I’m about to put sound into 2 Aristo FA-1.
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Did Aristo ever put a speaker stock into the FA-1?
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If so, does anyone have a picture.
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any other speaker installation pictures or description of their speaker installations.
Thanks, Greg
The FA1’s fuel tank was designed with screw holes for a speaker
Richard
Do you have any of the AristoCraft streamliners? They use the same central tool box/air canisters (in silver), and IIRC, mine are factory drilled with holes for a speaker. Take a look.
For my FA (Phoenix analog sound), I pretty much gutted the cab and removed the smoke stuff to fit a Philips enclosure inside that was designed for use with flat screen TVs. It just faces upwards.
My fuel tank has holes drilled in it… looks like for a speaker… at least I assume the black box between the trucks is a fuel tank… they use the same enclosure on the passenger cars?
these are my first and only FA-1’s, and Ted Doskaris has converted them from basket cases to running locos… both chassis were damaged like you might expect a 4 foot drop would do. Bought them pretty much sight unseen.
I’ve been getting custom enclosures made for my USAT diesels, but maybe a nice speaker box inside would be better than the fuel tank.
I can also put 2 speakers in it if needed.
Greg
Sure, why not???
That’s why I called it a tool box/air tank even though there is a fuel filler cap.
FWIW, the Ottawa Valley Garden RR Society has a very nice page with lots of tech tips and projects well explained
Including battery/RC install in the Aristo FA1. While it does not address the speaker, perhaps it may be of some use for surgery.
http://ovgrs.org/the-trains/battery-power-radio-control-and-sound/aristo-craft-plug-and-play-fa-1/
Jerry
Greg,
My two cents. I like what Todd does. Whenever I can I put speakers in an enclosure facing up under the fans in my diesels. I think the sound is better.
Greg and Todd,
Do you have pictures of the speaker enclosures your utilizing? I have several engines awaiting speakers and such. I’ve used the fuel tank’s for enclosures on several engines in the past. I seal them up to work like a speaker enclosure, its make a notable difference.
Michael
Thanks Todd, I seem to remember the ubiquitous Aristo “box”… Aristo was pretty famous for “repurposing” components
Jerry, I’m pretty well aware of the Ottawa Valley site (https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif), although I believe my site predates theirs ha ha… at least the excellent articles mostly by Paul Norton… but I don’t do battery for myself, I am all DCC…
Paul, looks like Todd just put a speaker facing down. I’m with you I like at least one speaker firing through the fans, and you can really hear the difference in fidelity that way, especially the higher frequencies of the bell and horn. In fact all my recent installs on F3’s (10 of them) and GP7’s (3 of them) have a speaker in the “tank” and one pointing up through the fans… and they do sound great.
Michael, yes I have a friend locally who has been designing speaker enclosures, and I’ve posted a few links. Go to my site and look up the USA Trains GP7 pages and the F3 pages, there’s a lot of pictures.
I’ll put a couple of links in for those interested in the enclosures:
(first part is speakers w/out enclosures… scroll down to the second part for the 3d enclosures)
I won’t post all those pages and pictures here.
Greg
Greg Elmassian said:
Paul, looks like Todd just put a speaker facing down. I’m with you I like at least one speaker firing through the fans, and you can really hear the difference in fidelity that way, especially the higher frequencies of the bell and horn. In fact all my recent installs on F3’s (10 of them) and GP7’s (3 of them) have a speaker in the “tank” and one pointing up through the fans… and they do sound great.
Greg
No…, I use a Philips enclosure designed for flat screen televisions. This enclosure has two 2" “woofers,” a 1" dome tweeter, and a ~2" x 5" passive radiator on the back.
The speakers face up while the radiator faces down. The tweeter and near woofer center under the rear vent. (Tweeter to the right and woofer to the left in picture.)
The volume switch now serves as a “fire cracker” antenna.
The older FA/FB was not as ameniable to mounting a speaker in the “box.”
Sorry Todd, that’s right, you mentioned the enclosure, but then I fixated on the “fuel tank”…
Did you purchase this enclosure from somewhere, or “liberate” it from a dead TV? (link?)
I forgot I can use that vent since I’ll dump the old smoke system.
Greg
Either got them from Allelectronics or Electronic Goldmine but it’s been a long time. Actually purchased a couple sets at the time ($14/pr IIRC) some of which I used and some got passed on (they were a perfect fit in the box/stock cars).
OOOPS Hiccup (double post).
Ahh, forgot electronic goldmine! aptly named.
Found some reasonable ones by Tang Band at Parts-Express too.
Thanks, Greg
RE: Aristo-Craft FA1/FB1 Sound Unit - Self contained in fuel tank.
Aristo-Craft had offered an optional FA1/FB1, diesel sound unit, ART-29350, although that part number seemed to be subsequently reused, or reissued in error, for a non powered GP40 motor block.
Power connection appears to be via spring loaded contractors:
"The sound unit comes as a separate item. The circuitry and built-in speaker, come in a plastic casting ARISTO-CRAFT designed to resemble the F-unit’s fuel tanks. Except for a three position on-off switch, a volume control, and the pre-drilled speaker holes, it is identical to the F-units’ existing underbody detail. Installation is extremely simple: Unscrew the two small screws in the existing fuel tank casting and remove it, position the sound unit casting the same way making sure its electrical contacts touch a mating metal surface on the locomotive’s underframe, and replace the two screws. If you want to install one or more external speakers, ARISTO-CRAFT provides hook-up wires. They also include a couple of additional mounting screws.
We had trouble anyway. The mounting screws stripped the plastic in their holes. We replaced them with larger screws.
When the on-off switch is in the center position, the unit emits no sound. When you slide the switch to the left (toward the cab), you hear diesel sounds, bell, and horn. When you slide it to the right (or rear), you hear the undulating rumble of an Alco diesel only. The very clear instructions explain how to add the external speakers. A 10 year old is capable of performing a perfect installation. "
Above excerpt from URL.
Based on looking through Aristo-Craft catalogs, Aristo’s first digital sound unit, Part No. ART-29350, was apparently offered in 1993; however, in 1996 one that appears to have a different design with pig tail leads, Part No. ART-29339, appears to have been offered in 1996.
Hope this answers questions how Aristo offered sound in the FA1/FB1 units.
-Ted
My old version FA has the ph hobbies sound unit and speaker in the fuel tank. I did this around 2001. Power is available without taking the engine apart, just remove the fuel tank.
When Aristo-Craft started selling FA-1s with Plug and Play sockets, a large weight was put in the fuel tank. An oval speaker was mounted behind the mesh grill on the right side of the diesel behind the cab. Unfortunately I don’t have a picture of it on the OVGRS website.
While you have an FA-1 open you may want to consider adding headers and connectors to the bottom of the circuit board on the back door. These wires have a tendency to break when the locomotive is worked on.
You should also check to see if the wiring between the circuit boards on the frame are wired properly.
The front MU plug will not function if it is wired this way.
Moving the wires over as shown will correct it.
Thank you Paul! I would love to see that speaker mount, that is what I remember, a speaker mounted sideways… I remember seeing it, but cannot find a picture.
Good tips on the connectors, these are my first and only FA-1 units, since the Santa Fe never had them.
Mine are so old, no socket inside, but since they are going DCC, I’ll probably pull all the electronics, to make room for more weight.
Greg
And the decoder fits in the dummy engine real nice on the Aristo F units.
Dan, there’s plenty of room in the loco proper in any case, whether with socket or not. I do not run unpowered diesels, grades too steep!
Anyway, if anyone has a picture of the later model FA-1 with the socket and/or the “factory mount” I would be thankful.
Greg