Much as I like a good story. I call BS. I tend to think to much energy would be needed to go the distance then reform in another drum. [edit] So if all the e

Much as I like a good story. I call BS. I tend to think to much energy would be needed to go the distance then reform in another drum. [edit] So if all the energy is transferred it'll be the same loudness, but one would assume it's at least a square root of loss. An ear on a train line is linearish with neither depth or sideways loss and still needs a lot of amplification i.e. ear directly on the line. (So it seems to me from movies.)