Do you put subwoofers in your arcade cabinets?

[CWorley]

I was wondering how many people like to put subwoofers in their cabinets.

And if you do, how do you install them to reduce vibrations?

Cheers!

[Nephasth]

I haven't done anything to reduce vibrations, other than keeping the sub turned way down. It's part of the speaker system and I only keep it installed because the remote volume control is wired directly to the sub and I'm too lazy to dismantle it...

[paigeoliver]

Great for killing hard drives too.

Subwoofers really don't add a lot to arcade games, IMO.  Square waves coming off those boards anyway.  Good if you're going to thump some mp3s through the cabinet, though.

[garnerb350]

I have the same setup as Nephasth does (any 2.1 pc speakers/subwoofer) It doesnt do much if you are just playing arcade...(its gives a little boost when playing Donkey Kong though)... But i also use my cab as a jukebox also and the subwoofer makes it worth it when im playing music...

Just like Nep said my remote is wired to the sub and i took extra wire and extended the remote and placed it where my front speakers are located so i can easily turn the volume/on/off etc...

For me a sub is worth it...

Most subs should have a tuner on them to reduce the bass if needed be...

Just make sure that the sub is away from the hard drive... (some subs along with the front speakers are equipped to where the magnetic field is shielded and it wont effect hard drives...)

[BadMouth]

I'm curious about this too.  

I'd planned on having decent speakers up top and no subwoofer in the current build, but I have a couple cubic feet in the bottom of the cab going unused.
Between the recess in the bottom of the cab and the leg levelers, it's begging for a down-firing sub.
(I've been looking at speakers and modeling enclosures for them at work today    )

This morning I did a little research on the car-puter forums and apparently with modern hard drives, there isn't much to worry about when it comes to the magnet on the sub as long as the hard drive isn't right on top of it.  The big concern is vibration.  They claimed laptop hard drives held up better.
These were people with multiple subwoofers in a trunk and many hundred watts going to them.

I doubt the small subs that come with moderately priced 2.1 computer speakers are anything to worry about.

I'm thinking more along the lines of a 10" for my cab.  More for quality than boom.
Some of the more modern fighting games and shmups have wonderful soundtracks.
....but then I'd have to rethink the amplifier, control knobs, etc.  
It's driving me crazy.  

[jasonbar]

Subwoofer in mine! I keep the volume quite low, so no problems. It's bracketed into the cabinet w/ some smushy padding between it & the cabinet wood.

It was a gift from my brother: Altec Lansing stereo speakers + subwoofer + a control box (volume, bass, treble, headphone jack) that I panel-mounted relatively professionalishyly:
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff97/infernolab/Arcade%20Game/01fullcabinet.jpg
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff97/infernolab/Arcade%20Game/11powerswitchlightstereocontrols.jpg

Thanks,
-Jason

[mytymaus007]

I would put In 2
15 inch subwoofers on the side

[telengard]

I have one in mine, and while it may be a bit inauthentic, Asteroids and Space Invaders sound *awesome* with it!

~telengard

[emphatic]

I have woofers in both of my cabinets. I never knew that Twin Cobra had a bass drum before installing one, so I gotta say it makes a huge difference.

[ABACABB]

I absolutely have one in mine and I love it, but it is much a personal preference.  I also have a jukebox in my fronted software and the sub actually gives it some decent sound.

[mytymaus007]

Subwoofer in mine! I keep the volume quite low, so no problems. It's bracketed into the cabinet w/ some smushy padding between it & the cabinet wood.

It was a gift from my brother: Altec Lansing stereo speakers + subwoofer + a control box (volume, bass, treble, headphone jack) that I panel-mounted relatively professionalishyly:
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff97/infernolab/Arcade%20Game/01fullcabinet.jpg
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff97/infernolab/Arcade%20Game/11powerswitchlightstereocontrols.jpg

Thanks,
-Jason Heu Jason what CP is that hiding next to your Arcade Im assuming is a yoke if so how do you use it on your arcade any pics of it set up!!!

[jasonbar]

Heu Jason what CP is that hiding next to your Arcade Im assuming is a yoke if so how do you use it on your arcade any pics of it set up!!!

X-Arcade trackball (http://cache.futurelooks.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/xarcadetrackball-010.jpg) w/ black t-molding swapped for red t-molding & taller rubber feet installed on its base.

It sits over the P4 area when playing double-trackball games (raaaaaarely). Here's a faked PhotoShop approximation of where it goes: http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff97/infernolab/Arcade%20Game/25controlpanelviewer.jpg

Most of the time, it hangs out on the side of the cabinet on a few garage-style hooks w/ rubber coating on them.


Thanks,
-Jason

[Xiaou2]

Even small virbrations are pretty bad for a hd.  Some laptops and even some pcs (macs) have sensors to help deal with it.

 Solid state drives would be a better option.

 Otherwise, you may consider hanging the drive on a soft flexible hammock of some sort.  Or maybe suspended on wires, attached to soft action springs.

 Obviously, if theres hard thump, you would have to seal off the HD from the air chamber.
Enclose the sub, and have it fire out of the cab... rather than moving the air inside the cab.

 PC style subs usually are not very powerful.. and rather than use vibration and large air movement... they use tuned ports to create the low tones.  There usually isnt much thump to these... so as long as they are far enough away, there probably wont be any issue.    Something you have to consider with these, is that you have to have the port exiting the cab, and probably in a path thats semi in line with your ears  (IE: At the very bottom or rear of the cab, might not be heard very well)

 HDs should probably always be shock-mounted anyways, in case anyone kicks / rocks the machine... or even if someone jumped heavily on the floor next to the machine.

 There should also be a cooling fan blowing across its surface, to keep it from expanding due to heat... and getting worn out and out of tolerances.

 Personally, I feel most subs just muddy the sound quality.  A good woffer is usually a better investment.  For even better thump effect, get a bass-shaker (transducer).  They produce amazing vibration on almost any game, even with normal / low volume levels.

 Once I put two 10watt bass shakers under my office chair.  On max setting, which is really low wattage, it vibrated so intense that the screen became blurry from my eyes/body shaking.  Games like Gyruss, that have a very low tone in them can create amazing effect.  As a bullet travels into the screen, the tone gets deeper and deeper.. and thus the vibrations get stronger and stronger.

 But unlike subs, shakers actually produce vibrations on sounds that are not that low.. so may for example, feel when someone drops a fork in a movie.  Obviously, they really crank out the shake with lower tones however.

 Popping them under / inside  a control panel would probably be amazing.

[Ginsu Victim]

I have one in mine with the bass turned down.

[RamjetR]

I have 2 Subwoofers and a Tactile bass shaker in my STCC DX cabinet.

Only insulation I did was mount it on to some foam in the cabinet... pictures are in here https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/113878401085172785670/albums/5706973562574671825 somewhere



Ramjet

[matsadona]

There are several modern games that has a subwoofer as standard, so it isn’t really that odd to have one in a MAME cabinet.
My personal opinion is that it adds some extra punch in explosions etc, even though not 100% accurate in older classics.
And if your cabinet doubles as a jukebox, then it should be mandatory.

I did like many others, installing a prebuilt 2.1 system. So the subwoofer is put in bottom of my cabinet, with the rubber feet isolating some of the vibrations. And so far I haven’t seen any issues with the hard drive, even though there should be a potential risk with that in theory.

[drventure]

And if your cabinet doubles as a jukebox, then it should be mandatory.

+1

And I think a lot of the games sound a lot better with one. It's not strictly authentic, true, but, if you think about it, most original cabs were "heard" amidst the din of an arcade with 50 other cabinets competing for your attention, so authentic is a pretty relative term 

[ChrisK]

I've got a small one from a Logitech 5.1 PC speaker set I had sitting around in my cab, but its volume is cranked down real low.  It shouldn't really even be called a subwoofer, to be honest.  I doubt it can put out much lower than 45hz.

I don't think I'd put a real 12"+ sub in my cab.  I don't really need to shake the room with arcade games.  I'll leave the real sub outside the cab for music in the room.

[boardjunkie]

I don't have one in mine as of now, and have no plans to install one. With 2 5" full range drivers located just behind the marquee, I get plenty of low end without it sounding exaggerated.

[Cynicaster]

The way I looked at it was that I couldn’t afford NOT to have a sub, considering:

-   The easiest speaker solution for a PC-based MAME cabinet is to use a set of powered “PC speakers”
-   “PC speakers” that include a sub (2.1 configuration) are not expensive at all
-   An upright cabinet has plenty of room to accommodate the sub
-   The sub makes music sound better

Bottom line, you might regret excluding a sub, but I don’t see how you could possibly go wrong by including one. 

I agree the sub doesn’t get much of a workout from the games themselves, especially the older ones, but you hear it kick in sometimes.  Big boss explosions in DoDonPachi sound cool.  The “thrust” sound in Asteroids is wicked through a sub, as is that weird background noise in Qix.   

I like to listen to music on my cabinet while I play games, even though I have my HT receiver with a nice set of Paradigms in the same room, hooked up to the same music library.  For some reason, the tunes coming out of the speakers right in front of my face, mixed in with the game sounds, is a very intimate/immersive way to experience it all, so I wouldn’t do it any other way.

At first I did have a bit of a rattling sound in my cabinet from the bass, but I isolated it to the access panel and eliminated it by putting little pads on the underside of the door.  Problem solved. 

[edekoning]

I've also seen several builds where a small box was constructed to house the sub. Any thoughts on why you would want to do that?

[RamjetR]

Subwoofer boxes are an artform on their own. Theres some online calculators for the right size of box to match speaker sizes with the resonance frequency of the sound you want.

Typically, logitech match the speaker and box size to about 80-120Hz which obviously ties in with the crossover response in the amplifier. Thats how they can make a small sub sound much bigger than it actually is.

My driving cab uses the original Sub under the seat which is driven by a D Class Aura base shaker amp (it's more square wave than anything) and is paralleled with the actual shaker in the seat. It gives a little sound and some tactile kick in your bum and back. The Logitech sub (from an old Logitech Four Point Surround FPS2000) is what adds the acoustic thump you really hear. 

There is nothing quite like the rattle in your eyeballs and feeling all 10 cylenders punching you in the gut from a Dodge Viper in NFS: Shift 2 launching out of a corner in 2nd gear. I get some serious sound and satisfaction from my sound setup. And it's easily 70% of the experience!

Ramjet

[Gray_Area]

I wouldn't remotely consider building a sub box when 2.1 systems are cheap and work fine (as have been mentioned). Now if you have at least five inch drivers, as boardjunkie has mentioned, you'll be doing alright.

[yotsuya]

I have one in mine, and I turn that ---maternal-smurf--- up loud! 

[TheShaner]

I have one in mine and have tried to shield the hdd from the bass.  I built a box, padded the inside with felt and carpet padding, rubber feet on the box, and also padded the bottom of the wood that has the hdd on it where it comes in contact with the rest of the cab. Lastly, I am going to cut a hole in the back door where the speaker is to try and let the bass out. I am going to do a test run of the sound here in the next few days and will let you know how it fares.

[TheShaner]

And as far as whether you should or not ... Is it acceptable to play killer instinct without one?  I think not!

[AGarv]

I have a small sub sitting in the bottom of mine (not bracketed).  IMO it adds some richness to a lot of old arcade music (SF2 theme sounds great).  I've never had any issues with vibration.

[eds1275]

I built a box, padded the inside with felt and carpet padding, rubber feet on the box...

If you find this isn't adequade, what you should do next is put screws through the box to act as your feet, and then rest the box on top of some rubber such as a hockey puck or something. Having the box stand on pin-point does wonders to isolate it from the structure and then having that rest on rubber really takes the cake as well as prevents you from scratching up your cabinet.

Unfortunately bass frequencies are huge and push a lot of air. While you can isolate the box, you can't really stop the sub from doing what it is meant to do so you may end up shaking your cab anyway, especially if the back is up against a wall and doubly if it is in a corner.

[BadMouth]

Subwoofer boxes are an artform on their own. Theres some online calculators for the right size of box to match speaker sizes with the resonance frequency of the sound you want.

WinISD is good and free.
http://www.linearteam.dk/
I've been using it to pick out a sub for my current build.

I wouldn't remotely consider building a sub box when 2.1 systems are cheap and work fine (as have been mentioned). Now if you have at least five inch drivers, as boardjunkie has mentioned, you'll be doing alright.

....but it's fun. 

[Gray_Area]

Except for referred vibration, aren't the waves are too long to mess with stuff within a couple feet?