New engine with dcs 3 sound system.

My early MTH PS3 engines had low volume, almost half of a PS2. There was a similar post about this about a month ago. The problem was in the early PS3 boards which MTH apparently has resolved as the new engines are loud. A fix for the older ones was an 4ohm, 3watt speaker, I believe the MTH part # was BF00034, Veco speaker. It helped my engines.

Paul, that is the same 4ohm speaker we have been using in PS2 for a few years.  Before that it was a Star 4ohm 3 watt.  You are correct on the early PS3 being quiet.  I have a few of those.  The early ES44 locomotives had that issue.  About a year ago, MTH upgraded the PS3 diesel board to Revision D.  This seems to be great with sound file volume.  This revised PS3 board will be in the upcoming PS3 upgrade kits as well as the current production diesels we are all now purchasing.  Like you said, MTH has resolved the sound volume issue.

I have an identical speaker but is 8 ohms and am wondering if running it in parallel to the 4 ohm speaker would hurt sound system

Thant's a very bad idea.

If you connect the two in series the sound will be even lower.

If you connect them in parallel, the impedance will be less than 4 ohms and you can damage the PS3 board's audio amplifier.

Barry, I recently had a guy bring me that setup and he did just what you said.  

Get two 8 ohm speakers and connect them in parallel, matching the + and - markings for the connections.  That's the right way to add two speakers.

Or look at MTH web site to see if they revised the Sound File.  Or if this is new, it is possible it is defective.

I have seen one diesel that had a pinched speaker wire, that knocked out the audio amp.  You could hear it, but it was low output.

For a new engine like this, I would have warranty service before I started swapping or adding speakers.

G

Keep it stock and as suggested look for file upgrades.

@ GGG The revised sound files we got from the MTH techs did not fix the low volume issue. The problem was in the early board. The PS2 4ohm 3watt speaker made a considerable improvement in the volume. This has been the standard fix for our low volume PS3 engines at NJ Hirailers until a better solution is released. 

Paul, that was not a new speaker.  The new fix was released last year with the rev D board.

Must admit I never heard that.  I understood they had to modify the PS-3 board to meet European standards. Not be cause of an audio defect.

I know some of the diesel use the VECO 40mm speaker.  I just replaced one with a 50mm BF-34.  The veco 50mm (BF-43) won't fit.  Different shape at the base.

I guess I will ask, just don't remember seeing a note on that.  G

When I upgraded an old Lionel switcher, the only location available for the speaker was to small to accommodate any of MTH's.  I went to www.PartsUnlimited.com and bought some with the prescribed electrical characteristics that would fit my available space.

George, it was in your service updates from MTH from a year ago.

I can't find it and I went back to 2012.

Just these 2:

Revised Sound Files for Pr GE Evo and Dash-8

The 2012 PS3 GE Evo and Dash-8s contain a 40mm
speaker and therefore are not quite as loud as other comparable models with the
50mm speaker.  If a customer complains about the sound volume, please
download the revised sound file from the MTH website to increase the volume a
little.  Remember the PS3 sound file ends with the .MTH extension. 
These are 4x sound files and take longer to load than PS2 due to the
size.  MTH also recommends using filtered DC power to load the sound file
to reduce the error/retrys required to complete the longer load. 

New "Rev D" PS3
Diesel Board

MTH service received new Rev D PS3 Diesel Board
for inventory last month.   This new board meets upcoming EMI
standards.  Unfortunately, it does not work with older
software.   3052 DSP code is required to work with the Rev D
board.  MTH is in the process of making revised PS3 files which has caused
delays supplying PS3 diesel boards.  The files will be marked
R121F_F-3_SFE_14xxxxzf4x.MTH where 14 indicates the year.   If you have a PS3
Diesel board in stock it should be the older board and will work with the older
files.   MTH requests the sound file part
numbers ordered with PS3 diesel board orders until the time we get the older
files updated.  I apologize for any inconvenience this causes.

George, look at your service update on 02/04/14 The second one is what I was talking about.  I know all about the new boards.  It is going to work out very well.

I have 20-20176-1 Burlington SD24 with Proto 3.0 that has a 4 ohm 4 watt speaker installed, and has what I would describe as having whimpy sounds.

I can't seem to find a better sound file for it, but maybe a better speaker would improve

things.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

I have the same engine. If I remember correctly it had a sound file for a non turbo engine. The SD24 was turbocharger. We downloaded  a PS3 sound file for an SD45. It had the turbo whine but the volume was still low. I installed  a PS2 BF34 Veco speaker which increased the volume to where I'm satisfied with it but it is not as loud as my BN PS2 SD24.   

Thanks Paul.

Do you know the product number for the sound file you used on your SD24?

has anone found a high efficiency 4 ohm speaker that will go very loud and fit in the steam engines.  Digital had a 2 inch one that is very loud and clear, even at 8 ohms but not available any more.

From what I remember it was the PS3 file for an SD45. I don't know what the product/part# number was because our techs did the file download.

Ironlake, check the site I referenced above.

I found one the old Railking website.

that takes me to a site on heavy epuiptment and Alison tranmissions.

ironlake.  Sorry.  Try http://www.parts-express.com/