Perhaps my favorite feature of the recent Vision Big Boy and the recently released Y6b, both from Lionel, is what they have done with the whistles. As an aging audiophile, I am very much interested in how the sound we hear seems realistic or not so realistic. One of the most important features of the sound we hear is the echo/reverberation that would result from the environment in which the recording originated, how it was recorded and then played back. There is also, of course, the frequency range of the sound and the quality of the speakers used to reproduce it. Lionel certainly got it right because comparing the recent Y6b to the JLC version, the whistle has a chilling echo effect that makes it seem, to my ears, the the locomotive is in a hollow and is bearing down on me. More importantly, unless I am mistaken, there is no speaker in the loco of the Y6b edition itself. But it sounds to me like there is a speaker in the loco. That is great stuff.
The Vision Big Boy has a similar echo when the whistle is blown, but, of course, a different sounding whistle. With the speaker in the loco itself, we get such realistic chuff sounds, whistle and bell. The next iteration of the Munoz Lines will be built with rock walls or "concrete" retaining walls where I want to blow the whistle. The sound is amplified and bounces all over the room. I do love that.
Reproducing and hearing sound is similar to smoking a cigar in that the experience is unique to the user/listener like a cigar is perceived differently because we each have a different tasting experience. Reproducing sound is an art and Lionel is the artist here. I don't run these locos much. Perhaps five minutes every day or so. I just sit there and pound the whistle . . . . . and then I hear the echoes of the past.
