No Cabinet Volume Control in Maximum Tune?

[winteriscoming]

Maximum Tune apparently doesn't have cabinet volume control...

Having just acquired a pair of Maximum Tune cabs, I'm going through the grueling process of disassembling them as much as possible and moving them into my basement. I just got to the point of getting the major parts assembled for one of them and the Chihiro boot sound about gave me a heart attack! I looked in the coin door and found a volume knob... turning it did nothing... because the wires had been ripped from the pot. I wired up a new pot, turned it on - heart attack inducing volume with absolutely no control! I looked at the wiring diagram and apparently this volume knob is only used to adjust the seat speakers. I further research volume controls in the manual and come to find that the intention is for you to control the volume in the game's test menu. This means even if you set the game to the ideal volume, you have to have incredibly loud boot music when turning it on or cycling out of the test menu!

This is probably a fine setup for arcade use, but won't do in my home.

So my challenge is figuring out overall cabinet volume control - preferably in the form of a knob in the coin door.

Audio initially appears to go to a BASS AMP pcb. There are pins on a header for this PCB that have no wires going to them, but I haven't been able to track down any details on this PCB, nor have I found other games that use the same amp in a different configuration. Maximum Tune 1-3 and Mario Kart 1-2 appear to all have it set up the same, with no overall volume control knob.

Any help is appreciated. I'm not very familiar with audio circuits to know what to look for to see if volume control is integrated into the amp, nor am I sure what I can do otherwise to add in volume control, short of replacing the amp with another kind that has volume control.

 

[winteriscoming]

I'm thinking I'll be able to wire up pots to the left and right signals coming from the Chihiro going into the amp. This is the same way they're wired up for the seat speakers going into the small amp that controls them. It's technically 2 pots controlling the seat speakers, packaged into a dual pot with a single control knob. Since single pots are cheaper, I'll probably end up with 4 pots in the coin door - 2 controlling left and right in the seat and 2 controlling left and right in the cab. I have some pots on order and will report back.

 

[winteriscoming]

Managing 4 volume pots in a single cab is going to be a hassle both in terms of mounting and adjusting any time I want to change levels. I've ordered some 2-gang pots and will have 2 per cab, where one controls cab speakers L/R and the other controls seat speakers L/R.

I'm going to work in an inter connector with some additional wiring so that the new cab speaker pot will be able to go into the coin door and can be disconnected just like everything else on the panel there.

 

[twistedsymphony]

so if these cabs don't normally have volume pots how is it controlled?

I seem to recall whenever I played these in the arcade they were really blasting the audio so maybe that's why

 

[winteriscoming]

There are game-specific test menu settings for volume level. It doesn't control the Chihiro boot sound, though.

Until I get something wired in, I've unplugged the connectors for the amp that controls the cabinet speakers and have the seat speakers turned down to a comfortable level.

 

[winteriscoming]

Adding pots to l/r going to the amp for the cabinet speakers works for controlling cab volume. They're wired the same way the wiring diagram shows for the seat speakers.

I ended up with 2 2-gang pots, so seats and cab are controlled separately. I haven't yet drilled holes on the service panel to mount the new pot, but everything else is good to go.

 

[freddiefiasco]

I can only speak for the Max Tune 1/2 single cab that I have but mine has a volume control knob.


And you all are right, the cab is super loud regardless of pot. The L/R speaker wires were brittle so I replaced those and it went back to normal (I wasn't able to adjust volume prior to the replacement)