Just a few quick questions

[hellothere123]

1) I'm about to paint my cabinet, is it agreed that you use latex primer, and then use latex semi - gloss paint? And roll on the paint, not spray cans?

2) Does my PC need any venting inside the cabinet? Will it stay cool enough, or do I need to inlet some fresh air for it and the TV?

3) What size PC speakers and sub would you reccommend for the cabinet, or do most go with car speakers and no sub...not sure at all what speaker setup is best???

4) Where can you order side art and control panel art?

5) I was interested in getting the Ultimarc 360's (2 of them) with Happ buttons, but it comes to $200.00 with shipping. Thinking of going with 2 - Happ Supers and a 4 way joystick (for Pacman, etc) with an Ipac....what do you figure?

Thanks for the info...

[Green Giant]

1.  A few layers of primer and then a few layers of paint rolled on is fine.  Just remember to give it a sand between coats.

2.  You will need some sort of ventilation.  Is your cabinet perfectly air tight?  I doubt it is, so you probably won't have to hack it up unless something cuts out for overheating.

3.  I picked up some cheap $25 2.1 speakers from fry's.  The two mains are pointed down at the players above the screen and the sub is inside the cab.  They sound great.  Are you looking for jukebox usability or just gaming?  For a gaming cabinet, you really just need to make sure the speakers are angled at the players.

4.  http://mamemarquees.com/  is one of them

5.  The software switching automatically is a great feature to have.  Makes it completely user friendly for anyone.  On my cab I have two 49-ways, purchased before U360 existed, but the auto joystick switching is great.  I never have to know which joystick to use as it switches it for you. 

If you have the money, get the U360.  It is an investment in years of entertainment, not just some everyday purchase.

[javeryh]

1) I'm about to paint my cabinet, is it agreed that you use latex primer, and then use latex semi - gloss paint? And roll on the paint, not spray cans?

Ahhh paint... the bane of every cabinet builder's existence.  There's no right or wrong way but generally if you have access to a sprayer the paint will go on smoother but I've used a FOAM roller and had pretty good success.  If your cabinet is made out of wood then latex should be fine but if you are using MDF I'd use an oil-based primer.  The glossiness is up to you - I went with super high gloss pink paint on the outside of my last cabinet because I wanted it to shine but I went with semi-gloss for the black parts on the inside.  Just experiment until you get something you like.

2) Does my PC need any venting inside the cabinet? Will it stay cool enough, or do I need to inlet some fresh air for it and the TV?

Depends on how big your cab is... a cocktail DEFINITELY needs adequate venting but a standard upright can probably get away with some small vents on the back and that's it.

3) What size PC speakers and sub would you reccommend for the cabinet, or do most go with car speakers and no sub...not sure at all what speaker setup is best???

This is entirely up to you and is also dependent on what you will be using your cab for.  Mine is a MAME machine only so I went with $10 CompUSA speakers (with sub) and it does the job quite nicely.  If you will be listening to music or something you might want to invest a little more...

4) Where can you order side art and control panel art?

mamemarquees.com

5) I was interested in getting the Ultimarc 360's (2 of them) with Happ buttons, but it comes to $200.00 with shipping. Thinking of going with 2 - Happ Supers and a 4 way joystick (for Pacman, etc) with an Ipac....what do you figure?

Either will work fine.  I like the 360s with MaLa because you can load maps on the fly thanks to fatfingers.  Deciding which joystick to use and in which configuration is a non-issue for me.  I find that friends and family just don't understand (or care) about 4-way vs. 8-way, etc. and just want it to work properly and not have to guess which joystick to use (even if it is spelled out for them on the front-end or something) so the 360s are a perfect solution.

Good luck!  

[dweezinator]

If you have the money, get the U360.  It is an investment in years of entertainment, not just some everyday purchase.

I agree.  I figure this is specialty hardware that will not drop in value as fast as the pc components.  I'm putting the bulk of my money into the controls and encoder.  Almost everything else is cheaply upgradable, or almost free as friends and family upgrade their pcs.