I've embarked upon a road less traveled, and inspired by the A&O's forum post on speakers, and I've been testing some speakers that I thought I might share. Here I've used Lionel's TMCC-equipped FTs. Why? Because they are easy to work on, relative inexpensive, the shell is 6 screws and nothing is attached to them and the dynamic brake hatch comes off and offers a cavernous hole to work in. I've also used a free spectrum analyzer to show the difference in the performance of the speakers. The videos of the analysis has no sound, as I used my iPhone for the app. Here's a screen shot of the stock speaker.
First, the stock Lionel speaker in the FT: Notice the frequency in the 1k-2k range.
Now a pair of laptop speakers from a 2007 Dell Inspiron (Vista). Notice the drop in frequency by about a decade.
I was so enthusiastic about their performance, being only 4ohms each and wired in series for e required 8, that I double sided taped them together and then taped them into the aforementioned dynamic brake hatch and stuck them in a dummy A. Impressive. The speakers are each the size of a dime.
Last up, for this round, is a Tang Band 4ohm, $0.50 piece sized speaker, and enclosure. This was another TWO decades lower and was wired in series with a 4ohm 3W resistor. The bass on this speaker is sick. I had to tape it to the wood because it was rattling the track
Now... None of these were a single source, drop in test. But, I since I needed 8ohms total, the BEST combination was the Tang Band AND a laptop speaker in series...
and I'll post that video eventually.
Good night everybody!
