RailPro > RailPro Specific Help & Discussion
Speaker comparisons
Archive:
Originally posted by TS on the RailPro Users Yahoo! Group on Jul 17, 2015
Well I wasn't using anything I'd consider high quality in the way
of headphones to listen but my take is:
First off, we know that the quality of sound recordings from Ring
are not as good as what's available from others (but that should
come in time) so we take that into account.
Knowles: Sounded muffled with some distortion. See below.
DSM-8: Much more crisp but sounded like it was struggling to push air.
Round: Much the same as the DSM-8, crisper than the Knowles but also
struggling to push air.
Now all of that is subjective of course, as far as I'm to understand
different sound paths will also alter the sound as well, so a speaker
(let's say DSM-8 for example) will produce really nice sound in brand
A SD-XXX compared to brand B SD-XXX that wasn't designed for sound.
On the subject of the Knowles and sounded muffled/distorted, Do they
have the ohms written on them so you can tell what they are? I have some
"sugar cubes" (not Knowles) and they sound the same but do not have
the ohms written on them. I measured them and from memory they were
over 16 ohms (closer to 30 I think). I think they could be being over
driven.
Tim
Land of OZ
Archive:
Originally posted by kpack05 on the RailPro Users Yahoo! Group on Jul 17, 2015
TIm,
Here is the exact speaker I am using: http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/2403%20260%2000071/423-1200-ND/4376274
8 ohms, 0.6 Watt power rating, 1 Watt max. In pairs I have them wired in series so they are only recieving 0.5 watts max. In double pairs I have them wired series-parallel....16 ohms/2 = 8 ohms total. I shouldn't be overdriving them because I'm nowhere near max volume on anything. Most of them are around 30%.
Some of the distortion that I'm hearing I think is due to the recordings themselves. For example, the 645 roots probably had some clipping in the original recording. It's not as noticeable when listening through the DSM-8, but I can definitely hear it with the Knowles. But it seems to be there with both.
And yes, the type of locomotive the speakers are installed in makes a big difference. The Kato is not designed for sound in the shell and therefore sounds very muffled. If I were to open up the fans (which I will do eventually) the sound would change dramatically. What's interesting to me in the case of the 645 Turbo is that you can hear the underlying prime mover sounds with the Knowles, whereas you can only hear the turbo whine with the round. Opening the fans should give the best of both worlds....good turbo whine while still hearing the deeper prime mover.
-Kevin
Archive:
Originally posted by TS on the RailPro Users Yahoo! Group on Jul 17, 2015
Kevin,
Your right, with those setting I can't see how you'd be overdriving
them. At least you got specs, I got some similar to these
http://www.digikey.com/product-detail
/en/2403%20260%2000091/423-1201-ND/4376275
from eBay (no real details in the listing but the price was very good)
for testing and measuring them again tonight they are ~25 ohms DC,
which makes them about 28 ohm speakers! I'll have to wire 3 in parallel
to use them. The other speakers I got are the iPhone speakers in a
moulded, ported enclosure and these sound great so far.
Yes, Rings recordings aren't the best and until he opens up loading
custom prime mover sounds we'll have to work with what we've got.
What seems a shame though is there are some real good sound engineers
out there, even in the model rail world who could help manufacturers
design the best way of getting sound out of a model, but I doubt any
are ever consulted.
Cheers,
Tim
Archive:
Originally posted by William Brillinger on the RailPro Users Yahoo! Group on Jul 17, 2015
Tim is totally open to receiving new recordings.
TS egroupstuff@eftel.net.au [RailProUsers] wrote on 7/17/2015 10:21 AM:
> Yes, Rings recordings aren't the best and until he opens up loading
> custom prime mover sounds we'll have to work with what we've got.
Archive:
Originally posted by kpack05 on the RailPro Users Yahoo! Group on Jul 17, 2015
28 ohm?? Yikes!
Knowles makes some other speaker sizes that should work in smaller applications. I've only tried the Grand 18mmx13mm. Here is the search page showing all Knowles 8 ohm speakers: http://www.digikey.com/product-search/en?v=423&pv60=106&FV=fff4000b%2Cfff80046&mnonly=0&newproducts=0&ColumnSort=0&page=1&quantity=0&ptm=0&fid=0&pageSize=25. Ordering from Digikey has been good for me. The speakers aren't terribly expensive and shipping is quick. At $2 US a piece if you buy 10 or more, it's hard to go wrong.
Regarding Ring's prime mover files, the three that I tested in the video are ones that have been around since Railpro was first introduced. I believe Ring was outsourcing their sound at that point...i.e. the sound files were provided by some company and were most likely already processed. I am not a huge fan of whatever processing they did on those files, and I'm not a big fan of the source recordings in general.
That being said, the newer recordings are MUCH better. As I understand it they were recorded by Tim (or someone in Ring Engineering) and are much more pleasing to the ear. The EMD 567 and Alco 539T are examples of this, as are the new Heavy Steam and Light Steam. They don't have weird "artifacts" like the older recordings do, they have good depth of sound, and sound much more realistic to me. Word on the street is there should be a new GEVO file coming soon that was recorded by a Railpro user...all 8 notches up and down while pulling a heavy train with no wind noise. It should be awesome. Those are the kinds of recordings we need.
-Kevin
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