ATAndTruong
Student
TL;DR: New to the hobby, found Cereth, have bought 4 cabinets--2 Taito Vewlix Diamond Blacks, one Chunithm, and one Sound Voltex--from him in 2 transactions. The gold standard seller. S+++ tier business, awesome communication, service, and dedication to customer satisfaction.
This review has definitely been a long time coming, but after another seamless and satisfactory transaction with him, I figured I'd finally sit down and hash this all out.
In 2008, in the hey-day of grainy footage of Japanese SFIV gameplay footage, one thing stood out to me--the Vewlix. From then on, I knew I wanted one, but I couldn't justify it. The cost (especially at that time), the space requirements, and my constantly changing situation made it impossible to consider. From 2008 - 2021, I was going through going to college / getting kicked out of college, going into the Army / out of the Army, finally graduating from college, and then finally committing on a house. In the meantime, I settled with buying a HORI VLX in 2013, then added a HORI VLX KURO to my collection in 2016.
But in October 2021, I was getting off Steam after a night of holding a VLX in my lap (with a distinct soreness in my legs), and just thinking, "Man, this is stupid. Wait, don't I have space for the real thing now?" The realization hit me like a ton of bricks. "Fuck, I could buy an arcade cabinet if I really wanted to. Fuck, I really want to buy an arcade cabinet."
So off I went, trawling through YouTube and Google and doing research on arcade cabinets. One video set the foundation for what I wanted out of my arcade cabinet:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfHdVi7TZOU&ab_channel=Dorfus
I linked up with that YouTuber and he gave me the rundown on a helpful Facebook group that could put me in line with distributors, and from there, I knew I was in deep. While I was in that Facebook group, I also came across pictures of the Vewlix Diamond Black, and was in love (after previously going to Round 1 near me and only seeing Fs / FCs / Ls / Orange Diamonds, and being set on an L AMI cabinet). But around that time, there were only two people that were actively listing sales of Vewlixes (to my knowledge): KC and Cereth. I decided to make a Facebook post detailing my desire to buy a Diamond Black, and introduced myself on Arcade Projects with the same desire for a Diamond Black.
Lots of research had prepped me for what to expect from KC, but what I didn't expect was strangers from the Vewlix Owners Group actually DMing me detailing their negative experiences with KC completely unprompted. That, combined with a DM from KC that sounded like misinformation (he claimed that the Black Diamond "[is] like chewlix, worst one"), if only to force an easy sale on a Blue Diamond, sealed the deal for me, and I approached Cereth as to whether he had a Diamond Black in stock. While apologetic, he informed me that there were none in stock, but told me to reach out for any additional questions. No pushy sales tactics, no misinformation. Just prompt, polite replies and an open line of communication.
In November 2021, the outlook took a 180 for the better. Cereth had two Diamond Blacks in stock, while KC had 10 in stock. I knew then it was time to commit and finally fulfill a dream, but I had to make sure. So, for additional reassurance, I consulted members of Arcade Projects privately to detail their experiences with both sellers, as well as ask them frankly: "Who would you go to if you were in my shoes?" The answer was unanimous: Cereth.
After a quick discussion regarding the ETA of the cab, and hashing out questions like, "Is it hard to do a monitor swap?" and "How would I hook up the power if this is only running a PC?", I sent Cereth the money for one Diamond Black and one Taito bench. I was finally locked in. Over the next two days, I'd revisit Round 1, if only to sit at the Vewlixes they had and anticipate what I'd want to play, when I made a realization: "Damn, I actually don't want to share a screen or seat with someone while I play."
I had to make a decision. Do I really need to drop a couple more grand if only to not share screen space / panel space with someone? HELL YEAH I DO.
So, I did what any other financially irresponsible person would do and asked him if the second Diamond Black was available, and if he'd hold onto it for me (as well as add another bench) while I got together the payment. He agreed and two weeks later, I sent him an additional payment for the second cab and bench. Over the next several months, I'd acquire a PC, monitor brackets, new monitors speaker amps, power strips, new buttons, new levers, new balltops, new Brooks boards, and a shitload of cables, all the while peppering Cereth with random questions at random hours of the day. Anyone else would probably crack and tell me: "Look, just make a thread on that Vewlix Owners Group on Facebook, or the Vewlix Appreciation Thread on Arcade-Projects, all right? I'm busy." However, he'd inevitably get back to me on all the questions I had, and was patient.
I also took this time to say my tearful goodbyes to the VLX sticks that had been through a massive amount of moves and life changes in my life, imitations though they were, and sold them to fund my degenerate arcade cabinet habit.
Finally, in March 2022, they arrived. Simply put, they arrived in immaculate condition and after a good wipe-down, and swapping of components, I'd be remiss to say that damn if I don't look at them and get pumped every day.
Months later, in September 2022, I was traveling in Vegas and had the opportunity to play Chunithm, as well as Sound Voltex, and I was hooked. I knew then that these were my next two pick-ups, and there was only one person I was interested in working with: Cereth. This time was sort of like the first. I paid upfront for the Chunithm in late-September, but I also made posts alluding to an interest for Theatrhythm or Sound Voltex in the weeks that followed (while adamantly claiming that the potential fourth cabinet would be a long ways off). He reached out to me and said if I was game, then he'd be game to work with me in terms of getting both cabs to me on time. Additionally, at this point, it had turned out Theathrhythm was both hard to find and not as appealing as Sound Voltex.
Meanwhile, I had missed the train on Chunithm when it was cheaper ($2750 at the time of this writing), and there was no telling about whether Sound Voltex would go up in price, so again, I did the financially irresponsible thing and deluded myself into thinking I needed a Sound Voltex cabinet right then and there to go along with the Chunithm. I sent the follow-up payment days later, and patiently waited.
Finally, just a couple days ago, they arrived.
Unfortunately for me, they arrived while I'm out of town, and I don't get back 'til Saturday as of this writing. In the meantime, I'm scrounging around for information around monitor swapping to a better monitor on both the Chunithm or Sound Voltex (as well as getting the PC version of Sound Voltex to run on the arcade hardware), I'm all ears. They definitely look to be in fantastic condition, which I've come to expect from Cereth.
I have nothing but positive praise for Cereth. Sure, like many, there's initially some apprehension over the fact that you perform transactions worth thousands of dollars, and even doubly so when its Friends and Family. I myself hovered over the "Pay" button on the PayPal app while pacing around my office just saying, "Am I really fucking doing this?" the first time. I mean, the subsequent three payments, I did the same thing (only not as badly), but anyways, that's besides the point.
Throughout the entirety of my two transactions with him, as well as through forum posts and Discord posts, there is one common sentiment: Cereth is the gold standard when it comes to purchasing modern cabinets. There's a lot to be said about a business's customer service when their name comes up in common circles, and from I've seen, Cereth has a very positive track record. Now, I too can confidently state that I too am one of his biggest supporters.
Buy with confidence from Cereth! You can expect exemplary service and communication, as well as your cabs to arrive in great condition, or for certain cabs, for the condition to be fully disclosed. 100% recommend!
This review has definitely been a long time coming, but after another seamless and satisfactory transaction with him, I figured I'd finally sit down and hash this all out.
In 2008, in the hey-day of grainy footage of Japanese SFIV gameplay footage, one thing stood out to me--the Vewlix. From then on, I knew I wanted one, but I couldn't justify it. The cost (especially at that time), the space requirements, and my constantly changing situation made it impossible to consider. From 2008 - 2021, I was going through going to college / getting kicked out of college, going into the Army / out of the Army, finally graduating from college, and then finally committing on a house. In the meantime, I settled with buying a HORI VLX in 2013, then added a HORI VLX KURO to my collection in 2016.
But in October 2021, I was getting off Steam after a night of holding a VLX in my lap (with a distinct soreness in my legs), and just thinking, "Man, this is stupid. Wait, don't I have space for the real thing now?" The realization hit me like a ton of bricks. "Fuck, I could buy an arcade cabinet if I really wanted to. Fuck, I really want to buy an arcade cabinet."
So off I went, trawling through YouTube and Google and doing research on arcade cabinets. One video set the foundation for what I wanted out of my arcade cabinet:
I linked up with that YouTuber and he gave me the rundown on a helpful Facebook group that could put me in line with distributors, and from there, I knew I was in deep. While I was in that Facebook group, I also came across pictures of the Vewlix Diamond Black, and was in love (after previously going to Round 1 near me and only seeing Fs / FCs / Ls / Orange Diamonds, and being set on an L AMI cabinet). But around that time, there were only two people that were actively listing sales of Vewlixes (to my knowledge): KC and Cereth. I decided to make a Facebook post detailing my desire to buy a Diamond Black, and introduced myself on Arcade Projects with the same desire for a Diamond Black.
Lots of research had prepped me for what to expect from KC, but what I didn't expect was strangers from the Vewlix Owners Group actually DMing me detailing their negative experiences with KC completely unprompted. That, combined with a DM from KC that sounded like misinformation (he claimed that the Black Diamond "[is] like chewlix, worst one"), if only to force an easy sale on a Blue Diamond, sealed the deal for me, and I approached Cereth as to whether he had a Diamond Black in stock. While apologetic, he informed me that there were none in stock, but told me to reach out for any additional questions. No pushy sales tactics, no misinformation. Just prompt, polite replies and an open line of communication.
In November 2021, the outlook took a 180 for the better. Cereth had two Diamond Blacks in stock, while KC had 10 in stock. I knew then it was time to commit and finally fulfill a dream, but I had to make sure. So, for additional reassurance, I consulted members of Arcade Projects privately to detail their experiences with both sellers, as well as ask them frankly: "Who would you go to if you were in my shoes?" The answer was unanimous: Cereth.
After a quick discussion regarding the ETA of the cab, and hashing out questions like, "Is it hard to do a monitor swap?" and "How would I hook up the power if this is only running a PC?", I sent Cereth the money for one Diamond Black and one Taito bench. I was finally locked in. Over the next two days, I'd revisit Round 1, if only to sit at the Vewlixes they had and anticipate what I'd want to play, when I made a realization: "Damn, I actually don't want to share a screen or seat with someone while I play."
I had to make a decision. Do I really need to drop a couple more grand if only to not share screen space / panel space with someone? HELL YEAH I DO.
So, I did what any other financially irresponsible person would do and asked him if the second Diamond Black was available, and if he'd hold onto it for me (as well as add another bench) while I got together the payment. He agreed and two weeks later, I sent him an additional payment for the second cab and bench. Over the next several months, I'd acquire a PC, monitor brackets, new monitors speaker amps, power strips, new buttons, new levers, new balltops, new Brooks boards, and a shitload of cables, all the while peppering Cereth with random questions at random hours of the day. Anyone else would probably crack and tell me: "Look, just make a thread on that Vewlix Owners Group on Facebook, or the Vewlix Appreciation Thread on Arcade-Projects, all right? I'm busy." However, he'd inevitably get back to me on all the questions I had, and was patient.
I also took this time to say my tearful goodbyes to the VLX sticks that had been through a massive amount of moves and life changes in my life, imitations though they were, and sold them to fund my degenerate arcade cabinet habit.
Finally, in March 2022, they arrived. Simply put, they arrived in immaculate condition and after a good wipe-down, and swapping of components, I'd be remiss to say that damn if I don't look at them and get pumped every day.
Months later, in September 2022, I was traveling in Vegas and had the opportunity to play Chunithm, as well as Sound Voltex, and I was hooked. I knew then that these were my next two pick-ups, and there was only one person I was interested in working with: Cereth. This time was sort of like the first. I paid upfront for the Chunithm in late-September, but I also made posts alluding to an interest for Theatrhythm or Sound Voltex in the weeks that followed (while adamantly claiming that the potential fourth cabinet would be a long ways off). He reached out to me and said if I was game, then he'd be game to work with me in terms of getting both cabs to me on time. Additionally, at this point, it had turned out Theathrhythm was both hard to find and not as appealing as Sound Voltex.
Meanwhile, I had missed the train on Chunithm when it was cheaper ($2750 at the time of this writing), and there was no telling about whether Sound Voltex would go up in price, so again, I did the financially irresponsible thing and deluded myself into thinking I needed a Sound Voltex cabinet right then and there to go along with the Chunithm. I sent the follow-up payment days later, and patiently waited.
Finally, just a couple days ago, they arrived.
Unfortunately for me, they arrived while I'm out of town, and I don't get back 'til Saturday as of this writing. In the meantime, I'm scrounging around for information around monitor swapping to a better monitor on both the Chunithm or Sound Voltex (as well as getting the PC version of Sound Voltex to run on the arcade hardware), I'm all ears. They definitely look to be in fantastic condition, which I've come to expect from Cereth.
I have nothing but positive praise for Cereth. Sure, like many, there's initially some apprehension over the fact that you perform transactions worth thousands of dollars, and even doubly so when its Friends and Family. I myself hovered over the "Pay" button on the PayPal app while pacing around my office just saying, "Am I really fucking doing this?" the first time. I mean, the subsequent three payments, I did the same thing (only not as badly), but anyways, that's besides the point.
Throughout the entirety of my two transactions with him, as well as through forum posts and Discord posts, there is one common sentiment: Cereth is the gold standard when it comes to purchasing modern cabinets. There's a lot to be said about a business's customer service when their name comes up in common circles, and from I've seen, Cereth has a very positive track record. Now, I too can confidently state that I too am one of his biggest supporters.
Buy with confidence from Cereth! You can expect exemplary service and communication, as well as your cabs to arrive in great condition, or for certain cabs, for the condition to be fully disclosed. 100% recommend!
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