Lionel sound quality

I don't use the crew-talk that much, so I don't really miss the engine specific features.  Other than that, I have no complaint with the Legacy sounds.  I still think they're still better than the MTH sounds, though the differences aren't always that big.  The newer Legacy has added some cool background sound features when the engines are in motion, IMO, this more than makes up for the engine specific crewtalk.

I agree with John's opinion. I think the newer Legacy engines sound pretty good for the most part, and generally exceed PS-2 and PS-3 engine sounds. And I am not bashing either manufacturer in any way. The VL Bigboy is pretty much the best I have heard so far, it just steals the show whenever its on the tracks. One big reason I think is the additional speaker in the boiler which makes the chuff and whistle sounds come from where your brain thinks they should! And that whistle! Yay. I am not big on crewtalk so that's irrelevant to me.

Rod

The lack of specific crew talk to me is a plus as it allows me to renumber identical engines. Legacy sound has varied over the years though. Some engines have come with "Legacy Lite" and is nowhere as rich as full blown Legacy sound. I am thinking specifically of the newer small steamers which don't sound as good to me as some of the old RS4 offerings.

Pete

Its hard to generalize a year because it is model specific. There was a period there where Lionel reduced the sounds... I was very disappointed.

Some models after 2009 have great sound... i.e. the 4-12-2, vision line Big Boy, PRR CC2, and the 2-8-8-2 H7, NKP 765, two truck shay, Ten Wheelers.

Some models have great sound but are reduced. i.e. The VL challenger, UP 844, Legacy K4,  E8/9 units, Atlantics and Legacy F units, Heavy Mikados.

Some have both reduced sound but the sound is crackled or poor in clearity... Legacy 1225 Berk, VL Centipedes, Legacy GP7 and 9's,

J Daddy posted:

 

My thoughts in parentheses.

 

Its hard to generalize a year because it is model specific. There was a period there where Lionel reduced the sounds... I was very disappointed.

Some models after 2009 have great sound... i.e. the 4-12-2, vision line Big Boy, PRR CC2, and the 2-8-8-2 H7, NKP 765 (which model, from 2010 or 2014?), two truck shay, Ten Wheelers (again, which models?).

Some models have great sound but are reduced. i.e. The VL challenger (can you explain why you think that?), UP 844 (which model?), Legacy K4,  E8/9 units, Atlantics (certianly not the one from 2008) and Legacy F units, Heavy Mikados.

Some have both reduced sound but the sound is crackled or poor in clearity... Legacy 1225 Berk (from 2014 I suppose?), VL Centipedes (please explain), Legacy GP7 and 9's, (from 2016 I suppose?)

 

They sound good to me.

I have/had both brands, from what I've seen Lionel uses better speakers, could that be what makes all the difference?

I think they're fantastic. They are model trains afterall... not Bose surround sound systems.

I think Lionel has the best sound quality of any of them. And I enjoy MTH's sound variety (crew talk) the best.

I like that there's variety between production years and brands.

And I'm guessing the VL GG1 will have a spectacular sound set!

The only sounds I would say that I don't like are from Lionchief engines. But then again, they're not Legacy. Not meant to be high end.

Santa Fe 3751 posted:

J Daddy posted:

 

Its hard to generalize a year because it is model specific. There was a period there where Lionel reduced the sounds... I was very disappointed.

Some models after 2009 have great sound... i.e. the 4-12-2, vision line Big Boy, PRR CC2, and the 2-8-8-2 H7, NKP 765 (which model, from 2010 or 2014?), --Both- two truck shay, Ten Wheelers (again, which models?). (Both)

same sound sets...

Some models have great sound but are reduced. i.e. The VL challenger (can you explain why you think that?) (yes - you cannot turn the sound up as loud as other units, but the quality of the sound is great), UP 844 (which model? 2008), Legacy K4,  E8/9 units, Atlantics (certianly not the one from 2008 - the- PRR Atlantic- the Santa FE in 2008 is excellent in quality and loudness) and Legacy F units, Heavy Mikados.

Some have both reduced sound but the sound is crackled or poor in clearity... Legacy 1225 Berk (from 2014 I suppose?) ( Both - 2008 and 2014 - Legacy versions  sound distorted), VL Centipedes (please explain) Sure the sound is quieter and the squealing Aux motor fans drown the regular sound out, Legacy GP7 and 9's, (from 2016 I suppose?) No - the ones released after 2009 I believe... you can barely hear them...

 Add the 3751 to the great category - really enjoy the sounds on that one.

 

While the crew talk simplification doesn't bother me, I can see obvious steps backward from the early Legacy releases.

UP 105 GP-7

It had a wheel flange squeal that none of my newer Legacy diesels have. It also had a much more complex lighting package (mars light, bi-color LED markers) that none of my newer ones have as well.

The UP 105 is the most complex lighting package of any Lionel engine made. They are a nightmare to work on. but do look good. Like Graz stated, operating mars lights at both ends, cab lights, regular headlights, Red warning emergency light at each end, numberboard lights, scale sized roof beacon light, and the bi-color marker lights. Plus a smoke unit and the legacy sound package. And add the 2 motors, motor driver circuit, radio board, electric couplers, quite a bit of electronics crammed in a GP-7 shell. Lionel has never duplicated this complex of an engine.

I also felt that the 2009 and earlier engines had a better sound quality.  Then, a couple of months ago, I finally gave in and had a Dr. check my hearing and yup, I had moderate hearing loss.  I purchased a couple of expensive hearing aids and now all my engines sound awesome!  As an added bonus, my wife isn't telling me to turn the T.V. down every 15 minutes!  The down side is that thought all my track ballasting had really quieted down the running noise.  Wrong!  I just couldn't hear it!

I have the 6-28587 Legacy PRR GP-7 from the 2010 catalog. It has NO problem with plenty of volume, I actually didn't realize I had it turned down some until I checked!  Lack of volume is NOT an issue on this particular engine, I can assure you of that.  I hear no static, crackling, or poor audio quality, so I'm not sure what you're seeing.  Time for service on your Legacy GP-7 I suspect.

Personally, I think it's gotten worse. Due to the loss of the Road Specific crew talk which I like and the sound sets while are good have gotten worse, The new E7s are my base for stating this, they have the exact same sound set as the E8s Lionel made a few years ago. Now, while I do understand that they are basically the same engine, I would've hoped for a different voice on the Crew talk sounds and maybe a different bell, The horn I like. 

The reason that the newer locomotives don't have crew talk specific dialog about after 2009 was because their Staffing in the Sound department of Lionel was shrunk. Not enough people to help make recordings for all the sounds that were heard prior to vision line. I think there is only 1 or 2 guys now.  I think it was 6 before. This was what the head sound engineer told me "Rudy" he came and visited us at our store on National Lionel Train Day.

Now I don't use the Dialog very much at all. But it was nice to have the option of hearing it. The actual sound quality I think is very nice. Its clean and crisp and you don't hear electrical interference when the engine is shutdown."humming from the speaker." now some sound files do bug me. Such as the whistle used on the new Heisler's. Should have used the 2 truck Shay whistles I think instead from the NYC 700e Hudson.

I was never fan a of crew talk in steam locomotives. For the most part steam engines in the era I model did not have radios to begin with. Some of the cab chatter dialog is plain idiotic. As far as steam sounds go, Lionel has more realistic sound quality than MTH. On the the hand, MTH diesel sounds are much better, not as generic,  in my opinion.       

You lost me when you said crew talk was your metric for sound quality. Perhaps you meant feature rather than quality?

I think the quality is OK but the variety specifically in the diesels has become the same old recordings being used over and over again. This seems to be the case from about 2010 time frame.