HO Atlas CN GP40-2LW | Good News/Bad News: Part 3

Everything went well except one important thing. My over-confidence came back to bite me. I took my assumed measurements for granted. Not all is lost however. The GP40-2LW can still be redeemed.

[@Vman7757]

You are right. I bet the sugar cubes will sound better. Thanks for sharing. Don't forget to let us hear how the GE sounds with the change. Thanks again.

[@boomerdiorama]

Cheers.

[@thomplacier677]

I haven’t been following this series since I’m a N scale guy, but it does sound great. Going back and catching up on scenery videos in the meantime. Stay safe.

[@boomerdiorama]

Thank You Thom. You too. Cheers.

[@CentralJerseyRailfan]

Idle sounds good enough for me. ESU has craptons of 645E3 sound selections so it’s nice to try others

[@boomerdiorama]

I agree. the idle does sound good. I think maybe this style of speaker will sound even better facing out. But that will go in my GE unit . . . lol. I want the best for my EMD`s so I`ll custom up an enclosure like the Geep and the MP. Thanks for commenting by the way - Boomer. Cheers.

[@KingTrump2024]

Flip the magnets on the speakers to face the inside.

[@boomerdiorama]

Thank You for the brilliant idea! It never even crossed my mind because I was so hung-up on facing them inwards. I will do this for the Dash 8-40b I was going to revise and seal anyway. I`m going ahead right now with my original four speaker (back-burner) plan. Cheers and thanks again for this great recommendation.

[@MLWQC]

Like you said, it's a tight fit. However, from where I am sitting, sounds good!

[@boomerdiorama]

Yes. It does sound O.K. But it is too tight. On the other hand, I think it makes for a good tutorial on solving the problem and learning more along the way. I`m going to custom build another speaker enclosure for it, which will accommodate several "sugar-cube" speakers. Thanks for commenting. Cheers.

[@MLWQC]

@@boomerdiorama Sure does. Thanks again for sharing this

[@williambryant5946]

If they recommend the sugar cube speakers then maybe they've tuned the decoder to make the best sound paired with them. I agree with you that the sound is ok but not up to par with the others. Someone in comments suggested maybe facing the speakers outward but that kind of defeats the idea you were after. Maybe it would work or maybe sound better because you talked about a locomotive that had speakers facing out like that and it sounded really good. You also said it's a guessing game too which I agree with. Try something different is all you can do. Stay well. -Wil 👍

[@boomerdiorama]

Hi Will. I think you summarized the scenario perfectly. I would rather not "peel" the speakers out of the mount right now if they work in another application. Besides, if I do, I will have to rewire them and drill another hole in the metal enclosure to re-rout the wires. I already have a revision and another "sugar cube" plan underway. Cheers.

[@paulhayton3423]

Can you change existing loco sounds by changing sound files or is it strictly improved by better internal components.

[@boomerdiorama]

I would say both the factors you raise can have a profound effect. The manufacturers are just starting to get on board with what some of us modelers are doing with sound technology, and other factors, in order to raise the bar of immersion and experience. You will have to pay for it though. All the more reason to go small and focused then . . . Cheers.