This rules a lot and I wish I was on the west coast to partake in that scene (though moreso the STG/general action side of things, which I understand has a few great semi-private game centers over there). Nothing like it in south florida, as far as I can tell, place is kind of a wasteland for the non-"golden age"/barcade side of the hobby. Would love to start a semi-private game center/arcade club here including my cabs and boards if someone had a space. The best fun in this hobby is sharing the experience.
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This rules a lot and I wish I was on the west coast to partake in that scene (though moreso the STG/general action side of things, which I understand has a few great semi-private game centers over there). Nothing like it in south florida, as far as I can tell, place is kind of a wasteland for the non-"golden age"/barcade side of the hobby. Would love to start a semi-private game center/arcade club here including my cabs and boards if someone had a space. The best fun in this hobby is sharing the experience.
Astro monitors don't fit in an AWSD or E3. They're flat tubes. They ship with Wei-ya's (except for like 1 in 10 E3's or so have a Toshiba PF in 'em). NNC monitors would fit.
100% true. And it's true in other parts of the country too, not exclusive to SoCal. Treat people right, be decent, give as much as you get, and things are a lot easier in this hobby.
It's always been more of a flex cab than anything. Nice for folks who only have spot for one cab. But please don't pretend the Blast isn't the single most unreliable cabinet on the market between not one but two shoddy monitor options that don't repair easily, and rotted out speakers that have no direct replacement without cutting up the cab.
You should find out what group of folks it is that KC sends truckload after truckload to in FL. Clearly there's a scene there, you just haven't run into it.
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Kidkaos
Grand Master
I
But there are drop in replacements now without splitting the cab, you do have to remove the tube but no biggie.
As for tubes I don't think they really differed much being it's been documented that sega dropped wharver they had laying around i,e ms9Ts into Astros so tubes may not always be the same but we're talking chassis here.
Also the Blast is much more versatile, very nice to go from 31khz, 24 and back down to 15khz easily. If I only had room for one (which once upon a time this was the case for me) the obvious choice was and is the BLAST. I have 4 of them with 3 spare "unobtanium" tubes.... but we all know the folklore of things are always greatly exaggerated around these parts.
I'm not easily offended so don't worry.Astro monitors don't fit in an AWSD or E3. They're flat tubes. They ship with Wei-ya's (except for like 1 in 10 E3's or so have a Toshiba PF in 'em). NNC monitors would fit.
Not the same. The tubes have different curvatures. Astro monitors are not drop-in replacements for an E2. If they were, people with busted E2 tubes wouldn't be going to the ends of the Earth to source replacements. Same chassis though, yeah.
100% true. And it's true in other parts of the country too, not exclusive to SoCal. Treat people right, be decent, give as much as you get, and things are a lot easier in this hobby.
It's always been more of a flex cab than anything. Nice for folks who only have spot for one cab. But please don't pretend the Blast isn't the single most unreliable cabinet on the market between not one but two shoddy monitor options that don't repair easily, and rotted out speakers that have no direct replacement without cutting up the cab.
I also realize I replied like 3x to you with corrections, I'm just fixing bits that aren't fact, not being a jerk or anything.
You should find out what group of folks it is that KC sends truckload after truckload to in FL. Clearly there's a scene there, you just haven't run into it.
But there are drop in replacements now without splitting the cab, you do have to remove the tube but no biggie.
As for tubes I don't think they really differed much being it's been documented that sega dropped wharver they had laying around i,e ms9Ts into Astros so tubes may not always be the same but we're talking chassis here.
Also the Blast is much more versatile, very nice to go from 31khz, 24 and back down to 15khz easily. If I only had room for one (which once upon a time this was the case for me) the obvious choice was and is the BLAST. I have 4 of them with 3 spare "unobtanium" tubes.... but we all know the folklore of things are always greatly exaggerated around these parts.
Hedonism Bot 2.0
Grand Master
OP, go with what you like, if you want an E2, get an e2. It is your money, you do what you choose with it. All this back and forth does nothing to get this man what hes asking for.
I've been an e2 owner since 2009, it was my second cabinet and I still play it almost everyday. Of all the cabs I own, its the easiest to work on. For the record, I currently have about 14 cabs now and 4 of them are egrets.
I've been an e2 owner since 2009, it was my second cabinet and I still play it almost everyday. Of all the cabs I own, its the easiest to work on. For the record, I currently have about 14 cabs now and 4 of them are egrets.
Ah, you got me before I could edit. Every NAC I've ever had had a Hitachi, and after I posted someone told me they sometimes have the same Toshiba as the E2.
NNC would be the go-to for me if it had to be just one cab. Bullet-proof monitor, and everything else on it is easily replaced.
I've never heard of those tubes being rare. They're in lots of not-candy things paired with other types of chassis. The chassis in Blasts are just unreliable. Great until the moment they aren't, then it's "good luck". Or trying to con an Aussie into hoping to not get blacklisted by Jomac.
NNC would be the go-to for me if it had to be just one cab. Bullet-proof monitor, and everything else on it is easily replaced.
They're in central florida from what I understand, hours away. I think that's also a large scale convention type deal and focused on fighters and bemani (from what I remember). I'm more looking for/to start something like birdland with people more into arcade games as a whole, focused on general JAMMA era games and STG. I don't think you can create something with that sort of focus outside of california and have more than a few people show up.
I'm also just crap at getting involved with modern "scenes", no FB, no discord. Everyone I talk to about arcade games is on forums or IRC because I'm old and lame
Hedonism Bot 2.0
Grand Master
The blast tube is fairly common in the usa, I've pulled a few out of tv sets myself- in fact I have 2 in my garage now. It's those 2930/31/33 that are a bastard to repair, plus getting those speakers out, ect- not exactly user friendly, but I managed to salvage that bass fishing into a real nice cabinet. I've had 3 blasts pass through my hands and I don't miss them.
arcadeaction
Enthusiast
Yeah been a few times. Badly maintained cabs, floppy levers with oversized ~50mm balltops on something like Raiden IV. Weird vibe and not really a community type thing but a for profit business.
EDIT: I just looked up pictures, and seems like it has changed a lot from about 5 years ago when I last visited, will probably swing by again sometime.
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I love my Blast. I originally hated its lool but over time I've grown to like it quite a lot. That being said, I would never recommend a blast to anyone in 2022 if they have the luxury of choice, at least until there's some sort of chassis replacement. I regretted mine completely up until I sourced a Hitachi MS9 that fit the blast's surround perfectly. No 31khz but I hated feeling like even if I got a replacement 2931 it'd always be a ticking time bomb.
Egrets can stay as the clout cab, doesn't bother me too much if the other candies are spared (if only)
Hedonism Bot 2.0
Grand Master
It blows my mind people refer to them as clout cabs, I don't know where that came from or why people even say or think that.
For reference, this is where my first one came from, east coast too:
https://www.neo-geo.com/forums/inde...anta-georgia-egret-iis-time-to-pay-up.179574/
Hobby has come a long way, and I don't see it changing anytime soon. Once these things go up, they rarely come down.
Ah, a time machine haver
Jokes aside, what does an Egret 2 provide that a New Astro doesn't that makes it worth 2x/3x more to folks in 2022? A rotate mech?
From my perspective it's got similar ergonomics, construction and it's comprised of essentially the same fundamental "components" that are actually important to people playing games - Nanao monitor, Sanwa/Seimitsu buttons. I assume it has a quality PSU, SEGAs definitely feel quality to me.
If all the parts that actually matter are the same, then what are people paying for? Especially people who want one who have never used one before and wouldn't know anything besides how it looks and that the screen rotates. To me it seems like it has a luxury convenience feature, certain aesthetics and it's rare either cause it's scarce or people are holding on to 'em. All are valid reasons if you can afford it but doesn't scream "worth it" to me
I don't mean this to be demeaning or insulting, if you own an Egret then that's awesome. I would actually like to know where the desirability comes from for enthusiasts besides "it's rare". Taito rules, I get that. Pink's an awesome color also. Maybe it's practical like the interior is roomy with nice wiring access or the body construction is sturdier than a Sega machine of the era, but to me personally it's a clout cab nowadays
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Hedonism Bot 2.0
Grand Master
People want what they want. I'm not the one paying 5k for one so I'm the wrong one to ask. I can only give you my experience with the cabinet.
I bought my first one as I only had room for one cabinet, Its easy for me to take apart, and its moved through several states with me. I know the cabinet inside and out, and I like the fact that if the PSU craps out, I can make an adapter easy. Its also got drop in connectors and stereo options.
My second came from a local deal a few years ago for about $1000. One of the reasons I bought it, besides driving distance, was that I already knew the cabinet in and out, and had spare parts on hand.
E3 and AWSD were both trades, but both similar enough that if they ever needed work or moving, I already had a template and experience with the cabinets.
I tailor my setup to my needs and no one elses. Why are people paying 5k for these? Who knows? Why do people love to hate on them? Who knows? If astros and blasts work for you, thats your thing- you are the one spending the money, you tailor your setup to your needs. Astro and NAC didn't suit my needs, and neither did blasts. Instead I rolled with Windys and Egrets.
for me, i want to make a mini taito station to go alongside my mini sega akihabara. id like to play my taito games on a taito cab. all the taito cabs im aware of r super duper rare and the rotation mech will let me kill 2 birds with 1 stone so ill have a tate and yoko crt setup without having to buy 2 taito cabs. its ezpz to rotate a monitor in a nac, thats a 1 man job for me. i got 2 blasts and 2 nacs on my bigger wall, and once i get 1 more vewlix ill have 2 vewlixes and the e2 on the other side. id eventually like a capcom impress and/or a q 25 for my capcom games and an irem madonna for my irem games. idgaf about clout. i just wanna enjoy my shit the way i want to.
i had juno
I don't think anybody is hating on them as cabs. They're great cabs with great monitors. What they're hating on is the weird kind of status they've gotten, mostly from people who weren't around when you bought yours in that group buy. To a lot of us, they're just one of many models out there and seeing the prices paid personally has me scratching my head for the most part, and wondering when that type of thing is going to trickle down to other stuff, until we get to a point when something like a NAC is $5000, because we don't see much functional difference between the two. This has already happened with PCBs. It used to be mostly only cave stuff that went for $800+ and it was joked about the same way people are now talking about E2s. Now there's tons of stuff priced like cave PCBs.
Personally, I've gotten everything I wanted materially out of this hobby. Already have the cabs, and most of the games, I will need for the rest of my life. But I think about the financial state I was in when I and many I know started out and see the on-ramp starting to close for a huge swath of the potential population and becoming this rareified thing for a specific kind of person that sort of feitshizes objects, and I think that's really what's being hated on. It's not hate to say an E2 is roughly similar to a NAC, it's just facts.
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thomas3184
Grand Master
Man this thread is so off topic lol. OP already requested to close this thread and here we are.
My way is easier. Pay 500 yen for a train ride to access over 100+ Egret 2 cabs with every game I could ever want to play.
There is that slight catch of taking a massive pay cut and becoming an immigrant and having to learn one of the world's most difficult languages as an adult but....you know....games : )
There is that slight catch of taking a massive pay cut and becoming an immigrant and having to learn one of the world's most difficult languages as an adult but....you know....games : )
