Lionel TMCC/RS4 Upgrade Speaker Question

If you have room for the baffle, install it. There will be an audible difference in clarity. 

The tender shell would make a good enclosure if you can seal it completely. The Lionel Commodore Vanderbilt diecast tender is an example of what a sealed tender can sound like. Not easy to duplicate though. Alternatively used the largest enclosure that will fit in the tender. The one supplied is smaller than ideal.

 

Pete

I have the Black Commodore, and that engine is loud! The tender is large enough, and I think the baffle will fit. 

The key to an effective speaker enclosure is to seal the backside of the speaker completely. If there is a gap around the bottom or where the wires enter you loose most of the advantage of the baffle. A good material to use is Mortite string caulk. If you can't find the original brand, ACE Hardware sell a similar product under their own name. It is sticky enough to hold but it never hardens so you can remove the baffle easily. Its been used by amateur speaker builders for years to seal the speaker frame to the cabinet.

 

Pete

I agree that the baffle is going to yield better sound.  As Pete says, the better the seal, the more effective it will be.  I truthfully have personally observed that having a good fit, even it it's not a perfect seal, will be a lot better than no baffle. 

 

Sealing the tender will be a LOT more difficult than using the baffle.

 

I have used a short length of 2" PVC vacuflo pipe and the matching cap to make a fast speaker baffle, with good results. I usually go for about 1-1/2 to 1-3/4 inch high, or whatever will fit in the tender.

If space is limited you can sometimes only use the PVC cap.

I have used Goo to glue it to the back of the speaker with success.

I don't know if 2" pipe will fit the Fatboy speaker however.

 

Rod

I predict it'll sound fine with the original baffles.

 

The question is the Fat boy speaker compatible with the sound board? Double check the ohm requirement from board to speaker. The baffles do make a difference when installed correctly.

 

 

 

From what I know the Fatboy speaker is 8 ohm and is commonly used with the RS4 board.

Just curious about the PN for those speaker baffles that are used with the Fatboy?

 

Rod 

Fatboys come in 8 and 16 ohm versions and two diameters. The 16 ohm speakers are used in pairs where space allows. I believe all versions of Railsounds are designed for an 8 ohm load.

 

Pete

I just bought an 8 ohm Fat Boy to replace the cheap 8ohm speaker thats in my Sunset 3rd Rail GS-4. It has Railsounds 4/TMCC so it will be a direct replacement as far as the speaker. I will be using the enclosure as well, so the sound quality should be a big improvement. I'll get some pictures posted when its done for sure and hopefully a video so you can hear it.

If I may ask, where did you buy the fatboy speaker, Lionel or another source?

 

Thanks

You can get them from Lionel, or Speaker Dealers. 

SPEAKER / 8 OHM 1.0W / 50MM ROUND is the speaker I am referring too. 

I bought it from forum member Boxcar Bill, who is an authorized Lionel repair tech.

Does anyone have a part # for Lionel's 50mm 8hm Fatboy Speaker?  I'd be very interested in the specs - dimensions, frequency response and max watts input.  Thanks.

630-8029-536 for the speaker. 2" wide " 1 1/8" tall. The housing is 2" tall and 2 1/4" wide.

Thanks for the info.

I think there is a digit missing from that part number for the speaker.  Lionel part numbers are:  XXX-XXXX-XXX  in sequence.  The 630 and the 536 seem to be okay, but there is something wrong with the  829 ????  Dennis M.

 

The speaker is 630-8029-536, Mount 691-1152-T55 and the housing is 691-1152-T56. We sell Modern Lionel parts at 15% of list price.

 

Bill

This upgrade was not for a beginner that's for sure. The housing didn't just drop right in, but after working on it all day, I got it to fit, and it's all back together.

 

These are the 3 pieces I bought from Boxcar Bill. 

 

 

The 3 pieces as they fit together vs. the factory speaker.

 

The large holes were already there from the factory speaker, but I drilled and tapped new holes to mount the new speaker, making sure there was enough room from the back of the tender, as to not smash the wires for the lights and LEDs. Notice the lip on the inside of the tender.... this had to be notched to get the housing to fit down inside the shell. Get out the Dremel for this brass shell. Are you kidding me? 

 

Well I did bust out the Dremel and notched both sides of that lip to get the housing to fit. I also had to sand the housing down because the inside of the tender is not flat at the top, it's angled on both sides, so the housing was a tad to tall. The switch plate that has the volume control and run/program switch had to be cut a bit shorter as well to allow the housing in there, but I forgot to take a picture of that. More Dremel cutoff wheel to the brass shell.    

 

You can clearly see the other notch I had to cut in the lip of the tender.

 

It's all back together and running after I finished the paint detailing (corrections to some of the detail parts) and tested on my overhead loop. SOUNDS AWESOME... yeah it's still Railsounds 4 so you have a touch of that static, but once it's running you don't really notice it. The whistle is VERY DEEP, and VERY LOUD.. I had to dial the volume down with the dial mounted in the tender about a quarter turn. Much different than the stock speaker.

 

I didn't have to mount the housing in there, but the inside lip still had to be notched to allow the shell to sit all the way back down once the speaker mounting plate was put in to hold the speaker. Once I did that...might as well go all the way. Took me all dang day, but it was worth it.  

That's great, nice when a plan comes together.

 

I would point out that if you could have found something to fit over the old speaker as a baffle, it would have improved it's sound as well.  No way to know if it would be better or worse than the one you have, and now that it's all working great, I doubt you want to find out.   If you run into another one like that oval, consider a dishwashing liquid container as a baffle, cut the bottom out and fit it to the speaker.

 

I was going to use a piece of pipe and cover the top with styrene but of course I didn't have anything laying around that was the right size. So I just made that one work this time, plus it has the mounting tabs molded in so its easy to screw into place.

All's well that ends well.