The Ultimate Speaker System
lightguy
installed what I refer the the Ultimate Speaker System, in a Centaur.
You could FEEL the thump of the sound system in you chest. It was if
the machine was alive !
When I pressed for info he said it had a complete Hi-fidelity Audio
system with amps, a massive sub woofer, reinforced cabinet, Etc.
My question : Is it possible to install a simple speaker jack in the
bottom of a cabinet and feed the signal to a stand alone Audio system,
powered sub woofer and all and achieve a similar effect ?
Also it may be cool to add a "click and pop" filter ( especially for TZ
) and a Stereo effect simulator.
A benefit to this type of system would be that one could add jacks to
other machines to rotate the system from game to game without the
expense of a seperate system for each machine. Plus you keep the system
if/when the game is sold.
Anyone have a system like this ?
beaver
> My question : Is it possible to install a simple speaker jack in the
> bottom of a cabinet and feed the signal to a stand alone Audio system,
> powered sub woofer and all and achieve a similar effect ?
> Also it may be cool to add a "click and pop" filter ( especially for TZ
> ) and a Stereo effect simulator.
> A benefit to this type of system would be that one could add jacks to
> other machines to rotate the system from game to game without the
> expense of a seperate system for each machine. Plus you keep the system
> if/when the game is sold.
> Anyone have a system like this ?
Yes. I did this:
http://www.edcheung.com/album/album05/pinball/shuttlepin.htm#woofer
You may need to hit 'reload' after it loads to pop to the correct
location on the page.
I am thinking of adding an even bigger setup, but this does give a very
noticeable rumble.
Edward Cheung CARGPB26
www.edcheung.com
MarcelG
It's documented here:
http://usergallery.myhomegameroom.com/gallery/album115
With a little further tinkering, one can put it to work into any
monaural sound system.
Marcel
pinsane
> My question : Is it possible to install a simple speaker jack in the
> bottom of a cabinet and feed the signal to a stand alone Audio system,
> powered sub woofer and all and achieve a similar effect ?
> Also it may be cool to add a "click and pop" filter ( especially for TZ
> ) and a Stereo effect simulator.
Hello lightguy,
A few years ago I was experimenting w/ outboard sound equipment for
pins. I used an external powered subwoofer, and had a rack of sound
equipment to process the sound (including subharmonic synthesizers for
even more bass, stereo synthesizers, dynamic range expanders, and
parametric equalizers). To retain the haptic effect of the internal
woofer, I also used tactile transducers so that you could feel the low
frequencies through your hands. Here's a little writeup from back
then:
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.games.pinball/browse_frm/thread/60b50c2e7af71632/d99bf3b607dfb3b5
good luck!
steve SDTM
beaver
reinventing the wheel, but I think the only part I am missing is the
low end on my pins. To limit the financial outlay, I intend to only
change the cabinet woofer and perhaps add a power amp to it.
The woofer I have selected is 6.5" unit with a low end bandwidth of
40Hz and an efficiency of 90dB. Not great, but I think it is the best
I can do with the small cone size. On some of my machines, the cabinet
speaker is powered by a separate amp on the audio board, and will turn
up the gain on that unit. If that is not enough, I will a power
booster in the floor of the cab.
I may also setup a 1/8" jack on each of my machines, and run that into
a mixer for a separate new powered subwoofer, but I am still weighing
that.
Edward Cheung CARGPB26
www.edcheung.com
pinsane
beaver wrote:
> I may be reinventing the wheel, but I think the only part I
> am missing is the low end on my pins.
Well, there is something else missing... (For instance, there's about
8Khz of audio bandwidth at the top end of the spectrum that has been
prefiltered out on DCS systems). I agree that improving the low end
makes a big difference. But for home use, I was really pleasantly
surprised at how much of an impact adding an dynamic range expander
makes to the sound. Because pins were designed to be used in noisy
environments, the dynamics (the difference between the loudest and
softest sounds) on the audio tracks were very compressed. The first
time I hit the crate on my SS with an expander in the audio chain it
nearly blew me across the room!
The good news is that expanders are cheap on ebay, and thus you won't
have to risk your CARGP status!
> To limit the financial outlay, I intend to only
> change the cabinet woofer and perhaps add a power amp to it.
>
> The woofer I have selected is 6.5" unit with a low end bandwidth of
> 40Hz and an efficiency of 90dB. Not great, but I think it is the best
> I can do with the small cone size.
If you decide to add a power amp when you change out your sub
(recommended), then you might consider adding a bass enhancer like an
SRS WOW thing or a Waves MaxxBass. These units use a psychoacoustic
trick to make you think you're hearing really deep base out of your
small woofer by adding harmonics to the missing low tones. They'll
protect your woofer and give you apparently deeper bass.
>
> I may also setup a 1/8" jack on each of my machines, and run that into
> a mixer for a separate new powered subwoofer, but I am still weighing
> that.
>
If you use the separate powered subwoofer, I'd recommend using a
subharmonic synthesizer to add even more power to the bass. It makes a
big difference (especially if you use a dynamic range expander!)
good luck
steve SDTM
beaver
presume. Bass being nondirectional, I could sum the output from
several machines for the overall bass driver system, but the higher end
of the spectrum must come from the backbox speakers. I would prefer to
concentrate on the low end of the spectrum for that reason.
I searched for subharmonic synthesizer and found the DBX 120. I may
try getting one on ebay at some point. They look like in the $75
range. I also looked on ebay for powered subwoofers, and they are not
all that bad. I could get a mixer + dbx120 + power subwoofer for under
$200, and make all my DCS pins sound BIG without being loud.
Edward Cheung CARGPB26
www.edcheung.com
martin
It is a simple 12V deal, it runs off of the coin door board. Enough to
balance out the cab and the head, and compensate for a low-efficiency
speaker. Cliffy cuts the signal a bit on DCS systems to reduce noise.
pinsane
> If I use an dynamic range expander, I will need one for each pin I
> presume.
Correct.
> Bass being nondirectional, I could sum the output from
> several machines for the overall bass driver system, but the higher end
> of the spectrum must come from the backbox speakers. I would prefer to
> concentrate on the low end of the spectrum for that reason.
Very low bass is nondirectional, but I ind that I can localize higher
bass. So you would need to low pass filter the signal to the subwoofer
appropriately. Also, if you have a large number of pins, you may have
problems balancing the low frequency parts of the audio with the pins
far away from the subwoofer.
>
> I searched for subharmonic synthesizer and found the DBX 120. I may
> try getting one on ebay at some point. They look like in the $75
> range. I also looked on ebay for powered subwoofers, and they are not
> all that bad. I could get a mixer + dbx120 + power subwoofer for under
> $200, and make all my DCS pins sound BIG without being loud.
Many view the DBX 120X-DS to be the premier subharmonic synthesizer.
On the other hand, the CARGP approved version would be the DBX SX-30
which was actually made by the mail order company DAK (the original dbx
company name was sold off to them). One just closed today on ebay for
$15.50 along with a DBX SX-10 (dynamics enhancer) and DBX SX-20 (impact
restorer). I've tested these in the pinball audio chain and they do a
nice job improving the sound.
steve SDTM
beaver
Please send me a part number as the URL uses cookies.
Edward Cheung CARGPB26
www.edcheung.com