LionChief Plus FT ABA sound

Ken:  Who did you place your pre-order with?  Did you order the B unit too?  How are the prices?  Bob S.  

Bob,  I ordered the AA set and the separate B unit at the same time.   From Nassau Hobby.   25% off MSRP on the AA set.  I did not check every vendor, that is a good price.   Nassau Hobby has always been great, but others are as well Pat's Trains, Trainworld, Ro, and others.

I have an email in to Lionel about the possibility of adding a sound board and speaker to the other A and the B unit.

-Ken

Ken:  What would be the benefit of an additional sound board? I am assuming it would produce the same sounds as the A unit.  Pardon my lack of knowledge, but I honestly don't understand what an additional board would do.  Bob 

Definitely adding to my Lion Chief Plus roster but think I will pass on the FTs. Seriously contemplating a preorder for the Virginian Rectifier. Sort of a nod to Lionel Post War styling. Anyone else looking at the Rectifers? 

I am actually wondering about this, and while it is expensive, and I will have to wait until i see one and take the shell off:

I'm thinking of buying two AA sets, and reversing the shell on one.  I would then have two powered units with sound that run when mounted on the rails back to back.  I would likely get a B unit too, so the whole thing would cost a good deal, but they are LC+ warbonnet Fs - doesn't get better than that . . . 

Bob -

Every real diesel locomotive makes sound, and a sound A with a Silent B and Silent A bothers some of us. I don't like it, but...tethered speakers would distribute the

sound, provided the board could drive them.

I run steam the most, and the sound coming from the tender and not the stack has always

annoyed me a bit. Some of the newer steamers have a speaker in the smokebox area, but

all my locos never will.

Bob, when an ABA set rolls by, and the sound comes from the first A unit only, I notice, and it detracts some from the enjoyment.   And multiple units with sound give a more balanced and more complex sound effect that I enjoy.  

Just my personal preference I suppose.  I added sound to a pair of Williams SD-45 SF locos - both units. 

Tethered speakers is the first I thought. You would probably end up replacing the original speaker in the engine with sound to match impedance. If the unit with sound used a 8 ohm speaker, you would use 2 4 ohm speakers wired in series or 2 16 ohm speakers wired in parallel. I couldn't tell what ohm speaker will be in there originally but it will be cheaper than a second sound board.

Riverrailfan, yes I agree that is a possibility, but separate sound units may be easier and no issues with tethers, matching speakers for volume and quality, and impedance.  Still, that may be the backup way I have to go.

HI KEN

     I do like the Santa Fe, classic Lionel, but I may go with the Rio Grande.  

I do like the engineering done by Lionel, one controller to one engine. Running 4 to 6 engines on one controller, is a poor design. It would be like sharing one garage door opener with five of my neighbors or worst yet, sharing my TV remote with five neighbors. We have until about March 15th, 2015 to place an order.

Good Luck with the FT Santa Fe. A-B-A

Really?  Maybe 4 to 6, but three?  Makes sense to me.   Two As and a B, I think it is brilliant.  I'm going to run an A-B-A set and I have to use three controllers?  Give me a break.  I certainly don't want that.  Too cumbersomne.  Lionel has the right way to do it - one controller for the train.  Definitely smart.

What might work well for an ABA set would be to move the power from the B unit to the dummy A unit. And install a long hard tube, like a mailing tube inside the B unit body. Mount the speaker at the front end. Make sure some sound openings in B unit body, perhaps the windows in the end doors and some holes in the bottom to let sound out and open some exhaust or vent stacks in the roof. What you would get is a great overall sound system far better then just the one sound unit. The sound would appear to come from more of the overall unit the just from the 1st A unit. And the sound would be much better with a speaker tube. It will give a lot more base and overall sound. Perhaps if the sound unit could handle the power a matching tiny tweeter up near the front of the A unit would project the bell and horn sound better.

I'm planning for the New Haven... would have loved an NH EP5 in Lionchief plus ...but since NH is one of my favorite roads I'll settle for the E33 for now.

Just for info:   Lionel did not respond to my follow-up query about adding the sound boards to the B or second FT.   I guess we will have to wait to find out in looking at the loco diagram and parts list.  

I am thinking the LC+ board is the same in all three units and I can just buy the LCsound board as a replacement item that plugs in- I should reopen my GP-7 and confirm that this is the arrangement.   

Hey Gramps, I am not suggesting that the price go up for you.   Just for me, and anyone else who might want to add on.    Freedom of choice here.

I'm with Ken on this: I want all-unit sound in my set, too.  

Ah, the wonders of slightly off market penetration. I agree it should be an option to add a sound board. they could just leave it out and use all the same parts for the A units, minus the sound board in one, saves development time and makes production cheaper. All the while have the board and speaker for sale for any one who wants to add it.

Then there may be a good reason for not making that happen , like it might lead to confusion with the new crowd, customer complaints from miss reading the catalog, and the resulting fight. sigh. Years ago it was simple, but not today.

I'm leaning toward the Rio Grande set, although I wish there were some matching passenger cars to go with it. There's almost no chance of finding cars that will end up having the same shade of yellow. Yes, there are CZ cars around, but I'd prefer a RG consist.

After removing the shell of my GP-7, I see that the electronics are a set of one main board (motherboard?) and perhaps three daughter boards.   But unfortunately, instead of the daughter-boards being socket-ed, they are directly soldered to the main board.   So that would seem to mean that the entire electronic assembly would have to be replaced to obtain sound in the B and second A unit (more expensive than just adding a sound board).    The wiring harnesses are attached by connectors, so this would not be hard to do, just more expensive.  

Perhaps just sound in both A units, depending on cost.

Run #276 has a shell-off pic on page 36 of the GP-7, but its just too small to make out the situation.