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Pinball Pro and Flipper Fidelity - Anyone got any experience?

Fintan Stack

Fintan Stack

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Has anyone here got any experience of these speaker kits? Particularly with Data East. I want to know whether it's worth it or not. Does it make a noticeable improvement? I'm considering getting some for Guns N Roses as the soundtrack is frickin awesome but the sound quality is not!

Any feedback on either product would be appreciated.
 
I have FF in all my games - Stern and B/W. They seem to reduce the top end but add more low and mid. With a bit of adjustment of the machine output to get the bass nice, then tweak the FF backbox speakers to add/reduce the mid/top you can get it really loud and it doesn't sound like your going to destroy the speakers.

I like them. Various threads on Pinside slate and praise them.

There's probably a much cheaper DIY method, but I haven't tried nor do I have time these days. Each to their own. Don't think they add value to a game though, so consider it a sunk cost.

I bought mine directly from Michael at FF. He's helpful-ish for import duties.
 
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Cheers @Monkeyboypaul

Monkeyboypaul said:
Don't think they add value to a game though, so consider it a sunk cost.
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I think it's fair to say that is true for pretty much anything we are crazy enough to chuck in these machines! But I'm not bothered about that as I just want them if they are going to increase my enjoyment out of playing the game.

Thanks for the review. I did start looking into a DIY method but I have decided to get a kit if I do go ahead with it.
 
Apparently GnR is one that it is recommended for (Not sure where I read that tho!)

Personally on machines i have done in the past, I have done it myself. No point in paying £150+ when you can do it yourself for less than £50 :)

LOTS of info here : http://www.dziedzic.us/wpc_speaker_replacement.html

Most important things are impedance (how many Ohms the speakers are) and also if you cable the backbox speakers in series or parallel :) Then you can add crossovers if you want :)
 
I've just fitted active subs on some of my pins. Pick them up 2nd hand off eBay. Got a nice 1000w one ready to connect to the GnR. Good thing about active subs is you can put them on when you want but the speaker kits are on all the time (which is a bit of an issue if you have neighbours)
 
Just to add Mr Stack, i noticed this whilst having a dig about...

"resistor mod for DE games. Went from a 470 to a 1k and bam."

Cant seem to find any info about the Mod - Might be something to have a search for - I'l keep looking :)
 
I had Mark Squires Guns here for a while, it had some upgraded sound ...can't remember what exactly ..... but sounded frickin awesome. Was like Slash was actually in the Shack turning it up to 11 , and that usually only happens when I can be bothered to invite him round - he's a nice guy and that but can be a little moody :cool:
 
GrizZ said:
but sounded frickin awesome. Was like Slash was actually in the Shack turning it up to 11
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Sweet! My favourite part of the game is when multiball is ready and the track changes to Mr. Brownstone. That is just killer. I often avoid starting multiball too quickly just so I can listen a while longer. :rolleyes:
 
@TYHO has upgraded the sound in his GnR and it sounds really good, so I would go with what he has got as a starting point.

Personally I so speaker upgrades myself using car stereo speakers, did my IJ not so long ago and it sounds great.

DE games give you more flexibility as they have 3 separate amp channels so you can alter the gain of the sub channel to balance the sound by replacing a resistor, rather than having to use one of those stupid LPads
 
GrizZ said:
I had Mark Squires Guns here for a while, it had some upgraded sound ...can't remember what exactly ..... but sounded frickin awesome. Was like Slash was actually in the Shack turning it up to 11 , and that usually only happens when I can be bothered to invite him round - he's a nice guy and that but can be a little moody :cool:
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The reason Slash gets a little moody is that you have that bloody Popeye.
 
lukewells said:
@TYHO has upgraded the sound in his GnR and it sounds really good, so I would go with what he has got as a starting point.

Personally I so speaker upgrades myself using car stereo speakers, did my IJ not so long ago and it sounds great.

DE games give you more flexibility as they have 3 separate amp channels so you can alter the gain of the sub channel to balance the sound by replacing a resistor, rather than having to use one of those stupid LPads
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yup,G n R with pinball pro's in is frickin' awesome!!
 
Hi
I'm also thinking of upgrading my speakers on my BSD is anybody on here done this,also how hard is it to fit one of these kits ie the flipper fidelity and the pinball pro is there much soldering or anything like that as being a brickie with fat fingers my soldering skills are a lot to be desired.

Cheers Brian
 
I have Pinball Pros in Scared Stiff (good) and Flipper Fidelitys (excellent) in Tron. Between the two I'd go for FF again but maybe not the big-ass 10" sub next time, bit OTT tbh. No experience with DE games though sorry.

One thing to take note of, FF have only red backbox speaker cones currently (in case that bothers you). My PP's are yellow cones but not sure if others available. I once read that PP have a bit of background hiss on Sterns, hence going for FF on Tron.
 
I have had pinball pro in my addams family for many years. When I first put them in it made a significant improvement to the sound and it is the only mod I have made to my addams.

Now it is alongside my recent twilight zone, I don't feel in any hurry to upgrade my tz. To my untrained ears, I just get used to the poorer speakers of tz.

So when I look at the cost, I am not sure they are worth it. As I have bought another couple of games recently, I am probably going to try the DIY route as car speakers are not that expensive and I think that pinball pro does charge a big premium for the ease of plug and play
 
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Just got my GnR set up after over a year packed up as I had no room. Going to fit an external sub, but any suggestions on DIY upgrading the backbox speakers.

Cheers Tony
 
DRD said:
So when I look at the cost, I am not sure they are worth it.
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I did consider that it may well not be worth it. The kits aren't cheap after all. But I think it all depends on the pin really. I have never really thought about doing it before to any of my games. But as GnR is a music themed pin it seems more important. This thing chucks out some great tracks and that is a lot of the appeal for me for this particular title.
I agree with you that it may not be worth it for other titles though. I mean, I could live with the audio quality on a Fish Tales or Funhouse for example. But with a music pin you want it to sound as good as possible as it is a major part of the game.

I think I am going to bite the bullet and get Pinball Pro. Mainly because @TYHO has this exact same setup in his GnR. And if he says it's worth it then that is good for me.
 
Fudgey bumcakes! $150 dollars for some speakers? Ouch! The bit I was expecting to be included in that price was a replacement amplifier because, let's face it, the biggest problem with the sound on pins is the horrific hum and ropey sound quality caused by the very basic amplifier designs, usually based around all-in-one chips such as the TDA2003.
 
Fintan Stack said:
I did consider that it may well not be worth it. The kits aren't cheap after all. But I think it all depends on the pin really. I have never really thought about doing it before to any of my games. But as GnR is a music themed pin it seems more important. This thing chucks out some great tracks and that is a lot of the appeal for me for this particular title.
I agree with you that it may not be worth it for other titles though. I mean, I could live with the audio quality on a Fish Tales or Funhouse for example. But with a music pin you want it to sound as good as possible as it is a major part of the game.

I think I am going to bite the bullet and get Pinball Pro. Mainly because @TYHO has this exact same setup in his GnR. And if he says it's worth it then that is good for me.
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You,imo have it spot on.Yes,for most games,just getting soeakers will improve the sound no end,and yes that could be done for G n R.But I feel @Fintan Stack is like,why dick about when,once in a while we all deserve a treat,and it really does work great,as others have atested too_On other games I have just upgraded the speakers - off the top of my head - centaur,b hole,HH,Metallica,Ramones all have jsut better quality speakers fitted.G n R I went all bling and got PinballPro's and don't regret it one bit-btw ~I never fitted the pots to the tweeters that they supplied - sounded fine without imo.
 
Moonraker said:
Yeah but he'll say anything for a bottle of beer...! :rofl:
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only good ale - like old engine oil,rochfort 10,hobgoblin,st peters porter,wells double chocolate stout etc


no ****ty carling/fosters/becks/bud for me(for proper budweiser is nice)
 
I've just installed the pinball pro speaker upgrade kit in a BSD which according to forums should benefit.
There is definitely more bass there and a sounds 'a bit' better.
I thought these upgrades were supposed to make it louder? Not on mine. I have the sound turned all the way up and it is NOT louder than the stock speakers - it is quieter. Also, it sounds fine with sub turned down but turn it up and it 'muffles' the back box speakers and sounds like I put I pillow over them.
I followed the instructions according to their YouTube vid and definitely have the right model for the machine.
In summary, they sound a bit better, need to be turned up more than the stock speakers, and the sub has to be turned right down to get the tweeters sounding good.
I wouldn't be doing this again as they are not cheap. On the plus side, my sub was knackered anyway so it needed new speakers anyway.



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Jonwolf said:
I've just installed the pinball pro speaker upgrade kit in a BSD which according to forums should benefit.
There is definitely more bass there and a sounds 'a bit' better.
I thought these upgrades were supposed to make it louder? Not on mine. I have the sound turned all the way up and it is NOT louder than the stock speakers - it is quieter. Also, it sounds fine with sub turned down but turn it up and it 'muffles' the back box speakers and sounds like I put I pillow over them.
I followed the instructions according to their YouTube vid and definitely have the right model for the machine.
In summary, they sound a bit better, need to be turned up more than the stock speakers, and the sub has to be turned right down to get the tweeters sounding good.
I wouldn't be doing this again as they are not cheap. On the plus side, my sub was knackered anyway so it needed new speakers anyway.



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
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I'd have thought they would be mega loud if turned right up. Does BSD have a max volume override in the settings ?
 
I can't find one - you can set it so that volume can be turned down but not off. There is also a setting to allow the game to temporarily boost the volume when in play. Haven't tried that but I will


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stoptap said:
I'd have thought they would be mega loud if turned right up. Does BSD have a max volume override in the settings ?
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I just been reading that some people end up reinstalling the stock tweeters and keeping the sub.
I haven't bothered looking yet but it might be something to do with the ohms of the speakers. Maybe the machine is set to drive speakers with lower ohms.
I'm sure someone out there will know why pinball pro speakers are quieter.


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