I'm qualified enough to say that this speaker is ideal for the job in my honest opinion, it sounds just like a Class 67 should - I didn't feel it necessary to adjust any of the sound volumes or other settings at this time and the best bit was the ease of fitting the thing. I also ordered two of your 'Mega-Bass' speakers in the same order and these will go in a ViTrains 47, but I'm not sure you really 'need' these in a Hornby 67, when the 20x40 does such a good job and without the effort of modifying anything ? Thanks for your efforts on the forum and your youtube vids, sound fitted models have just become interesting again for me. All the best, Kindest Regards, Shed. That’s a great bit of feedback, I must admit I never tried one of those 20x40x8 speakers in the tanks, I just assumed the megabass would be better so I set about making it fit! I have some really nice sounding locos so I suppose I’ve just tried to make everything match the sound quality of those. Richard Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
classy52 Posted February 2, 2018 Share Posted February 2, 2018 Hi Richard, Have you done a Bachmann Class 66 with TTS yet? Cheers Steve Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Croft Posted February 3, 2018 Author Share Posted February 3, 2018 (edited) Hi Richard, Have you done a Bachmann Class 66 with TTS yet? Cheers Steve Yeah, It was an 8 pin model and there wasn't much space for a speaker so I used an iPhone one which sounds pretty good, if that hadn't worked out I was going to try the tanks. Edited February 4, 2018 by Richard Croft 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Croft Posted February 4, 2018 Author Share Posted February 4, 2018 For those who might be interested, I've done a quick video of one of my Bachmann class 37's with a TTS decoder and megabsss speaker. It sounds very good considering the low price of the decoder. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6gwFt6JC_Y Richard 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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