Sound decoder for The Majestic Locos

[OzPepper]

I guess I am late to the party. I managed to secure my 1st actual train set at the "Last Chance To Buy" on the Hornby website. I live in Australia, so that Hornby delivered without additional postage charges was a double bonus.

I managed to get "The Majestic" at a very low price (to me, at least) of £240 which translated to AU$490. In Oz, the same set is being sold at stockists for about AU$745 (http://www.brunelhobbies.com.au/Hornby/trainSets.htm) .  I think I got a good bargain! ;-)

Anyway, I just opened the set a few days ago and had my first taste of DCC. It took a while of reading and fiddling with the computer, Railmaster and the locos, but I managed to get it all set up correctly and run the default sample Majestic program. Awesome!!

I realised that whilst the set and the locos worked perfectly as advertised, the basic DCC chips that came in the locos do not have sound. A bit of research on the web pointed to Loksound chips which would cost at least £100 a pop per loco. A bit dear, what?!

Are there any alternative ways to install sound decoders to the trains? It's not necessary for authentic sound, just generic steam engine sounds for the Class A1 Peppercorn loco and diesel engine sounds for the Class 47 loco in the set.

Does Hornby sell any sound decoders?

 

 

 

[mjb1961]

Hi ,,,,,welcome to the wonderful world of trains ,,,OK,,,,£100 is about right for a good quality sound decoder and I doubt you will get one for considerably less ,,HORNBY do have their budget TTS sound fitted locos which are good value but the sound effects isnt on par with the market leaders ,,i would suggest that you search through eBay ( uk ),look for ,Lok Sound ,Zimo,Southwest digital,and you will find loads and then of course different model shops here in the uk ,Olivia's,,Howes,Youchoos,,,and there are more ,,,hope this helps ,,mjb

[Rog RJ]

Have a look at mylocosound. http://www.mylocosound.com/dcc-overview.html.

 

[NormanQ4]

Have a look at mylocosound. http://www.mylocosound.com/dcc-overview.html.

 

Have you, or has any other member used this decoder, it seems very cheap.

[Rog RJ]

No, I haven't.  I've only got 2 sound fitted locos, 1 diesel and 1 steam, so I can't in any way be described as an expert on the matter.  Afaik the Mylocosound ones are generic and the sounds are not to the same high quality as the more expensive ones.

 

[Howbi]

@NormanQ4..........I use the Mylocosound decoder in a Hornby Schools class loco fitted in the tender and I am very satisfied with it's performance...........whilst it is not as sophisticated as the sound decoders in the £100 + bracket it does have 28 CV's for configuration as required.........there are 8 functions for lights, sounds and shunting mode and configurable CV's for choosing 2/4 or 3 cylinder sound and adjustable chuff rate..........so, unless you really want a dozen or more sounds so play around with I would recommend this decoder as excellent value for money.........incidentally, for the OP, this is made in Oz but easily obtainable in UK......HB

[choralc]

The biggest limitation of 'mylocosound is the siize of the decoder. It is large and some body modifications may need to be carried out even when installing in a tender. I have two fitted into Railcars but a third one to go into a tender would not fit and I didn't want to modify it.

[OzPepper]

Oooh.. thanks for the suggestions, everyone! I'll check these out. Mylocosound is interesting indeed.

[NormanQ4]

Thanks, for the good replies.

When fitting in a railcar I'm presuming that it has to be wired back to the loco.

[OzPepper]

A mixed (poor) review of the MLS decoder ...

Hmmm.. I better think carefully now....

[mjb1961]

If you buy one of these and are not happy with its performance and it's sounds you'll probably be stuck with it and wasted £55 ,,you can pick up hornbys TTS decoders off eBay ,people buy the locos and remove the TTS decoder and speaker and sell them separately,you could get one from the Tornado TTS loco which is identical to what you have ,in fact you could buy the Tornado TTS ,and probably swap bodies and then sell on the Tornado without sound but I must tell you that although good for the money they are still not on par with the market leaders ,,,check it out ,,,HORNBY R3245 TTS Peppercorn Tornado ,,,I've got 5 TTS steam locos including the Tornado and it is very good ,even the budget sound ,,,,,,mjb

[Howbi]

@OzPepper..........well I have just watched that video and have to say I do not have the poor initial acceleration he describes..........my one starts very smoothly and with the correct chuff........but you do have to have the patience to configure the CV's to your satisfaction and, need I say it, have perfectly clean track and wheels........I will agree that the overall size of this decoder is a setback and can only just fit into some tenders..........I have commented about this to the manufacturers who are considering the economics of producing a smaller one........HB

[LMSFan72]

I have a mylocosounds and do not have that problem either. Installed in a duchess and works very well. It doesn't have the realism of the loksound but if you just want generic sound I can't fault it. Installing it in a carriage or in building is an option that means you can use it with multiple locos. You can use CV to alter the sound effects so it can sound different for different models too

[choralc]

The Railcar, NQ4 is the Hornby GWR AER Railcar. The speaker went in under the seat moulding after removing and cutting the weights there and the decoder is in passenger compartment. Some wires were added so that the plug reached the decoder socket that sits on the motor.

[OzPepper]

Thanks for the great feedback. I think I shall start off and invest in an MLS sound decoder for the diesel engine. The Class 47 loco in the Majestic set seems large enough to try out the plus-sized MLS decoder. If that goes well, then I'll know first hand how these decoders work. I'll keep you guys posted after my trials.

oooh... fun times ahead! :-)