Model Railroading > Tsunami 7 band equalizer

I was watching a video the other day that had a short feature on the Soundtrax Tsunami 7 band equalizer that is available on their (Soundtrax) Tsunami DCC decoders. I'm not sure how many people have messed with this feature, because I never played with it. It seemed overly complicated and I do very little adjusting to my decoders aside from lights, road number and volume. I usually replace the stock speaker with what I believe to be a higher quality speaker.

After watching the video and the presenter providing video evidence on what a difference this option can make, I decided to try it myself. The first locomotive I tried this on was an Athearn GEVO. The recipe I used was what the video producer used and the difference was impressive. I have also found that simply using the presets that are available on the decoder on some EMD models makes a huge difference in sound quality.

So I am wondering how many folks use this feature and do they have any "recipes" that tweak the sound just right that you want to share?

I'll finish this by saying that I am not a real pro sound guy. I like it while switching or working a local, but road trains and heavy throttle seem to just produce a lot of white noise that I find annoying. That said, two GEVO's at slow speed really sound pretty great with the 7 band equalizer enabled. Yes, I hit f8 after a short while, but it is a vast improvment.

Andy

A lot depends on the "ear of the beholder", but the following settings coupled to a Railmaster speaker and I'm a happy model railroader. (your mileage may vary)

CV number and value................CV.....Value
Seven Band Equalizer Control....153.....7
62Hz Cut Boost.......................154.....0
125 Hz\Cut Boost....................155.....0
250 Hz Cut Boost....................156.....110
500 Hz Cut Boost....................157.....160
1KHz Cut Boost......................158.....197
2KHz Cut Boost......................159.....225
4KHz Cut Boost......................160.....255
Reverb Control........................161.....4
Reverb Output Level................162.....144
Reverb Delay..........................163.....64
Master Volume Control............128.....90

Mark <><

Mark,
Is this for a particular locomotive type or generic settings?

Andy



markloos Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> A lot depends on the "ear of the beholder", but
> the following settings coupled to a Railmaster
> speaker and I'm a happy model railroader. (your
> mileage may vary)
>
> CV number and value................CV.....Value
> Seven Band Equalizer Control....153.....7
> 62Hz Cut Boost.......................154.....0
> 125 Hz\Cut Boost....................155.....0
> 250 Hz Cut Boost....................156.....110
> 500 Hz Cut Boost....................157.....160
> 1KHz Cut Boost......................158.....197
> 2KHz Cut Boost......................159.....225
> 4KHz Cut Boost......................160.....255
> Reverb Control........................161.....4
> Reverb Output Level................162.....144
> Reverb Delay..........................163.....64
> Master Volume Control............128.....90
>
> Mark <><

Thanks for the heads-up Andy. Can you point us to the video that led you down this path, and perhaps the values you used?

Mark, thanks for sharing your values. Like Andy's experience, I've never used this feature, but it sounds promising.

Joe Atkinson
Council Bluffs, IA
www.iaisrailfans.org/../Sub4WestEnd

I think I saw this same video. I believe it is in the latest issue of MRH. I didn't get this far. started playing with the presets and different speaker type settings.

Chris

Joe,
About 5:30 in on this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbwptI1Cdko

Andy



iaisfan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thanks for the heads-up Andy. Can you point us to
> the video that led you down this path, and perhaps
> the values you used?
>
> Mark, thanks for sharing your values. Like Andy's
> experience, I've never used this feature, but it
> sounds promising.

Hi Andy. I use these settings, with minor variations, for most of my 15 Tsunami equipped diesels. I first record on paper the factory settings (so I can change back individual CVs, if necessary, without doing a full reset)for the specific Tsunami equipped engine and then proceed to change CV 153-156 one at a time using programming on the main so I can hear the immediate change. Model railroading is fun! Mark <><

I always suggest to all modelers buying a SPROG, roller test stands, some Kayo snap track, installing JMRI on the home PC, and tuning the sound of their locos with Decoder Pro. It makes it so easy to dial in just the right sound settings, and works for other stuff too

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Nice now need to start doing that on my K series locos. Got quite a kick out of him bending track with the lighter. Here at Train Mountain in 7.5" gauge we use a hammer and hold the same rail on each end of a ten foot section and bump all of the ties on that rail towards the center allowing the aluminum track to assume a bend.