Noisy Thing

[BarzoParticipant @barzo]

Action Sound-effects electronics

[BarzoParticipant @barzo]

Hi there,

Has any one out there had experience in installing this equipment?

This is a request for practical advice on the installation of the speaker system.

1. Are there any Youtube videos demonstrating the quality of the projected sound effects?

2. Are there any absolute ‘no nos’?

3. Are there any absolute musts?

Thanks in advance

Barzo

PS It will be installed in my Fairey Huntsman 

Edited By Barzo on 18/05/2011 10:57:44

[Mike PendleburyParticipant @mikependlebury45959]

I have installed a couple of these systems in lifeboats and they are simplicity itself. Just follow the excellent instructions in the pdf file that you can dowmload from this link:

http://www.action-electronics.co.uk/pdfs/P100%20Operating%20Manual%20Part%201%20Ver03.pdf

If you have purchased the optional programming CD then the instructions are at this link:

http://www.action-electronics.co.uk/pdfs/P100%20Operating%20Manual%20Part%202.pdf

Mike

[BarzoParticipant @barzo]

Mike,

 

Many thanks for the reply.

 

I can only agree with you on the quality of the instructions.

 

I have used them to assemble the system and have managed to have sound come out of the speaker and have it change as the throttle is opened up.

 

The problem I have is that it does not sound to me like a powerful marine engine.

 

So my concern was how best to create a speaker system to get the best out of the P100.

 

I have purchased the 3″ speaker and may be that is the problem, however It did occur to me that there may be a requirement to have a minimum volume to the speaker enclosure, a minimum stiffness to the baffle and perhaps some need for damping in the enclosure.

 

Maybe you could let me know how your system is mounted in your model, ie, size of speaker, volume of enclosure, materials of construction and which sound effects you have in your system.

 

Do you have a .wav file or something similar which could be emailed for me to hear your sound effects?

 

I will record the output from my system and send it to Dave for his comment/s.

 

I have been looking on the web to see if there are any commercially available engine sound effects that could be loaded into the P100, are you aware of any sites?

 

On some of the sites they have sample sound clips, albeit slightly degraded to prevent pirating of the sound effect.

 

Thanks again for taking the trouble to respond to my request for help.

 

Regards Barzo

 

 

 

[Dave MilbournParticipant @davemilbourn48782]

As I have explained to Alan, the “problem” is not with the P100/101unit or the sound clip. The choice and correct installation of the speaker is crucial to getting the right sound. It’s only common sense – think of turning on the radio then leaving the
room and closing the door behind you. Of course it’s not going to be
very loud. Also imagine the sound of the same tune played through a
small personal radio’s earpieces compared to it played through a stereo amplifier and separate
speaker cabinets.

If you just throw the speaker into the model and shut the lid you’ll hear very little, whereas if you mount the thing to a proper rigid baffle board (which transfers the vibrations to the hull and uses it as a resonator); fit a sound tube to prevent the air from the speaker cone dissipating inside the hull, and allow plenty of ventillation for the sound to escape then you will be rewarded with a rich, real engine sound.

I rest my case, m’lud.

Dave M

Edited By Dave Milbourn on 21/05/2011 15:32:54

[BarzoParticipant @barzo]

Dave,

 

Having carefully read the above post, I assume your comments in the first paragraph are meant primarily for somebody other than me, some one who must have contacted you outside of this thread.

 

It’s a pity that all of us could not have the benefit of their comments, at first hand.

 

As a relatively new modeller, showing my ignorance in the search for help in making the absolute best of modern products, it is sometimes necessary to ask basic questions. At this stage of my knowledge/experience, my clumsy questions should in no way be construed as implied criticisms of products.

 

In my response to Mike’s post, I asked about other sound effects, at that time I clearly was not aware of the contents of the CD. Having explored the disc I have now discovered the treasure trove of sound effects and look forward to creating a customised sound set.

 

Many thanks for sharing the knowledge in your last paragraph. I am sure that I will now be able to make a success of the physical installation.

 

Thanks again for all your help.

 

Barzo

[Dave MilbournParticipant @davemilbourn48782]

Alan

 

I have phone calls every week about this subject and, as this is a public forum and not a private conversation, I felt it was appropriate to make the comments which I did. That you should ask basic questions is quite understandable. In fact it’s exactly why we have a Forum – to share any expertise which might be going around. Your question simply gave me the opportunity to comment on the matter, hopefully to everyone’s benefit.

 

There are some folk however, as I explained to you when we spoke, who will take any opportunity to spread bad news – it’s sadly part of the way we live today. While your comments may not have been critical they were certainly construed as such by one person who sought to make some sort of profit by pointing them out to me (” I see someone on the MB forum is having problems with your P100, then….. I thought it was supposed to be the bee’s knees, judging by the reviews – but we all know about magazine reviews, don’t we?”). You can almost imagine him standing at the pondside on a Sunday, holding forth that ACTion stuff isn’t up to much because “there’s a bloke on the Model Boats Forum blah blah”. If you can gain any benefit from this sort of ill-informed comment then you’re a better man than I! (I hope he’s reading this…..)

 

I’m glad you’ve since found the stuff on the P100 CD. There are also any number of Internet sites which hold sound effects which you could download. Being a commercial concern it would cost us stupid amounts of money to license even one or two of them, which is one of the reasons why we made P100 capable of user programming. If I ever get any spare time I shall pull together an article about installing speakers for our website, but some swine somewhere decided that there should only be 24 hours in a day and only seven of those every week…….

 

Anyway, Huntsman skippers can do no wrong in my book!

 

Dave M

 

[Ian in SpainParticipant @ianinspain]

I have just installed the p100 in my Aziz along with other excellent stuff from Action. It sounds fantastic just now and am more than overjoyed with it. However as I progress with the build am a bit concerned to keep the quality of the sound right. Is there any reference articles on baffle boards or sound tubes that Dave mentions as I am keen to build it in as I go along rather than have to adapt later. As I have never put sound in a model before I am kind of blind on this. By the way Dave recd the repairer P94 and all is well and I promise not to be so stupid again.

[BarzoParticipant @barzo]

Hi Ian,

 

I will contact you outside of the Forum and you can send me your email address. I can then send you what I have on the subject.

 

I am interested in your installation: what size is your model, what particular sound set have you acquired and are you listening to the sound effect on a naked loudspeaker at the moment?

 

For my part, being an inveterate experimenter, I have been researching youtube for some fruity marine engine noises and have come up with some great noises. I have now managed to down-load some videos and also managed to isolate the sound tracks. I am currently playing with the sound tracks using Audacity – a Linux application, as per Dave’s excellent guidance.

 

Me, being a died-in-the wool Linux user, the next step is to find a a cheap MS computer to execute the various utilities. It is a pity from my point of view that the utilities will not run under Linux, but I can see the commercial reasons for only writing software for Bill Gates!!@? No doubt it could be reverse engineered, but one is strictly forbidden to do such a thing.

 

Oh well these things are sent to try us.

 

Best of luck with your modelling and try and post some pics.

 

Kindest regards Barzo.

 

 

 

 

 

[Dave MilbournParticipant @davemilbourn48782]

We buy all our company PC kit from these guys – their service and prices are superb. Take a look at the refurbished units page:

http://www.misco.co.uk/applications/category/category_tlc.asp?CatId=3607

Dave M

 

[LooverlijnParticipant @looverlijn]

Posted by Dave Milbourn on 21/05/2011 15:32:13:

As I have explained to Alan, the "problem" is not with the P100/101unit or the sound clip. The choice and correct installation of the speaker is crucial to getting the right sound. It's only common sense – think of turning on the radio then leaving the room and closing the door behind you. Of course it's not going to be very loud. Also imagine the sound of the same tune played through a small personal radio's earpieces compared to it played through a stereo amplifier and separate speaker cabinets.

If you just throw the speaker into the model and shut the lid you'll hear very little, whereas if you mount the thing to a proper rigid baffle board (which transfers the vibrations to the hull and uses it as a resonator); fit a sound tube to prevent the air from the speaker cone dissipating inside the hull, and allow plenty of ventillation for the sound to escape then you will be rewarded with a rich, real engine sound.

I rest my case, m'lud.

Dave M

Edited By Dave Milbourn on 21/05/2011 15:32:54

Bit of an oldy this one but I have not been able to find any updates on this subject. Having listened to loads of sound clips from other units, I am now sold on the AE P100 Noisy Thing and will be purchasing one in due course but my research led me to this post and I wondered if you could expand (maybe you already have ) on the techniques of getting the best out of the speaker system, namely – fit a "proper rigid baffle board" and "fit a sound tube". These are both things that I guess should be built into the hull at an early stage i.e. before the deck goes on. A brief description of what is meant would be great as I am bit of a numpty when it comes to how speakers do what they do.

Cheers Paul

[John W EParticipant @johnwe]

hi ya Paul

first of all…really we need to know what type of model you wish to put the Sound Unit in?

As, you have to look for areas such as open spaces where you can mount the speaker behind so its able to produce the sound to the outside of the model. There are various ways of doing this, if you are building an old coaster ship – you could leave a couple of hatches open and mount the speaker in the hatch space. The other thing is grills on the side of superstructures – you can open the grill up on the superstructure and mount the speaker behind that.

I have put a couple of pics on of how I mounted the speaker and the RTTL which I built – this is just a standard 3 inch speaker, its not a water proof one – and it should be – I built the sound box which works in a similar way that the old gramaphone horn used to work. There is also a pic of the amplifier from ACTion and the actual noisy thing itself. You can just see if – its tucked in under the side of the deck – and its got some black electrician tape over it. The black electrician tape is to cover a hole that was cut for a module that you clip into the noisy thing and it allows you to play the 8 selection of sounds by moving the stick on your transmitter from 1 – 8 times. All I will say about the noisy thing is – I had one of the very first ones and its never let me down. The main sound on it are 2 Griffin motors starting up and burbling on tickover until you throttle up. Also, on the pre recorded sounds on top of the main engine sound – the very last sound recorded for me was a message from the programmer who wants to Exterminate Me The Wom bless him

aye

John

Edited By bluebird on 17/10/2013 16:54:56

Edited By bluebird on 17/10/2013 16:55:33

Edited By bluebird on 17/10/2013 16:55:58

[Dave MilbournParticipant @davemilbourn48782]

Thanks for that, John.
My other mate Steve Dean wrote a very comprehensive article on speakers in "the other magazine" about two years ago. If I remember I'll look it up and let you know which issue it was in.
Dave M

[Malcolm FraryParticipant @malcolmfrary95515]

Putting a speaker into a boat is much like building your own loudspeaker cabinet, and there are plenty of sites out there telling the ins and outs of doing that. In our case, the hull is the cabinet, and the deck that the speaker is mounted to is the baffle. The two really important considerations are that there should be a nice wide air path to the outside world from the front face, and there should not be such a path from the back face. This lets you hear the sound from the front face, it stops the equal and opposite sound from the back cancelling the front sound out.

Matching the speaker size to the amplifier output power and reconciling it with the desirable aim of allowing the boat to float upright and the volume wanted is another bunch of stories altogether.

[LooverlijnParticipant @looverlijn]

Something weird is happening to this posting… I added a post to "Noisy Thing" on 17/10/13 and today when I looked at "Latest Posts" there are two further posts dated 18/10/13 but they are not showing up. I have cleared my Cache but still no sign of these posts. Any ideas?

Paul (AKA Looverlijn)

[LooverlijnParticipant @looverlijn]

Cancel that… they have just appeared… must have been hiding

[LooverlijnParticipant @looverlijn]

Thanks for the pictures Bluebird, as usual "a picture says more than a thousand words" and I can see what is meant by the sound box funneling the sound out to the open air.. neat. I'm building a Model Slipway Yorkshireman so there is plenty of room for fitting everything in and as you suggested a deck hatch might just be the way to go. Action Electronics suggest a 4inch speaker but having fitted a 3inch, are you happy with the sound quality? Looking at the pics am I correct in thinking that the sound box is 3mm ply?

cheers Paul

[John W EParticipant @johnwe]

Hi ya Paul,

The Soundbox is made from 3 mm lite ply which has been coated with fibreglass resin.  Also at the time the 3 inch speaker was all I had then and it gives ample volume and very little distortion of the low notes.  I suspect there would be very little difference between the 3 and 4 inch speaker size.  Also I have had a look around the web for builds of Model Slipway tug and noticed that at the back of the bridge there are 4 doors which I presume cover grating for ventilation to the engineroom on the lifesize/real ship.  You could have these open with grilles and the speaker mounted behind them.  This is just food for thought and I have included a pic of what I mean

aye

john

Edited By bluebird on 18/10/2013 14:04:55

Edited By bluebird on 18/10/2013 14:11:13

Edited By bluebird on 18/10/2013 14:12:45

[LooverlijnParticipant @looverlijn]

Yes I see what you mean and I guess the grilles would have to be fairly wide mesh so as not to trap the sound. Sounds like a plan.

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