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Author Topic: Subwoofer for classic arcade games?  (Read 3746 times)

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Willard_Bones

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Subwoofer for classic arcade games?
« on: November 17, 2017, 06:48:12 pm »
I have an upright game cabinet, with Raspberry Pi and JROK (twin system).  I have a powered Sony subwoofer, and nice Polk Audio 5” Main speakers.

The sub’s adjustable crossover tops out at 200Hz, so the sub doesn’t kick in above that.

My question: does the audio of classic arcade games produce any frequencies below 200Hz?  I’m trying to determine if my sub is utilized at all.

Thanks!


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Vigo

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Re: Subwoofer for classic arcade games?
« Reply #1 on: November 17, 2017, 07:22:03 pm »
I am not an audio-oligist, but this is my best understanding. Is the sound below 200hz produced? Yes!! If it going to benefit from a subwoofer? Probably not unless the main speaker doesn't go down that far. Classic arcade games did not have subwoofers, but the ones with bigger speakers probably hits some of the deeper audio that maybe your main speaker wouldn't get.

I attached a zip file that contains 3 versions of the Donkey Kong main audio for you to test with. One file is the basic intro tune to DK, the next is the DK intro with everything below 200 hz filtered out. The third is the DK intro with everything above 200 hz filtered out. You can play these sounds through your speakers to possibly get a taste of what you are gaining / missing from your subwoofer.


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Re: Subwoofer for classic arcade games?
« Reply #2 on: November 17, 2017, 08:01:15 pm »
7.1 or GTFO
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Mike A

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Re: Subwoofer for classic arcade games?
« Reply #3 on: November 18, 2017, 05:49:37 am »
Play a game. Then unplug your sub and play again.

acvieluf

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Re: Subwoofer for classic arcade games?
« Reply #4 on: November 18, 2017, 09:05:09 am »
I have a subwoofer in my upright cabinet, and I can tell you that I hate it. Because the cabinet is so big, it resonates so loud that even when I turn it almost all the way down, it's too loud. I was using a computer 2.1 system, but I am about to replace it with a speaker that fits in the original cab's hole. (A car 6x9 for me). With some decent speakers, the cab itself will work like a subwoofer box and the bass frequencies will resonate. So you don't really need a subwoofer.

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lilshawn

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Re: Subwoofer for classic arcade games?
« Reply #5 on: November 18, 2017, 01:04:55 pm »
I have a subwoofer in my upright cabinet, and I can tell you that I hate it. Because the cabinet is so big, it resonates so loud that even when I turn it almost all the way down, it's too loud.

This is why subwoofers are designed...not installed. Audio is an art in itself. Without knowing EXACTLY what you are doing you can have detrimental results.

Literally 1/8th of an inch difference in port length on a subwoofer can change the response by several dB. When I make a box, and run router with a roundover bit on the port to clean it up...I have to take a half thickness of the radius off of the port length. So when I build the port I have to ADD that onto it extra so when I router it, it's correct. sure is anybody going to know the difference... probably not. But I will because I designed it.

 By just throwing a random ported subwoofer unit in a cabinet, you no longer have a simple ported box. you essentially have turned it into a 6th order bandpass box which has a whole different way of reacting because the waves coming out of the woofer react on each other. no good.