At the ECLSTS, Ray the Bachmann representaive, demonstrated a Soundtraxx Tsunami sound board plugged into the DCC board in the tender of a C-19. A trackside DCC command station was used to trigger the sound functions. The sound was very impressive!
But to date I have not heard anything more about it. Has anyone else seen or heard about this product?
I heard from my local hobby shop about two months ago that they were expected to arrive in a month or so. I keep checking, but nothing on the shelf as yet. They’re plug-n-play install, and rated at 4 amps. I’m led to believe (2nd-hand info) that they’re a full-functioned Tsunami board, beefed up for 4 amps, and will come outfitted with a half-dozen or so different whistles for users to choose from.
This is what’s listed on their 1-amp “C-class” decoder. I’d imagine the C-19 board would use this or very similar.
http://www.soundtraxx.com/dsd/tsunami/showwistle.php?s=cclass
That’ll be great for those running “traditional” DCC. Unfortunately, those of us running Airwire will have to stock up on the G2 boards in order to run this unit as a motor/sound board as it’s designed. The G3’s DCC booster output has been reduced to 1.5 amps! Otherwise, we’re just using it as a sound board like we could use the smaller 1-amp Tsunamis. There’s no real advantage, except–perhaps–volume. I don’t know how powerful the amplifier on the 4-amp Tsunami is; the 1-amp one is rated at 1 watt. Having said that, I find 1 watt to be sufficient for my back yard. (Though my back yard is small, and I prefer my volume settings low enough to where they fade away as the loco moves down the track.)
Later,
K
Update: I spoke with Soundtraxx today; the boards are being revised, but will be out once those revisions are finalized. No firm time estimate, but should be fairly soon.