What sound system?

[cbmeeks]

My original plans for my cabinet where to simply put some good computer speakers in with a subwoofer.

However, I went to Best Buy and listened to some of the car stereos and fell in love....plus I want my MAME machine to also play MP3s and basically be the center of attention when company is over.

Some 5.25" speakers were like $79 that look really cool.

ANyway, my questions are:

1) What sound system do you guys use?

2) If I choose car speakers, I know I will need an amp.  I know those can get HOT.  My wife had the idea of bolting it on the TOP of the upright...has the advantage of being in open air, close to the speakers, and can be hidden behind a small frame.  
Is this advisable?

3) Should I get some type of SubWoofer if I go the car stereo route?  I like some bass and I like I said, I want to listen to music too.

4) Computer speakers (the ones I've tested) can get loud but not like the 300 watts a car stereo can do.  I don't want to shatter all the glass with these things.  Can you somehow set a maximum volume?

Thanks!

-cb

[Apollo]

I originally thought I would use powered computer speakers but after looking at what was out there and the price to get some decent sound I have opted to go for 2 speakers out of an old arcade game I had ( and then sold for parts ) hooked up to a Happ amp. Haven't hooked it up yet but should be a decent sound.

[Industen]

I use car speakers running off of a Creative Labs 2.1 sound system. All you do cut the original wire off of the speakers and solder them onto your 5 1/4 car speakers. The amp on the CL is 4 ohm PC so it works perfect. I wrote up how to do it here:


http://joelsgadgets.com/SPEAKERHACK.HTML

Also there are some pretty nice looking car speakers up there that are either prewired for LED's or translucent so you can attach them to the back of the speakers. The LED info is here if interested:


http://joelsgadgets.com/SpeakerLighting.html

[MnMCaputo]

the only issue with using car speakers is some are not shielded which will screw up the colors on your monitor.  I have  a set of blaupunkt in my cab and had to move them another 6" from my monitor then my original speakers.  There is shielding you can get, which i'm looking into buying right now
http://www.lessemf.com/mag-shld.html
 

[Minwah]

I used some 4" shielded speakers from Happ, and power them directly from the (small) amplified output on my SoundBlaster 16PCI.

It actually goes pretty loud, and the volume is controlled straight from Volume Control.  Certainly not audiophile quality, but on par with old arcade games...

[kujina]

Cool website Industen
What do you mean by "corner load the bass box" ?

[RayB]

  I don't mean to hijack the thread, but I always wondered if a bass box in a cab could be harmful? I've oftened heard of chips coming loose from arcade boards, due to vibration during transportation. Would the same happen from vibration of a strong bass? Couldn't it also over time shake loose other parts (such as on/in a monitor??)

[cbmeeks]

Well, most of today's modern motherboards have soldered chips...so,all should be fine.

Well, unless the video/audio card comes out...

cb

[Industen]

Well, if you corner load a subwoofer you get the best results. Think of the reflective bass waves bouncing off your walls at back to your ear. This is basic Home Theater stuff that you mine as well impliment inside a cabinet to get the best results. Since it is inside your cabinet it really shouldn't matter with the simple bass coming off of your Creative Labs 2.1 bass box, but if you with a 12-15 inch sub you are better off placing it in corner of the room and locate the cabinet a little bit further away.  You can seriously screw up your monitor with a high powered subwoofer magnet below your cabinet not to mention cleaning that MAME/console dedicated Hard drive. I wouldn't worry about interference from a monitor with non shielded car speakers 6 inches away, I have zero problem with that.

[TaaJ]

Well, if you corner load a subwoofer you get the best results. Think of the reflective bass waves bouncing off your walls at back to your ear. This is basic Home Theater stuff that you mine as well impliment inside a cabinet to get the best results. Since it is inside your cabinet it really shouldn't matter with the simple bass coming off of your Creative Labs 2.1 bass box, but if you with a 12-15 inch sub you are better off placing it in corner of the room and locate the cabinet a little bit further away.  You can seriously screw up your monitor with a high powered subwoofer magnet below your cabinet not to mention cleaning that MAME/console dedicated Hard drive. I wouldn't worry about interference from a monitor with non shielded car speakers 6 inches away, I have zero problem with that.

There goes my open baffle dual Tempest idea.  

[Industen]

I have 2 dual Tempest sonotubes and they are so loud it's crazy. My next project 4 Tumults with 4k watts of power. Of course these are Home Theater subs but I thought I'd share that for some reason.

[TaaJ]

I have 2 dual Tempest sonotubes and they are so loud it's crazy. My next project 4 Tumults with 4k watts of power. Of course these are Home Theater subs but I thought I'd share that for some reason.

Tumults are so sexy  

BTW, I PMed you about your SS Quad.