Speaker Recommendations? (2.1)

[javeryh]

Anyone have any speaker recommendations for a cocktail cab?  I'm looking at the Sound Blaster SBS350 2.1 ($38) right now but I am open to suggestions...  Nothing fancy - cab won't be used for anything but MAME (no mp3s or anything).  I would like to be able to control the volume by mounting something underneath the one of the control panels.  This one has a wired volume adjustment that I guess I could mount but it might be a pain to drill a hole to fit it through...  You can look at it here:  http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?pfp=SEARCH&product_code=50265405&pfp=srch1

THANKS!

[leapinlew]

Hey bud!

I have pretty good luck with these speakers. They sound ok and they have a seperate volume control. You can find them for $20 at the non-union child labor blue store:

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=3201951

[javeryh]

Even better!  $20 isn't bad at all and they are sold in stores so I won't have to pay the ridiculous shipping.  Hmmm... very tempting...  How does the volume knob work?  Does it plug into the speakers or is it always attached?  I will obviously have to drill a hole in my cab to run the wire and I'd like to keep it as small as possible.  The volume knob looks a little big to pass through a small hole... any thoughts?

Thanks!!

[leapinlew]

well....

as an option you can crank the speakers up pretty loud and adjust the volume through windows.

You may want to wait before drilling the hole - to see how often sound adjustment is necessary.

And, the volume is a dial on the cord (with plenty of extra cord). You could replace the dial with a pots based volume from radio shack or something. Have a knob sticking out somewhere. I suggest you just tuck it all inside and wait and see.

[gamecreature]

It isn't that hard to hack the PCB on one of those speaker sets. A stereo pot runs less than $2 at Radio Shack. You can run some wires from it to the PCB and mount the pot anywhere you want on the cab.

Another option is to not worry about the external speaker volume and use Windows volume instead. Mala has an option that will allow you to assign windows volume control to any key on your cab (though I'm not sure if it works while you're playing a game).

[leapinlew]

It isn't that hard to hack the PCB on one of those speaker sets. A stereo pot runs less than $2 at Radio Shack. You can run some wires from it to the PCB and mount the pot anywhere you want on the cab.

Another option is to not worry about the external speaker volume and use Windows volume instead. Mala has an option that will allow you to assign windows volume control to any key on your cab (though I'm not sure if it works while you're playing a game).

You mock me! 

[gamecreature]

You mock me! 

No, no ... Look! An alien!!

[NightGod]

Even better!  $20 isn't bad at all and they are sold in stores so I won't have to pay the ridiculous shipping.  Hmmm... very tempting...  How does the volume knob work?  Does it plug into the speakers or is it always attached?  I will obviously have to drill a hole in my cab to run the wire and I'd like to keep it as small as possible.  The volume knob looks a little big to pass through a small hole... any thoughts?

Thanks!!

Cut the wire in the middle, run it through a hole drilled just big enough to fit it through, splice it back together inside the cab.

[javeryh]

Even better!  $20 isn't bad at all and they are sold in stores so I won't have to pay the ridiculous shipping.  Hmmm... very tempting...  How does the volume knob work?  Does it plug into the speakers or is it always attached?  I will obviously have to drill a hole in my cab to run the wire and I'd like to keep it as small as possible.  The volume knob looks a little big to pass through a small hole... any thoughts?

Thanks!!

Cut the wire in the middle, run it through a hole drilled just big enough to fit it through, splice it back together inside the cab.

OK, time to sound completely clueless... how do I do this?  I can cut the wire with some wire cutters but then how do I reassemble it?  Is it as simple as twisting the proper wires together again and then using some electrical tape on the outside of the whole thing or do I have to be worried about crossing wires and soldering and other complicated stuff?  THANKS!!

[leapinlew]

yes - it's that simple.

[gamecreature]

Cut the wire in the middle, run it through a hole drilled just big enough to fit it through, splice it back together inside the cab.

OK, time to sound completely clueless... how do I do this?  I can cut the wire with some wire cutters but then how do I reassemble it?  Is it as simple as twisting the proper wires together again and then using some electrical tape on the outside of the whole thing or do I have to be worried about crossing wires and soldering and other complicated stuff?  THANKS!!

If it's a stereo volume control (and I have no reason to doubt it isn't) then there's a high likelihood that there will be 3-5 wires in there. You'll have to keep track of which wire goes where - they could be color coded, but you never know. Other than that, yeah, twist and tape.

[DrumAnBass]

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[NightGod]

Cut the wire in the middle, run it through a hole drilled just big enough to fit it through, splice it back together inside the cab.

OK, time to sound completely clueless... how do I do this?  I can cut the wire with some wire cutters but then how do I reassemble it?  Is it as simple as twisting the proper wires together again and then using some electrical tape on the outside of the whole thing or do I have to be worried about crossing wires and soldering and other complicated stuff?  THANKS!!

If it's a stereo volume control (and I have no reason to doubt it isn't) then there's a high likelihood that there will be 3-5 wires in there. You'll have to keep track of which wire goes where - they could be color coded, but you never know. Other than that, yeah, twist and tape.

Yeah, make sure you tape the individual wires and then tape the whole thing just to make sure you don't get any crossed connections. As for concerns about matching up the wires, make a cut length-wise through the insulation surrounding the wires before you actually snip the wires and make sure you have some way of knowing which wires connect to which. If you're lucky and it's color coded, just cut them, feed them through the hole and twist/tape away. If it's not color coded, make some marks with a Sharpie or something so you can be sure to get them back together properly.

[krick]

I don't really see the point of 2.1 sound in an arcade machine.

I gutted a cheap pair of $10 USB-powered speakers for the amplifier and hooked it up to a pair of $4 shielded 4X4 arcade cabinet speakers (8 ohm 5 watt) from Bob Roberts (http://homearcade.org/BBBB/parts.html near the bottom of the page) and I think they sound great and very arcade authentic.

Read these links for more info...

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=16381.0
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=20398.0
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=20839.0
http://www.oscarcontrols.com/speaker/index.shtml

[leapinlew]

I don't really see the point of 2.1 sound in an arcade machine.

I gutted a cheap pair of $10 USB-powered speakers for the amplifier and hooked it up to a pair of $4 shielded 4X4 arcade cabinet speakers (8 ohm 5 watt) from Bob Roberts (http://homearcade.org/BBBB/parts.html near the bottom of the page) and I think they sound great and very arcade authentic.

Read these links for more info...

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=16381.0
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=20398.0
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=20839.0
http://www.oscarcontrols.com/speaker/index.shtml

Who knows. Some people may be building a jukebox into their gaming cabinet, others may want some DDR type games, or perhaps they are also running video's. Either way, the 2.1's don't really hurt anything - and at $20 and available at walmart, they aren't far off from the $14 you spent.

I used 2.1 in my first and a free set of desktop speakers for the driver I just made. I'm putting a loud 2.1 in my showcase cabinet. Play a game like Robotron with 2.1 and then play it without the sub on. Big difference. Sure it may not be as authentic, but it's a nice improvement.