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Mameroom Ultimate Arcade II projects
jlfreund:
SPEAKER AND AUDIO JACK MOUNTING:
The speakers are a $20 set of crappy powered speakers from a computer junk store called "Wierd Stuff". They were new and larger than your normal crappy speakers, and it turns out the volume and quality are pretty good when everything is cranked up.
Mounting the speakers was very easy using some plastic strap found in the plumbing section of Lowes and some 1/2" screws.
Creating holes for the two audio jacks was a little more tricky. The problem is those jacks are so small, with only a 1/4" neck to stick through the board. I had to route out approx 1.5" dia hole that was exactly 1/2" deep into the 5/8" MDF. Then just drilled out 1/4" dia hole in the center for the neck of the jack to poke through. That left a scant 1/8" poking through to actually tighten the nut that holds the jack in place. Using a chisel helped to clean up the outer hole to get it really flat so the jack lies flush. Even trying to be really careful, one of the jacks came out really well, but the other -- the center hole that drills through sort of chipped away some of the MDF. Some black model paint and the nut that holds it in place should handle at least half the damage.
The third picture shows the upright cabinet -- and the audio jacks will be just behind the lower strip of plastic on top that will hold the marqee in place.
I still haven't figured out exactly how I'm going to wire it all up with my speaker's amp, and the crappy volume control that came with my speakers. I'm concerned that the Pot in the vol control won't work for both the speakers and headphone jack. So either the headphone jack will need a separate vol control, or it will have to be before the volume control and I'll have to flip to windows to adjust the headphone volume. I'm open to suggestions here :)
Jason
dudebozo:
looking great so far, nice build. looks like it's coming together nicely. it sucks cause this stuff gets addicting. sometimes i forget to eat, sleep, etc. while working on my cabinet.
"weird stuff", is this place up in the SF bay area?, up by the yahoo building (i think, or at least it was yahoo when i went to that place way back when).
i had a friend, i would call him "weird," that took me there. his eyes lighted up; he loved that place. actually found parts to fix my broken laserdisc, good stuff.
i was just curious to see if it was the same place that i know of.
theCoder:
--- Quote from: jlfreund on September 17, 2006, 07:33:23 pm ---I still haven't figured out exactly how I'm going to wire it all up with my speaker's amp, and the crappy volume control that came with my speakers. I'm concerned that the Pot in the vol control won't work for both the speakers and headphone jack. So either the headphone jack will need a separate vol control, or it will have to be before the volume control and I'll have to flip to windows to adjust the headphone volume. I'm open to suggestions here :)
--- End quote ---
The volume control should work for both the speakers and the headphones. Give it a try with a desktop PC to see if it works.
If you are brave enough, you can hack the amp inside the primary speaker to get at the volume knob. I'm sure many people have written on this topic. On the second page of my previous build (PartyBox http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=53486.0 ) I did a write-up on how I hacked the volume pot to remote it to the CP.
Great progress !
jlfreund:
--- Quote from: dudebozo on September 18, 2006, 12:03:01 am ---looking great so far, nice build. looks like it's coming together nicely. it sucks cause this stuff gets addicting. sometimes i forget to eat, sleep, etc. while working on my cabinet.
"weird stuff", is this place up in the SF bay area?, up by the yahoo building (i think, or at least it was yahoo when i went to that place way back when).
i had a friend, i would call him "weird," that took me there. his eyes lighted up; he loved that place. actually found parts to fix my broken laserdisc, good stuff.
i was just curious to see if it was the same place that i know of.
--- End quote ---
Yup, that's the place. They have a steady supply of 21" Dell CRT for $90 which is a good monitor choice because it has a perfectly flat screen and face to lie flush with your bezel.
Last few times I was there, they even had a few used arcade cabinets (no monitors).
jlfreund:
WIRING SOUND:
I've been fretting over the wiring of the volume control and headphone jacks, but finally went ahead and did it. My $20 no-name computer speakers came in 4 pieces: an amp, an external volume control, and two speakers. The jacks are $0.75 parts from another computer/electronics junk store in Sunnyvale, CA called "HSC"
Here are my notes for the headphone jack wiring:
* Volume control should be matched to power range of amplifier
* Computer and amp should both have volume control set to max
* Plugging in headphones to Jack#P1 cuts out the cabinet speakers
* Plugging in headphones to (just) Jack#P2 doesn
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