Speaker choices

[Pilar Valley Railway]

iPhone 4s speakers sound great, but they will not fit in many diesel engines without some serious modification. Those sugar cubes look good.

Kevin, can you post a picture of one of your baffles?

Al, what do you mean that the 4s speakers will not fit in many diesel locos?

I have installed a quite a few of them now without out problems and usually 2 in each engine. There is no serious modifications other than cutting off the long end of the case just outside of the circle part of the speaker. Then just gluing on a tiny piece of styrene to close the hole back up.

[nodcc4me]

Kenny, I have found that most diesels have little room if any for a speaker without trimming weights or removing the factory circuit board. I also cut off the baffle extension on the 4s but the sugar cubes can usually be stashed in there somewhere without modification.

On another note, I just had my first 4s failure. The speaker just stopped working. I checked the wiring for shorts, etc. and finally replaced it with another one which works fine but now it is crackling. I think I have to seal the cut end a little better.

[KPack]

I just realized that I never posted a picture of the enclosures I build.  Here's that shows my speaker assemblies installed in-situ.  When I build another one I'll get some pictures of it separate.



-Kevin

[TwinStar]

Either get some iPhone speakers like Jacob said, or get some "sugar cube" speakers from Digikey: http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/knowles/2403-260-00071/423-1200-ND/4376274.


-Kevin

Kevin,

These are out of stock and look like no longer produced. Is there a newer version you've been using?

[KPack]

Jacob, I have been looking around at different options and have decided to try a few different ones:

https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/pui-audio-inc/AS01808AO-WP-R/668-1517-ND/5958415

https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/soberton-inc/SP-1511S-3/433-1127-ND/6099101

https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/soberton-inc/SP-1813S/433-1136-ND/6099110

They are each slightly different.  The last one will require that I wire in parallel so that I don't exceed the max power rating of the speaker.  All these speakers have a higher db rating than the old Knowles speakers I used.  Frequency response is different in all of them.

I'll be changing out my old Railmaster speakers in several of my older locomotives, and I'm looking forward to trying these out.  Should be by early next week I hope.

-Kevin

[PatP]

Jacob, I have been looking around at different options and have decided to try a few different ones:

https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/pui-audio-inc/AS01808AO-WP-R/668-1517-ND/5958415

https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/soberton-inc/SP-1511S-3/433-1127-ND/6099101

https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/soberton-inc/SP-1813S/433-1136-ND/6099110

They are each slightly different.  The last one will require that I wire in parallel so that I don't exceed the max power rating of the speaker.  All these speakers have a higher db rating than the old Knowles speakers I used.  Frequency response is different in all of them.

-Kevin

Kevin, I've got some of the first ones (668-1517-ND). They've got a metal plate over the speaker which seems to give them a sharp metallic sound, for lack of better description. I had to glue sides on them to keep them from rattling. I'll be waiting to hear how they work for you.

I also bought Digikey #CMS-25148N and CDS-25148-L100, the only difference being the second ones have wires. They're about just a little bigger size, also 8 ohm and 90+ db. I made a little plastic box and they work pretty good.

PatP

[TwinStar]

Thanks Kevin, I'll check these out.

[MustDecide]

I just ordered Railpro tonight along with 4 modules with sound. It was actually just a coincidence that Ring announced today the new software and features. I was actually going to order a couple of weeks ago and when I got home from work that night my computer had crapped out. So I needed to buy a new computer and get it set up. Just finished that a couple of days ago.

Since I am so new to this I do not even know what engines I have and how well they will even fit, or how much trouble I will have to get them installed. All I know is that some of them are "DCC ready" but do not have any modules in them.  I have just purchased, somewhat at random, engines from flee markets and used engines. I now need some speakers. It looks like the 'sugar cube' is the way to go, at least that is where I will start. Based on what I see this is a nick name for this kind of speaker since I cannot find them by searching for sugar cube speakers. Can anybody just give me a manufacturer and suggest a model number to order, or are there too many different varieties to suggest just one. The link I see in a previous email seems to indicate they are no longer manufactured.

I will also most likely need some adapter cables but will not know until I open up the engines. I will most likely have many questions in the future so please be patient with me and my lack of knowledge especially at the beginning.

[TwinStar]

Any new input on speaker choices?

[TwinStar]

I designed a 3D printed speaker box for the Digikey 433-1136-ND speaker.

Speaker https://www.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail&itemSeq=243505627&uq=636458363979802605

Box https://www.shapeways.com/product/ST28SN2K2/433-1136-nd-box?optionId=64040773&li=shop-inventory

I intend to test this next week.

[KPack]

Jacob, I'm interested to know how that box works out.  Making speaker boxes from styrene isn't difficult, but if I can cut down on time then I'm all for it.

That is also one of the speakers I have been testing.  I bought three different ones and I think this one sounds better than the others.  I still like the old Fox Knowles better, but this new one isn't bad.

-Kevin

[TwinStar]

Kevin:

I'll let you know. I think these are really going to be handy when I get into my GP7 fleet and need something custom built to hit that 1 CC of volume in such a small hood. It only takes a few minutes to draw these so if this works I'll probably go this route for all of my future boxes.