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Build an OND designed cab 'Metropolis'
Ond:
The speakers on this cab design will go in the traditional location on the panel underneath the Marquee. As for speaker types, arcade cabinets tended to have cheap, weak speakers in them because the frequency range and sound quality coming out of most arcade games was limited to the chip technology of the day. Some people here will maintain authentic arcade sounds can therefore be achieved with similar cheap speakers from Radio Shack or its equivalent. A cheap pair of speakers will still need some sort of amplifier, so read on....
If you intend running games other than just in Mame (i.e. PC Shmups etc) or perhaps looking at using the cab for jukebox use as well, you'd do well to consider better speakers. Plenty of folks here just adapt PC speaker systems including the 'subwoofer' unit that comes with them. You could make cut-outs in the panel I mentioned and simply mount a pair of these PC speakers into the cut-out and/or cover with a grill and then put the subwoofer unit inside the cab near a vent hole. These systems are easy because they come with a built in amp and plug straight into mains power.
Another alternative and a bit more difficult (but quite do-able with the all the help you’ll get here) is to use a car system and separate amplifier. Car speakers are fine to use either with a 12Volt car amp or with mini amplifiers you can order off the net. Sorry no links, Google is your friend. If you start getting up into higher powered speaker systems (say above ~ 20 Watts) it's a good idea to provide a separate power supply for your sound system. Again Radio Shack sell 12V power supplies or you can modify a PC power supply which is a much cheaper alternative.
A few things to think about here, overall a cheap 2.1 PC Speaker system is the easiest way to go, hope that helps.
brihyn:
Thanks.
I was considering the car speaker route, and did a bit of googling for a small amp. Are you suggesting pulling the 12V off of the pc power supply? if so, that's something I hadn't thought of.
What would you suggest for mounting? cutting regular oval-shaped (or round, depending on the speakers) holes and using some kind of grill?
If using a 2.1 speaker system, how do people typically mount the speakers?
I'll probably load up a juke app but my hope (dream) is to at some point build a more dedicated juke. Meanwhile, the cabinet will be sitting just a few feet from my stereo system....but that's not as cool looking :)
brihyn:
Just to show my thanks to OND (and everyone else here) for this great thread, plus, well, maybe to offer a tiny bit of encouragement too keep the thread going (honestly, I do understand that you have other projects and life, OND. I'm a LONGGGGGG way from needing to know the next to-be-documented steps!), my first cab build is officially kicked off. I've only drawn out the first cab side, and now I see I already need to modify my drawing a bit.
This cab will use a SlickStick I bought from a coworker several years ago when I first started dreaming of building the cab. I also found an old coin door at what I refer to as "a videogame bone yard" (pics of it the next time I make the drive to my parents!). Wife thinks she can clean up the door well enough to make it look nice, so we'll see what I end up with before I get as far as cutting a hole for it.
Once I actually start working, I'll create my own thread, but figured this was the perfect thread for my first pic, since it will rely 100% on OND's excellent tutorial!
brihyn:
I'm still making incredibly slow progress, and haven't run out of work to be done before I start begging for an update here, but I do have a really quick question, as I think I'm making a trip to the hardware store tomorrow...
Should I plan for plexiglass (or something similar) over the top of the bezel? If so, what would be the plan to hold it in place? I was planning on picking up some 1/4-round, but if there's some better idea, I'm all ears.
burncycle:
im new I'm hoping I can post a new one soon.