Yes! A new vidi! Great update on a gorgeous loco. However, your opening scene stole your video! I watched that a few times already! Always a pleasure to see your channel! Cheers!
Hi Anthony. Thanks for your lovely comment. As the layout is progressing I'm getting more areas to try to get views of the trains. It does look great having the two levels running now. Cheers, John.
Cheers Glynn. I remembered your video where you had to cut things away so went investigating to see if there was somewhere for the speaker to go. Cheers, John.
Hi John, fitted another sound chip to my other A4, but the chip was in the loco, so had to extend the speaker wires to the tender, shes running ok, but not happy with the volume, can you alter the amount on cv'S? All the best. Glynn
Hi Glynn. If it's a Hornby TTS chip then CV178 is the master volume one. You can't read this CV for some reason, but it has values from 1 to 8. It comes out the factory set at 4 so if you want it louder just set it higher than that. Sorry I have no experience of other sound chips. Hope that helps. Cheers, John.
Very interesting video. The two screws are to screw the speaker to the chassis, on some locos. The casing you removed the speaker from is the sound box and should be with the speaker. My advice is to put it back in its sound box and cover all holes, such as the holes the speaker wires come through, with blue or black tack, which improves the sound. Try cutting the two screw point on the sound box off and black take it to the top of the tender body. You will be amazed at the sound improvement using the sound box makes. I know DCC decoders very well, if you need and help or advice please feel free to ask...Simon
Hi Simon. I tried fitting the sound box in before I did the video and it just wouldn't go anywhere. I might go exploring round my other Hornby models and see which ones are designed for it, I wonder if it's only diesels and electrics which I assume have more space in their bodies? I'm going to fit the iPhone speaker anyway and see what diff that makes, it's certainly smaller too. Cheers for the advice. As you can tell it was my first time. 😂 John.
I went through a similar process for my Hornby Princess at the weekend. Instead of wrapping the chip in tape I used the anti-static pouch the chip was in in the box
Hi Mike. Ah, that's what that's for. 🙄 I just bought tape later on and wrapped it. I was thinking of doing one of my Princesses next to see what the difference in sound is. Cheers, John.
Hi, I just fitted one of these to my own A4, although mine has the 8 pin plug in the loco not the tender, which makes it a little more awkward. I changed the speaker to a Rail Exclusive "Baby Boomer" and managed to wedge it under the chimney. It made a huge difference to the sound doing that. I wondered what you thought of the "chuff" sound on these? Anyway I subscribed and am now going to see what else is on your channel. All the best Dave.
Hi Dave. Thanks for watching, commenting and subscribing. A new speaker does seem to make a difference compared to the stock one. I quite like the chuffing and once you get the sound and the movement synchronised better it is quite enjoyable to watch and listen to the loco going round. It's never going to be as good as the real thing, but I'd say this is pretty close. Cheers, John.
Hi Ashly. Yeah I decided to try his on my newer model as I knew it had space for DCC sound. I'm considering putting it in some of the other ones just to see what the sound difference is between the A4 and say the Princess class. Thanks for watching and commenting. Cheers, John.
Hello john ,I think the tts sound chips are decent enough I have about 4 steamers fitted with these ,and 3 diesel loco's ,I think the only thing that let's them down is the speaker fitting a better quality speaker does help ,but I have found with the diesel fitted loco's the sounds are really good ,I do agree with you about people that pay over the odds for different sound chips the prices are astronomical and I would never pay the asking price for such items ,my pockets don't go that deep lol ,if fact the hobby in the last couple of years prices are crazy, take coaches for instance ,no way am I paying £50 odd pounds or more for 1 ,and some prices of loco's go through the roof , I now look regularly for bargains on E Bay etc and use hattons a lot and rails of Sheffield , so when you look at your stock and then think to yourself my its worth a few bob ,especially at the prices now ,well I have progressed well on the insulation inside the shed ,have inserted all the polystyrene and cladded over all the sides with ply which has all been PVA on sides and all edge's just the difficult part left the inside of the roof ,I may have to wait for my son to visit when lockdown ends to finish that part of the job , so then I'm hoping to start my new layout ,atb Ray .
Hi Ray. Glad the shed project is coming along. I trawl eBay too, I've got a couple of pre-orders to come then I think I'm done. I think the price of coaches is crazy too, and it's pushing up the price of 2nd hand ones too. Glad I'm not the only one that thinks TTS is fine. I've just fitted an iPhone speaker to one of them and it does make a difference, video of that coming soon. Cheers, John.
Hi John - Nice video and well explained. I am a TTS fan as for £40 you get what I think is decent sound certainly to my un educated ears . You will get people who look down their nose at TTS as the chuff doesnt match the change of speed etc and also will say how bad the speaker is . You will not get a new non TTS decoder for less than £100 and I have to say I have YouChoos sound decoders for locos you cannot get TTS for and although you get extras like active breaking I cannot say ther is a massive difference ( I am now prepared to be shot down !!!). I also changed from TTS to an IPhone speaker on a Class 66 and again cannot say there is too much difference . But perhaps its my hearing LOL. The only downside to TTS is the small range available but I put a TTS Class 40 in a Heljan Class 27 and people said how good it sounded !! So perhaps a little Emperors New Clothes HaHa . I wont be exhibiting so if I like it then it suits me . Cheers Kev
Hi Kev. I honestly can't see anyone convincing me to spend another £60 for a sound chip, quite happy with the chuffing as it is. With regards to the sound not matching the speed I've been doing a lot of research on that and it comes down to the CVs so I'm currently experimenting with it and will have a video up soon explaining how it makes a difference and how to change them. Not looked massively into what's available in TTS. I went for the A4 because I knew they were set up for the system and fitting should by ok. I've got iPhone speakers coming too to see if there is a sound difference. All in all lots of experimenting to do to get it working the way I want and I'll try to video it as much as possible to guide people through it. Cheers, John.
Hi John - It will be interesting what you discover about CVs . My ears are not sophisticated enough to to be able to spot if the correct one is being used . I know it might shock the rivet counters but I’m putting a Merchant Navy TTS in the Battle of Britain 😮😮
Hi, I exactly do the same. Have different sound classes in different classes and it all sounds fine. The only 'originals' are the S15 TTS in the actual S15's. Have also an expensive YouChoos S15 on a Zimo and frankly the TTS sounds way better and the whistle is much nicer! But it is a fact that if you can change the Hornby speaker for a High Bass the sounds really improve in audio quality. I put a TTS P2 sound in the new Large Prairie and o boy she whistles like an angel from heaven! Have fun and enjoy the model railways.
Just be careful not to press on the cone and edge of the speaker - it is where the sound comes from. It is best to use the housing of the speaker and fix it to the chassis to avoid vibrations that alters the sound. A High Bass speaker will improve the sound in the deeper audio spectrum. Success !
Cheers Filip. I was trying to be gentle with it. Didn't want to start drilling into the chassis to make screw holes. I think once I fit a smaller speaker I'll be able to just stick it to the top of the weight rather than under it. Thanks, John.
Yes! A new vidi! Great update on a gorgeous loco. However, your opening scene stole your video! I watched that a few times already! Always a pleasure to see your channel! Cheers!
Hi Anthony. Thanks for your lovely comment. As the layout is progressing I'm getting more areas to try to get views of the trains. It does look great having the two levels running now. Cheers, John.
Good video, I never new the weight came out! All the best. Glynn
Cheers Glynn. I remembered your video where you had to cut things away so went investigating to see if there was somewhere for the speaker to go. Cheers, John.
Hi John, fitted another sound chip to my other A4, but the chip was in the loco, so had to extend the speaker wires to the tender, shes running ok, but not happy with the volume, can you alter the amount on cv'S? All the best. Glynn
Hi Glynn. If it's a Hornby TTS chip then CV178 is the master volume one. You can't read this CV for some reason, but it has values from 1 to 8. It comes out the factory set at 4 so if you want it louder just set it higher than that. Sorry I have no experience of other sound chips. Hope that helps. Cheers, John.
Thanks John, can only afford Hornby sound chips, so thats a great help. Glynn
Very interesting video. The two screws are to screw the speaker to the chassis, on some locos. The casing you removed the speaker from is the sound box and should be with the speaker. My advice is to put it back in its sound box and cover all holes, such as the holes the speaker wires come through, with blue or black tack, which improves the sound. Try cutting the two screw point on the sound box off and black take it to the top of the tender body. You will be amazed at the sound improvement using the sound box makes. I know DCC decoders very well, if you need and help or advice please feel free to ask...Simon
Hi Simon. I tried fitting the sound box in before I did the video and it just wouldn't go anywhere. I might go exploring round my other Hornby models and see which ones are designed for it, I wonder if it's only diesels and electrics which I assume have more space in their bodies? I'm going to fit the iPhone speaker anyway and see what diff that makes, it's certainly smaller too. Cheers for the advice. As you can tell it was my first time. 😂 John.
I went through a similar process for my Hornby Princess at the weekend. Instead of wrapping the chip in tape I used the anti-static pouch the chip was in in the box
Hi Mike. Ah, that's what that's for. 🙄 I just bought tape later on and wrapped it. I was thinking of doing one of my Princesses next to see what the difference in sound is. Cheers, John.
Hi, I just fitted one of these to my own A4, although mine has the 8 pin plug in the loco not the tender, which makes it a little more awkward. I changed the speaker to a Rail Exclusive "Baby Boomer" and managed to wedge it under the chimney. It made a huge difference to the sound doing that. I wondered what you thought of the "chuff" sound on these? Anyway I subscribed and am now going to see what else is on your channel. All the best Dave.
Hi Dave. Thanks for watching, commenting and subscribing. A new speaker does seem to make a difference compared to the stock one. I quite like the chuffing and once you get the sound and the movement synchronised better it is quite enjoyable to watch and listen to the loco going round. It's never going to be as good as the real thing, but I'd say this is pretty close. Cheers, John.
Lot of the old models weren't tooled for dcc so it's a case of fit it were you can ! Can be a bit of a game
Hi Ashly. Yeah I decided to try his on my newer model as I knew it had space for DCC sound. I'm considering putting it in some of the other ones just to see what the sound difference is between the A4 and say the Princess class. Thanks for watching and commenting. Cheers, John.
The 2 screws hold the speaker if the holes are provided in the tender
Ah. Good to know. I'll need to investigate my other Hornby models to see if they have that. Cheers, John.
Hello john ,I think the tts sound chips are decent enough I have about 4 steamers fitted with these ,and 3 diesel loco's ,I think the only thing that let's them down is the speaker fitting a better quality speaker does help ,but I have found with the diesel fitted loco's the sounds are really good ,I do agree with you about people that pay over the odds for different sound chips the prices are astronomical and I would never pay the asking price for such items ,my pockets don't go that deep lol ,if fact the hobby in the last couple of years prices are crazy, take coaches for instance ,no way am I paying £50 odd pounds or more for 1 ,and some prices of loco's go through the roof , I now look regularly for bargains on E Bay etc and use hattons a lot and rails of Sheffield , so when you look at your stock and then think to yourself my its worth a few bob ,especially at the prices now ,well I have progressed well on the insulation inside the shed ,have inserted all the polystyrene and cladded over all the sides with ply which has all been PVA on sides and all edge's just the difficult part left the inside of the roof ,I may have to wait for my son to visit when lockdown ends to finish that part of the job , so then I'm hoping to start my new layout ,atb Ray .
Hi Ray. Glad the shed project is coming along. I trawl eBay too, I've got a couple of pre-orders to come then I think I'm done. I think the price of coaches is crazy too, and it's pushing up the price of 2nd hand ones too.
Glad I'm not the only one that thinks TTS is fine. I've just fitted an iPhone speaker to one of them and it does make a difference, video of that coming soon. Cheers, John.
Hi John - Nice video and well explained. I am a TTS fan as for £40 you get what I think is decent sound certainly to my un educated ears . You will get people who look down their nose at TTS as the chuff doesnt match the change of speed etc and also will say how bad the speaker is . You will not get a new non TTS decoder for less than £100 and I have to say I have YouChoos sound decoders for locos you cannot get TTS for and although you get extras like active breaking I cannot say ther is a massive difference ( I am now prepared to be shot down !!!). I also changed from TTS to an IPhone speaker on a Class 66 and again cannot say there is too much difference . But perhaps its my hearing LOL.
The only downside to TTS is the small range available but I put a TTS Class 40 in a Heljan Class 27 and people said how good it sounded !! So perhaps a little Emperors New Clothes HaHa . I wont be exhibiting so if I like it then it suits me .
Cheers Kev
Hi Kev. I honestly can't see anyone convincing me to spend another £60 for a sound chip, quite happy with the chuffing as it is.
With regards to the sound not matching the speed I've been doing a lot of research on that and it comes down to the CVs so I'm currently experimenting with it and will have a video up soon explaining how it makes a difference and how to change them.
Not looked massively into what's available in TTS. I went for the A4 because I knew they were set up for the system and fitting should by ok. I've got iPhone speakers coming too to see if there is a sound difference.
All in all lots of experimenting to do to get it working the way I want and I'll try to video it as much as possible to guide people through it.
Cheers, John.
Hi John - It will be interesting what you discover about CVs . My ears are not sophisticated enough to to be able to spot if the correct one is being used . I know it might shock the rivet counters but I’m putting a Merchant Navy TTS in the Battle of Britain 😮😮
Shocking!!!!! You'll be banished from the modelling world for that! 😜😜😂😂😂😂
My bags are packed John 😀😀
Hi, I exactly do the same. Have different sound classes in different classes and it all sounds fine. The only 'originals' are the S15 TTS in the actual S15's. Have also an expensive YouChoos S15 on a Zimo and frankly the TTS sounds way better and the whistle is much nicer! But it is a fact that if you can change the Hornby speaker for a High Bass the sounds really improve in audio quality. I put a TTS P2 sound in the new Large Prairie and o boy she whistles like an angel from heaven! Have fun and enjoy the model railways.
Just be careful not to press on the cone and edge of the speaker - it is where the sound comes from. It is best to use the housing of the speaker and fix it to the chassis to avoid vibrations that alters the sound. A High Bass speaker will improve the sound in the deeper audio spectrum. Success !
Cheers Filip. I was trying to be gentle with it. Didn't want to start drilling into the chassis to make screw holes. I think once I fit a smaller speaker I'll be able to just stick it to the top of the weight rather than under it. Thanks, John.
You got the chip and the plug mixed up there is no amplifier
Hi. Thanks for watching and commenting. No worries, thanks for pointing out the error. Cheers, John.