AMPLIFONE Atari Flybacks / EHT units! Brand New $60.00 shipped
Chad Entringer
replacements for the Atari amplifone monitor board set.
http://www.arcadecup.com/ident/amp_f.jpg
paypal hotlink on my website or just shoot $60.00 to
ch...@arcadecup.com
Chad Entringer
much better price than the best price out there underselling them more
by a long shot!
John Robertson
So are these from Cinelab or another source? I would only trust a Mark
Shostak Ampliphone transformer...I know what pains he went to make it right.
John :-#)#
--
(Please post followups or tech inquiries to the newsgroup)
John's Jukes Ltd. 2343 Main St., Vancouver, BC, Canada V5T 3C9
Call (604)872-5757 or Fax 872-2010 (Pinballs, Jukes, Video Games)
www.flippers.com
"Old pinballers never die, they just flip out."
Chad Entringer
TRANSFORMER.
Tested and works perfect just like the so called "Cinelabs" version.
There is no difference. No need to pay more for the EXACT same
transformer.
James Sweet
Nice to see an alternative to the expensive WinTron units, too bad I
already have those. Do these run as hot? The WT transformers are
scorching in operation, but then they may run into saturation for
regulation like the old Sola CVTs, those run really hot too.
Matty-t
There are a few differences;
a) Warranty support from Cinelabs/Arcadeshop.
b) Keeping our dollars on our soil instead of exporting them.
c) Supporting the developer.
If you ever though of someone other then yourself, you would already
know thats what John was getting at.
- Matt
Mark
What's the motivation for Mark to continue making products for the
Arcade industry?
MH
Matty-t
Zero at the rate that everyone took advantage of the situation.
- Matt
bso...@gmail.com
the damn things will sell them to pretty much anyone if you find out
who they are. What sucks more is that some people will take advantage
of that to make a fast buck and more deeply hose the people involved
with all the research that went into them. I think if it was me
personally i'd stay away from trying to come in and undercut those
that did all the work and spent all the effort necessary to develop it
but that's just me.
someotherguy
Man; I thought this whole thing got hashed out months ago and that weird dude
that got Hovey King to pimp out the HVT's fucked off and disappeared. I guess
it had to be up to someone else here to snatch them up and undercut the guy that
did the R&D...weak.
I'm sure plenty of people are secretly emailing and buying these; I guess I'm
glad I don't have any Amplifones to worry about so that I don't get into the
ethical dilemma of saving a few bucks, or supporting the guy that made these
possible in the first place so that other cool new products might be made, too.
Competition is a good thing in any market, but stealing someone else's work
(even indirectly, by buying from a third party involved in stealing) and
undercutting them is a real piece of shit thing to do.
Richard
Chad Entringer
I do not believe there is such a thing as a proprietary / unique
Cinelabs EHT. I see the Cinelabs version as the exact same unit as the
ones I’m getting, except they put a Cinelabs sticker on them. I have
absolutely no history on the spawn of these particular hv units and
have never once thought that they were engineered by Mark (who I don’t
know and have never spoken with). It always appeared to me that a
replacement was simply provided to him or arcadeshop and the cinelabs
sticker was slapped on.
Matt, I have had the absolute worst experience ever with Cinelabs /
Arcadeshops warranty. Let’s go back a couple of months when I last
dealt with Cinelabs . The EHT Unit I purchased started to leak HV out
of the casing 2 days after customer received the repaired amplifone
board set... I sent it back for a replacement and purchased an
additional EHT transformer from arcadeshop. So two of them arrive and
what do you know! The exact same problem occurs! One unit works
perfectly and the other one is having the exact same HV leak. This led
me to believe arcadeshop had a bad "jail house" batch or they sent me
the exact same defective unit back. I believe it was the exact same
one I sent back to them for a replacement because desolder marks were
found on the pins. I should have marked it! Then, when I contacted
Steve at arcadeshop, he insisted it could be something in the hv cage
and wanted to get me in contact with Mark. I never received a call or
email from mark. I never heard from Steve again after pursuing
additional insight / replacement. After being hung out to dry I took
matters into my own hands and sent the customer a working unit. If you
believe that’s a warranty, Matt, I have a bridge to sell you. Matt,
you claim that the cinelabs flybacks are made in the U.S.A? I wish!
That’s not the case. We both know that.
James, I did like how the wintrons looked... They were much cooler
looking. However, the ones I am providing are more than enough to get
the job done. They will do you right at a fraction of Cinelab’s /
arcadeshops price.
Matty-t
You took my words out of context. I said we keep the dollars on our
soil. The R&D and sales happen here. Yes the product is outsourced,
never claimed otherwise. You should also not confuse your experience
with Mark and AS and visa-versa. The project sales were turned over to
AS. You were hung out to dry by AS. Mark is just plain busy, or has
some other good reason for not talking with you. AS makes the sales
and is supposed to handle the warranty on the units. If you think you
were sent back the same unit, you should have marked it. I know that a
few are pulled for QC testing on a semi-regular basis as anything from
overseas should be. Either that explains the solder marks, or AS
tested the unit and didn't let it run long enough to see the failure.
Either way, You can take it up with AS. Every unit I have installed
has performed flawlessly and I am not yet aware of any failures to
date. I actually have a silent warranty extension when I install them
and that warranty is up to 3 years. The HVT's also run surprisingly
cool after I mod the HV board.
Secondly, you need to learn to talk more like a technician. Don't say
thing like 'leaks HV' without explaining where/when it does so and how
you noticed that, etc. Saying 'it leaks' doesn't guide me in sending
valid feedback to the developer, of whom I have a decent relationship
with. Without a consice desciption I have no way to estimate where the
problem lay or if a bad batch came through. What revision HV board did
you install it on?
And lastly, as this was hashed out over a year ago on this very
group, please don't sit here and say you didn't notice who was behind
the R&D on these. There were enough posts at the time to fill a room,
and you were definatley lurking about. No matter what you think of
Mark right now, he led the way to a 99 dollar alternative to the
Wintron. He has also diligently worked to keep hundreds of cine games
alive, despite his unbelievably busy scedule, and continues to R&D
various projects when he could be better spending what little free
time he has. He does this for peanuts mind you. A very unselfish
person and a good man. He deserves some respect.
- Matt
Chad Entringer
be given away to you for free and you would find a fault or complain.
Apparently you’re clairvoyant in my correspondence with AS & attempts
with mark. It was all laid out in full detail with demonstration
pictures mind you.
someotherguy
> And lastly, as this was hashed out over a year ago on this very
>group, please don't sit here and say you didn't notice who was behind
>the R&D on these. There were enough posts at the time to fill a room,
>and you were definatley lurking about. No matter what you think of
>Mark right now, he led the way to a 99 dollar alternative to the
>Wintron. He has also diligently worked to keep hundreds of cine games
>alive, despite his unbelievably busy scedule, and continues to R&D
>various projects when he could be better spending what little free
>time he has. He does this for peanuts mind you. A very unselfish
>person and a good man. He deserves some respect.
Exactly where I was going with my previous comment. The head-in-the-sand
defense isn't going to work. I notice his response avoided this completely...
Richard
gamefixer
That does suck. I wish that we could, as a country, tell these fuckers
that make shitty products and get the rest of the world sick to go and
fuck themselves. I'm not saying cut ties off from the outside all
together just those select few shitty places that need to burn the
fuck down to the ground.
Sorry about the language, I'm just sick of watching the country I live
in turn to shit.
Matt
Mark C. Spaeth
: What sucks more is that some people will take advantage
: of that to make a fast buck and more deeply hose the people involved
: with all the research that went into them.
...especially when the mfg was posted long ago, and there are 'retail'
sites (non-arcade related) that sell them for FAR LESS than the markup
Chaddy's trying to get...
FWIW, I had a standing order for 4 transformsrs from a supplier who'd had
them on backorder for years, and one day they shipped me 4 -- haven't
actually tried them yet though :)
--
Mark Spaeth msp...@mtl.mit.edu
50 Vassar St., #38-265 msp...@gmail.com
Cambridge, MA 02139
(617) 452-2354 http://rgvac.978.org/~mspaeth
gamefixer
Let’s go back a couple of months when I last
> dealt with Cinelabs . The EHT Unit I purchased started to leak HV out
> of the casing 2 days after customer received the repaired amplifone
> board set... I sent it back for a replacement and purchased an
> additional EHT transformer from arcadeshop. So two of them arrive and
> what do you know! The exact same problem occurs!
All I gota say is you get what you pay for. In the 20+ years that I
have been in this field I've had "maybe" 2 Wintron's fail on me. Those
cheap piece of shit "made in China" motherfucking transformers are
dangerous. Who knows what kind of radiation is coming off of those
things. I hope you guys have had all the kids you want to have cuz
your balls are getting microwaved as you try to save the universe from
the forces of evil.
Screw those little god damned things.
Matt
Mark C. Spaeth
: Matt, I have had the absolute worst experience ever with Cinelabs /
: Arcadeshops warranty. Let???s go back a couple of months when I last
: dealt with Cinelabs . The EHT Unit I purchased started to leak HV out
: of the casing 2 days after customer received the repaired amplifone
: board set... I sent it back for a replacement and purchased an
: additional EHT transformer from arcadeshop. So two of them arrive and
: what do you know! The exact same problem occurs! One unit works
: perfectly and the other one is having the exact same HV leak.
No, you had a problems with Arcadeslop.
You bought from them, and they were servicing your warranty. If you had
bought directly from Cinelabs and had an issue, then it would have been
a cinelabs problem.
...and nobody belivers your claims of ignorance regarding the origin of
the transformers you're selling.
gamefixer
> The HVT's also run surprisingly cool after I mod the HV board.
There you go again with the "mod" thing. I sure would love to know
what you do to these boards...
Matt (curious about Matty-T's Amplifone mods).... :-)
James Sweet
>
> All I gota say is you get what you pay for. In the 20+ years that I
> have been in this field I've had "maybe" 2 Wintron's fail on me. Those
> cheap piece of shit "made in China" motherfucking transformers are
> dangerous. Who knows what kind of radiation is coming off of those
> things. I hope you guys have had all the kids you want to have cuz
> your balls are getting microwaved as you try to save the universe from
> the forces of evil.
>
> Screw those little god damned things.
>
> Matt
Out of two Wintrons I've bought, one of them failed literally days after
the warranty expired with perhaps 100 hours on it. After I pestered them
a bit they reluctantly gave me a small discount, I think 10% on a new
one which having no other viable choice, I bought, this third one has
been fine. Given a 33% failure rate on a $200 transformer, I'd take my
chances on a Chinese replacement next time.
It's a HV transformer, any "radiation" will be the same EMI you might
get from the flyback in a cheap TV, it's not as if they contain a
magnetron or xray tube. Better stay away from TV sets, computer
monitors, Tesla coils, radio transmitters, electronic fluorescent
ballasts, and the like if you're concerned about that.
James Sweet
>
> That does suck. I wish that we could, as a country, tell these fuckers
> that make shitty products and get the rest of the world sick to go and
> fuck themselves. I'm not saying cut ties off from the outside all
> together just those select few shitty places that need to burn the
> fuck down to the ground.
>
> Sorry about the language, I'm just sick of watching the country I live
> in turn to shit.
>
> Matt
The overseas factories make, for the most part, goods that meet the
quality standard of the company that outsources the work to them. I'd
love as much as anyone to see more goods produced here in the USA, but
your blame is misdirected. If you want someone to blame, then look to
the domestic manufactures who outsourced their production to overseas
companies, or even more so, the consumers who would buy the cheapest
outsourced goods from company B if company A refused to outsource,
thereby having to charge a higher price. There's no reason that China
can't make high quality products, other than the demand here is for the
cheapest price possible, and with the economy worsening, it's a vicious
cycle where consumers will keep demanding lower and lower priced goods
which will in most cases be lower quality.
I speak from experience, having worked for several companies that
produced hardware, much of it built in China out of necessity to remain
competitive, and it was high quality well made stuff as we demanded, and
it wasn't cheap, though it would have cost a lot more to build in the US
and few would have bought it.
gamefixer
Name one thing thats made in China these days that will last 10 years.
Everything they build for the US sucks. Fuck them and the assholes in
our country that guide them down the path of building cheap shit for
us. Even in this piss poor economy I'd buy a Wintron over any of these
replacement pieces of crap.
Matt
gamefixer
I'm not trying to say that Wintrons dont fail becasue they do. Theres
just some thing I dont trust about those little piles o' crap coming
from over seas. I've installed well over 100 Wintron's in my history
and have 2 of them fail.
Matt
jayhawker
You make an enormously erroneous assumption that "American Made"
products are some gold-standard in workmanship! C'mon, American
quality has been going down precipitously for the last 50 years. We
make plenty of shitty products here. Have you purchase a Ford lately?
Quality is no longer job #1 (or #2 or #3...).
shred5
>
> - Show quoted text -
There is German engineering then American engineering and then there
is Chinese way at the bottom. In another hobby I am in you really see
the difference in products from the 3 different areas.. All china does
is copy the look of our stuff and produce it cheap and start fires
with the stuff… No U.L. approval on anything. I have never seen a
quality product come out of the communist country of china. Another
thing is you now have 5 American companies selling the exact same
product made in the same factory in china. They used to manufacture
the stuff in the U.S. and their products were never exactly the same
now not all will survive. Also know several Companies moving their
manufacturing back from china do to failures in the field of their
products and has hurt their reputation. So can China make a good
product? Obviously not. They do not care about patents or copy rights.
Dave
Chad Entringer
http://www.usstuff.com/prodlist.htm
gamefixer
>
> - Show quoted text -
I never said that "made in America" meant that the stuff would never
break. I said that stuff made in China sucks and I stick by that. I
know that stuff built here isnt up to the standards that they used to
be. Its sad but true.
Matt
gamefixer
>
> - Show quoted text -
This is more like the point that I was trying to make. Everything that
says "made in China" on it is a pile of turd. It will last maybe HALF
as loing as the same item built in Mexico/USA and will never come
close to stuff built in Germany.
I'm glad to see that some companies are starting to pull their heads
out of their butts and are killing the out sourcing deals.
Matt
Mark
replacer selling Cinelabs deisgned amplifone EHT units.
Here's what it boils down to: Chad is trying to make a profit from the
fact that he located a asian electronics parts manufaturer. Which is
not a bad thing, with the exception that the part has a U.S. patent on
it. If the part is brought into and/or used in the united states
(which I'm assuming it is) there are royalties due on the sale. The
problem comes in that the manufacturer does not give a rats' ass about
US patent laws. Cinelabs has recourse against the manufacturer AND
anyone who Knowingly sells the identical item (Which Chad has stated
that it is the same, less the sticker) that royalties have not been
payed on. Overseas lawsuits regarding patent infringements are almost
copmpletely un-enforecable unless the US has a patent treaty
agreement with that particular country. That being said, from the
statements that Chad has made, he knows he is seeling the identical
item that royalties are not being paid on, Cinelabs has recourse
against Chad, unless he has obtained permission from Cinelabs to be a
distributor.
mh
gamefixer
My point is that stuff made in China sucks. Thats not exactly OT since
the part were talking about came from a manufacture in the orient.
Matt
James Sweet
>
> Name one thing thats made in China these days that will last 10 years.
> Everything they build for the US sucks. Fuck them and the assholes in
> our country that guide them down the path of building cheap shit for
> us. Even in this piss poor economy I'd buy a Wintron over any of these
> replacement pieces of crap.
>
> Matt
Well, the computer mouse I'm using says made in China, and it was
purchased around 2001, so it's not quite 10 years old, but close, and
it's holding up well. I'm not about to dig through my entire house
cataloging everything, but I'm sure I could find more examples. Yeah
there's a lot of cheap junk built there, all I'm saying is it's cheap
junk because that's what consumers in the US are buying, not because it
was made overseas. I have some cheap junk that was built in the US too.
It just sounds to me like you are basing your opinion on nothing more
than where this transformer was manufactured rather than any experience
whatsoever. I have not touched one either, so I'm not going to judge one
sight unseen. This all goes far beyond HV transformers.
jrok
>
>I'm glad to see that some companies are starting to pull their heads
>out of their butts and are killing the out sourcing deals.
Well part of it is also them discovering that the outsourced manufacturer,
which they conveniently sent the company crown jewels too, didn't just stop at
making the 10,000 units for the contract. They'll run a few thousand for
themselves. I have associates at two different companies who experienced
this exact thing happening. I also heard that Sennheiser, the headphone
manufacture ran into this problem with it's off-shoring.
- James
--
------------------------------
JrokLand http://www.jrok.com
------------------------------
gamefixer
I stand corrected then, they can make a mouse for a computer pretty
thats damn good! As a matter of fact the one I have in my office says
the same thing and it works fine. Still doesn't change my attitude
towards them.
Let me explain my "experience" with Chinese built products.
Since about the late 90's many electronic items built for the coin-op
industry come from China. As a result were seeing high rates of
failures in games that are 3-6 months old. Were talking about PC
boards, video cards, power supplies... I'm sick of seeing my $6k
investment break every 6 months because of the lack luster shit that
comes from China. Another example is the laser assemblies built for CD
players in older Juke boxes. As a tech for a distributor we had to buy
them in boxes of 100. In that box maybe 30 of them would actually work
longer then 10 minutes. After about a month of operation maybe 10 of
them were still working. A 90% failure rate...
My problem with this transformer is a very basic one, I don't trust
the thing to not blow the hell up. I know I cant get radiation
poisoning from one of these things, I was poking fun at them. No
thanks, I'll stick with the over priced Wintrons...
Matt
Matty-t
There's another batch of assumptions..
Show me the pictures and details (which I've never seen) And show me
the free shit I complain about.
- Matt
Searcher7
Thanks.
Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York
James Sweet
David Shoemaker had a few of them last I talked to him, dunno if he
still checks this group or whether any of them are available for
sale/trade. There's also ebay as well.
Searcher7
> Searcher7 wrote:
> > Does anyone know where I can get an HV unit with PCB and harness?
>
> > Thanks.
>
> > Darren Harris
> > Staten Island, New York
>
> still checks this group or whether any of them are available for
> sale/trade. There's also ebay as well.
Whomever he is, I have no idea how to get a hold of him, and I've been
watching eBay for months.