Mame Cabinet Sound

[jm0ney]

Hi Guys,

Just wondering if you had some ideas on the best way to connect normal speakers to a sound card. Most mame cabinets I have seen people have hacked apart pc speakers. Thats not a bad option but I would prefer to be able to plug in more speakers if possible and a bigger subwoofer. I have been thinking of  hooking up a 12volt car stereo amp so it has output to speakers/subwoofer a connection to 12 volt pc power supply then wire a stereo mini jack plug and plug it into the sound card but im not too sure if thats going to work. Has anyone got any ideas?

[paigeoliver]

Putting a large subwoofer in a cabinet is a bad idea. They tend to do funny things to the monitors. Not to mention the fact that the vibrations could mess with your hard drive and other electronics.

You would be better off wiring up external subwoofers if you really want them. I am not really sure how much benefit they would bring those, since most games had their audio designed with a single mono speaker in mind.

I think most people just use PC speakers because it is easier, AND because even a $10 set of PC speakers is a better sound system than 98 percent of the games out there. Most games had a single cheap 5" or 6x9 speaker. Only a small percentage had two (and even those were cheap), and even less had a subwoofer (Turbo had a freaking huge one though, which BTW, when replaced with an incorrect one can couse both boardset and monitor problems).

[TalkingOctopus]

I got the 4" shielded happ speakers.  I then followed Oscar's tutorial to hook them up.  http://www.oscarcontrols.com/speaker/.

I used a different speaker model than Oscar:  Labtec spin 65.  They were $14.95.

I mounted them below the marquee.

They sound great!  I am very happy with them.

[Minwah]

You can hook up a car amp and speakers if you so wish.  You can even use 12v from the PC's power supply to drive the amp - I would perhaps suggest using a separate PSU tho, just in case you draw too much current and mess up your PC.

As the others said, you need to be careful of magnetic fields from car (& any other non-sheilded) speakers, especially if they are large.

You would need to get / make a cable from 3.5mm stereo jack plug to 2x RCA (Phono) plugs to go from your PC soundcard output to the input on the amp - that would work fine.

[Cisco Kid]

there's no real danger in using car stereo speakers once you have a cancellation magnet attached in reverse polarity to the back of them. (1/2 -> 2/3 smaller than the original)  The magnetic field on a 4in. speaker isn't all that large to begin with ... and its normally pointing away from the monitor to boot.  As for the subwoofer ... that could be a big problem if its not shielded.

... the subwoofer is excellent idea ... the easiest route there (in my opinion) would be to get a hold of the 8in. subwoofer from a Primal Rage cabinet (dedicated).  Its already shielded, has that low end thumping bass your after and should be dirt cheap.

depending on the size of amp ... this method can get a little expensive ... a 200W amp will draw around 15 - 16 amps ... so be careful ... because a separate power supply unit to run it will usually set you back about $100 - $120.

as for the 3.5mm stereo jack ... don't bother buying a cheap one because you'll just be shooting yourself in the foot ... cheap cable equals poor sound transfer ... Monster makes an excellent one ... well worth the money ... you can definitely tell the difference between it and the run of the mill cable.

[IClight]

Newbie here and I just finished my cab.  I'm using the sound out of my card to go into an old stereo receiver (using min-jack to RCA adapter)  I had lying around from upgrading my Home Theater.  It powers two 6 1/2 inch car speakers under the marquee (Lusid design cab).  The receiver has 2 sets of speaker outputs.  I use the other set to power outdoor speakers.   I can use my cab to run a Jukebox so I have tunes outside.  Expensive way to go if you don't have the stuff lying around, but I seem to be upgrading my Home Theater setup every 3-4 years so I accumulated a couple of spare receivers that would only get $50-$75 on the used market.

Also the benefit of the car speakers is when I want to listen to music on the cab.  Much better than most computer speakers.

IClight

[AlanS17]

It's not only the magnetic intereference that can hurt a monitor, though. The vibrations did awful things to my screen. I had to pull my sub out cuz I was afraid it would cause permament damage the way the screen would jump everytime it hit a low note.

[Dr. J]

I've had mine up and running for over a year now without any problems.  Either use the cancelltion magnets that cisco mentioned, or what I did is use a couple layers of sheet metal and a piece of wood between the speakers and computer/monitor.  I've had no problems with my monitor or computer.  When mounting the speakers the monitor may get discolored if the magnet gets too close, but degausing and waiting a few minutes fixed it.  
  As for power.  I didn't go with using the computer power supply.  Others have it working fine, but I was too nervous to run my amp through anything having to do with the computer.  Instead I got an ac/dc power converter from radioshack.  You need one that will be able to draw up to or more amps than the amplifier.  
  Cisco's right though.  I spent $108 for the converter.  He's also right about the cables.  Get a nice 3.5mm stereo-to-rca cable.  Monster is great.  Those are at radio shack also.
  So to recap:
1.  AC/DC converter to amplifier for power.
2.  3.5mm to 2x rca to connect soundcard to amplifier. (I used a 4x rca cable because my subs are controlled by a separate gain than my mids.)
3.  speaker wire and shielded speakers.  --your set.

It rocks for arcade jukebox.  My brother is into ddr and is building some metal dance pads, so it should come in handy for that also.

Click my pic below and check out my site to see if what I did is similar to what you're thinking about.  

[jm0ney]

I wasn't really keen on going the car stereo amp way at first but with the lack of home stereo equipment in working order I figured it'll be the easiest to get hold of and install. Im thinking it would make hooking more speakers/subs up a little easier too as with most car stereo amps you can connect them together.
Im going to pick up an extra power supply for the amp as like Dr J said I was a little nervous hooking it into the same one which runs my pc. At least if it blows up it won't hurt much hehe
And as for internal subbies I think the less vibrations in my cabinet the better I'll definatly be going for an external hookup of some sort. My pc and cabinet may start to fall apart!
Cheers for the help guys!

[Dr. J]

   An external set up is a pretty cool idea.  You could mount a speaker wire setup (rca or bare, your choice) in the back of your cab and just extend it to your amp on the inside.  
   Then all you got to do is plug in some giant floor speakers whenever you want.  I never though of that, but I like it.

[jm0ney]

Yeah I think I chuck in a speaker switch aswell so If i'm having a partee I can switch to external speakers.
Man I tell ya building an arcade cabinet could get very expensive. I've just about finished this low boy style cabinet once I get the sound and lighting sorted then after that I'll be starting my next project which I think is gonna take up a few resources.
It's a circus maximus similar to the one in the pic attached without the screen and was only 100bux.  
It'll have to have some mad sound like drjs, 2subs and 6x9s is the way to go!

[jm0ney]

Is it just me or did that pic not attach? $!@#$@#$

[ashardin]

Just to give you some ideas, I've attached a pic of my cabinet from last year (like many of the projects here, mine is constantly evolving).

I'm a big sound dork, so I knew I wanted to really have some kick to my cab (I'm also using my cab as an MP3 jukebox and have about 200 music videos on it as well).

You can see the 40 amp (60 amp surge!) DC power supply that powers the 3 170 watt amps inside the cabinet.  I had a spare 1 farad cap sitting around from my car installs that I mounted inside too (don't think I needed it, but it was available) .  1 amp powers 6 1/2" coaxials mounted in the normal location over the monitor (not pictured), the 2nd amp powers the 6 1/2" midbass speakers on the bottom, and the 3rd amp powers the 2 10" subs on the outside of the cab.  I've got an EQ with master volume control on the bottom of the control panel (not flush mounted in my new control panel) that controls all of the sound.

Its as loud and clean as a good home system.  I have never had any shielding or vibration issues with this system.

(I hope the pic works, its my first try posting one...)

[jm0ney]

nup pic didnt work. Mine didnt work the first time either@#$#

[Homebrew]

Dr. J and ashardin,

     Where did you guys get your power supplies from?  Any tips/advice for those of us looking to pick one up?  Most of the high amp models i'm finding are bench-top power supplies for testing.  I'd like to find something that isn't massive in size.  Any tips are greatly appreciated.

-Kevin

[jm0ney]

I ended up using a pc power supply. I have one to run my pc and one to run the amps. I pulled them out of old pc's I had lying around and they work great!

[ashardin]

Homebew,

Pyramid power supplies like this page has:

http://exportradios.com/group.cfm?Cat_Selected=37&Subcat_Selected=116&Group_Selected=278&CFID=4697&CFTOKEN=34626249

Are what I used.  I got the big one with the dual VMU meters.   They might be a little more expensive, but a computer power supply doesn't have the amperage for a multi amp system.  These supply clean, conditioned, regulated power, they are sometimes used in HAM radio rigs so you can search ebay in those catagories for some used/home made rigs.

[Homebrew]

Thanx for the feedback guys, much appreciated.  I'm gonna shop around for a little while and see what i come up with.  I got 2 weeks or so before i start on the jukebox.     Thanx again.  

-Kevin