DCC Sound Wanted for a Bachmann

[Raisem80]

Hello, I'm new to railing. I have a Bachmann GE B23/B30-7 Diesel loco (N scale).
I want to add sound but am having trouble locating a decoder that will work for sure. I am currently running analog layout and if I could get sound for that, would be great. If I need to upgrade to Digital command could you also recommend one that is more affordable and also work well with sound decoder. Digitrax SDN144PS - sound and motor with the plug cutoff and hardwired was recommended or replace the factory board with a drop-in board like the SDN144K0A. If I have to do any soldering I would like to see installation process or be sure before I buy that I could do this. If available, a plug and play would be great. Any help would be great. thanks for your time.

[skipgear]

Sound in that loco is not really an option. It is designed for a solder in decoder which would be the SDN144PS but it is too large to fit in the area provided. Then you have the speaker and power saver capacitor to deal with. I'm sure it could be done with enough effort but it will be a lot of trial and error. There is no drop in board that is designed for the loco so it could be a challenge to find one that might work.

Sound in small diesels really only works easily with a drop in decoder, meaning MRC decoders and Atlas and Kato loco's. Even the Digitrax "drop in" requires a speaker that doesn't exist or milling of the chassis to make room for the one provided.

[Raisem80]

So kinda out a luck huh? I'd b better off buying one sound ready? Then there's the Q of can I get one that runs analog, or should I just upgrade that now too and use DCC? I have ran N scale off and on in mid 90's but the cool digital stuff for this has been perty tough to get caught up on. I feel like my dad when he finally went to dvd, lol. Anyway recommendations for a decent priced stater DCC/transformer would be appreciated. thanks again 

[skipgear]

You don't need DCC to run sound equiped loco's but you do need it for the bells and whistles. Most sound decoders will run on analog but they will just to the prime mover sound and other random background sounds that it is programed to do. If you want to blow the horn, ring the bell, etc. then you need DCC.

Should you go that route, get a real DCC system, Digitrax, NCE, etc. I would skip the MRC psudeo DCC Tech 6 system. By the time you pay for that, you are more than halfway to a true DCC system that will allow you to program and control multiple trains.