Speaker static

If this is a Proto-2 engine, the speakers in early 5-volt Proto-2 engines are notorious for going bad. It's easy to tell. Look at the back of the speaker. If the plating is flaking off and there are tiny shiny bits of metal all over the place, it's bad and needs to be replaced. It could be that the reason the speaker sounds bad with the normal engine noises and isn't so noticeable with the horn and bell is that horn and bell are intermittent sounds and the engine sound is continuous, so you just don't notice the distortion as much. 

Thank you for your response.  This is getting to be "ritual".  I purchased several engines back in 2000-2001 and 2002.  Did not have a layout at the time, but knew I would at some point in time.  While I am still working on my layout now, I can run trains.  I am finding that the MTH engines that are stored are needing speakers and traction tires before they can be put in service.....and of course battery charging.  All of my train "stuff" has been stored in the house in air conditioning and heat, so I don't believe the deterioration is environmental.  Thanks again.

AMF,

Traction tires have a life. They dry out whether you run the trains or you don't.

Rechargeable batteries will only hold a charge for a period of time, then they go flat. The old MTH 8.4 volt NiCad batteries in the original PS2 engines will lose about 20% of their charge for every month that they aren't charged.

The above are "natural laws".

The speakers in 5 volt PS2 engines are a different story. They should last the life of the engine, however, those MTH used were, unfortunately, defective. The replacements that MTH sells are not defective.

There's always a risk when purchasing something and not determining that it works properly during its warranty period. In your case, neither the traction tires nor the speaker would likely have failed during the warranty period. Further, traction tires are considered maintenance items and aren't covered by MTH's warranty.

Consider yourself lucky that you didn't encounter any truly expensive issues with your long-stored engines.

Thank you for your comments.  Barry, are there better quality replacement speakers that can be used in place of the ones in the engines that have failed.  Do you think the new replacemant speakers from MTH are good.....or just acceptable?  Since I am apparantly going to be changing a few speakers, I might as well replace with speakers that are the best quality for sound reproduction and that will last.  Thanks again.

Is there any reason (cost?) why MTH could not have employed the more maintenance-free and durable ELECTROSTATIC speakers instead of the old-fashioned cone speakers? 

The replacement speakers are fine, no issues.

Unless there have been some significant developments in the past years, electrostatic speakers require a high voltage power supply and are much larger in size than conventional speakers. The cost is probably 100 times and the size is probably on the order of ten times larger than a conventional speaker.

I thought these were employed in our cell phones??? 

Not so big or power hungry! 

Cell phone speakers might be piezioelectric, but they are not electrostatic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E...rostatic_loudspeaker

http://reconingspeakers.com/20...zoelectric-speakers/

Neither of these above designs have much bass response.

Decent quaility conventional speakers are the way to go. Except for a small batch that was manufactured incorrectly, they are cheap, reliable, available, and they fit. Why redesign the whole system just because you had a bad couple of speakers?

Thank you all for your comments.  Looks like I will go with the MTH replacement speakers. Seems like the best path for me.  Don't know yet how many I will need, as I have not run all of my engines yet.  In addition to the Proto 2 engines, I have a lot of Proto 1 engines.  I don't want to get them going until I decide on what I am going to do about batteries. That will be the next step!  Thanks again.

Pro-1's , replace battery with BCR and be done with it.Pro-2's i 'm not sure of these.

Rod

Speaker and the speaker magnet have a tendency to pick metalic material from the layout. Usually on the speaker face. Speaker material is subject to cracking and splitting also. Both can effect sound quality.   TMCC systems (Atlas SW's with a very small speaker), seems to apply sound at full volume on start-up.  That start-up seems to be  an issue with the small Atlas speakers.  IMO

The Proto-1 speakers do not have a chronic problem the way the early Proto-2 ones do. They can and do fail, but as far as I know they are not known to be defective en masse. I would recommend BCR's for any Proto-1 engines you plan to keep. I think they are unnecessary for Proto-2 engines, except for a few like the Bi-Polar where the battery is so inaccessible that once you've replaced one, you never, ever want to do it again! NIMH cells from Harbor Freight make good replacements for the stock MTH batteries in the early Proto-2 locomotives. Just be sure you get the 8.4 volt cells.