RailPro > RailPro Specific Help & Discussion

BLI Rolling Thunder concept: compatiblity with RailPro?

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jimw:
I haven't seen this  system in use, but it looks enticing to those who might wish for "big" sound from our tiny speakers.  I am curious whether anyone has experience with this or similar radio sound relay to a large speaker system?  Could RailPro's radio capability be used to drive a speaker through a signal relay/amplifier?  It obviously would take some tweaking of the LM-xS' output to either utilize the module's internal radio transmitter, or installation of a 'jury-rigged' radio relay.  Sadly, my electronics memories are not up to the task, but the concept seems ideal to the RailPro format.

Just a curious idea:  any thoughts?

Jim Wilkens

G8B4Life:
I haven't seen this system in use but I have seen the promo for it; or should I say the promo demonstrating just one loco using it (does it work with more than one loco at a time?)  For what it's worth I'm not a big fan of the under the table system. Our models could sound better without resorting to systems like this if manufacturers hired sound engineers to design the sound path and baffling inside our models.

Back to the subject, I'm sure it could be done however probably not by RE, BLI does have a patent on Rolling Thunder. I don't know what part is patented but it probably encompasses transmitting sound via radio transmission. That said the transmitter inside an LM could do what you say, that is probably not directly to a Rolling Thunder system but the same concept though I'm not sure I'd like that given the amount of radio traffic it has to contend with already. Another way could be to design a transmitter board that takes the speaker outputs and transmits them to a receiver hooked up to an amp but then your trying to cram another transmitter into a loco shell and two transmitters in such close proximity may not work that well.

- Tim

jimw:
Tim: 

Thanks for your thoughtful reply.  Your reservations about this idea reflect my own, but I was interested enough to inquire. Since most of my motive power has little extra space, I will be ordering some I-phone 4 speakers to see whether the sound is better than the 28mm speaker I have used.  I really don't see any other way to get baffles in the tight SD7 shell.

JimW

G8B4Life:
Jim,

I think you will be pleased with the iPhone speaker, they sound great with good volume; might be something to do with the fact they were designed by some very smart people that would have included sound engineers  ;)

An SD7 eh, not knowing the brand you might have to grind some of the weight away to fit the iPhone speaker in, they are quite longish.

I wonder how many US enthusiasts know the actual story behind the SD7?

- Tim

Josephbw:
On the face of it, the BLI system sounds like a good idea. But I will bet that after 10 minutes of listening to bass reverberations, you will be ready to turn it way down or off. I installed an I phone speaker in one engine that was so loud I had to turn the sound way down as I was starting to get a headache. If you are hearing impaired though, it might be a blessing.  :)

Joe

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