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Lots of places with a few pins etc in Oslo, but only 1 decent arcade. It’s called Tilt and is in the center of Oslo City. About 95% of the pictures in this thread is from Tilt or the owner of Tilt’s epic private collection.
 
Ahh that makes sense, I was thinking this was a bunch of different places
 
Been awhile, so time for update!
Got this lovely Astro delivered last week. Was happy like a clam!
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As all Astros, it needed a good scrubbing plus probably a lot of general TLC.
Tube had some pretty gnarly 3rd strike health bar burn, but since the cab itself was in excellent condition, I took the plunge a bought it as a work in progress cab. If I can get a hold of a decent tube (and there’s actually a pretty good chance I might) this badboy will be fucking perfect! In the meantime…. Lets make as sexy as possible!

First up. Cleaning, painting some doors, new lovely CP from @alberto1225 , new speakers and a recapped PSU. By the way… I truly love fixing cabs❤️

Around 90% of the cab is in excellent condition, but those metal doors rocked that lovely nicotine yellow (and smell..) so time to paint!
Before… I have seen much worse, but hey… playing with rattle cans is fun!
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After. Mmmm…. Shiny!

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I gave all 3 doors some Audi/VW LB9A candy white and everything is looking snazzy!


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Next up. Fun with tube!
I got the standard Toshiba/Nanao MS8 combo, but that MS8 chassis had waaaaaaay to much issues that I didn’t want to bot with. Totally messed up pincushion, lots of broken traces etc etc… Fuck it… Since I have a spare MS9 with G1 mod, it was time to try a MS9 on a MS8 yoke, but first… rejuv time!

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Ouch….. This tube has seen some shit! Fingers crossed that I can shock i back to life… at least until I get a better tube…

After just a couple runs of clean and balance, tube responded much better. Happy tube with good tracking = check.
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I hooked up a MS9 chassis and fired it up. After a quick color calibration I was greeted with a pretty shit image. So bland in fact that I forgot to document it with a picture….
Made me kind of depressed actually.
I know this isn’t a chassis issue, since I have been using this chassis to test tubes with. Chassis produces one hell of a picture after the G1 mod &recap so I know it’s not the culprit.

Also had some pretty major sizing issues with the horizontal part of the image. Setting the jumper from narrow (CN506)to wide( CN507) fixed it a little, but in my case, MS9 is NOT a drop in replacement with a MS8 yoke.
Linearity also sucked no matter how much I tweaked the V. Lin pot.

CV1000 games where fine, but could not get full screen on much else.

Does a MS9 preform kind of shitty with a MS8 yoke? Does the 0,040 mH difference in
Lh degrade image quality? is the tube FUBAR?
I don’t know, but lets find out.

Time for yoke swap!

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First I put some marks up with my trusty silver sharpie and removed the convergence rings.

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After carefully removing some of the silicone around the yoke it came of pretty easily.

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New MS9 yoke in place. Fingers crossed 🤞🏻

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Success! Crap geometry, but hey… It’s a start!
 
After about 3 hours of cursing, playing with high voltage, removing burnt to a crisp convergence strips and adding some new ones, I got this. Not perfect, but serviceable until I can get a better tube.

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Image looks much nicer with a proper MS9 Yoke. Just my 2cc.
Some light CRT/Yoke swap porn for your pleasure.

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I then “tate“ the shit out of it and celebrated with some lovely Mushi Pork.
Good times!

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Happy cab!
 
I got a mean craving for a decent project, so I started to do some research into improving jamma audio.

I upgraded my Astro speakers with some Logitech Z-5500 speakers. Drop in replacement and smooth as fuck sailing. I also noted these speakers where THX certified…. And it got me thinking….
Having the option to get a little more bass and midtones out of my upgraded speakers would be awesome sauce.

Putting a big fat sub woofer in the cab was out of the question, but maybe an analog equalizer could do the trick? Works great for guitars and vocals, so maybe a decent vocal EQ could help jamma sound a little better?

I took the plunge on a Behringer MINIFBQ 800
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Small size, lots of nice functions and a good 9-band analog EQ. Should do the trick!

My main goal for this project was a non destructive modification that was easy to remove if I ever wanted to get rid of it.
Just 1 cable to revert back to standard Sega dual mono and no modification to the original Sega harness was my main priority.

1. I bought this generic High to Low level converter just to get JAMMA audio down to safe levels for the EQ. Crimped on a proper AMP UP connector so it looked a little more sexy
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2. Had to make my own audio harness to hook up to the speakers, so I made a AMP UP to RCA. These would be output from the EQ and directly to the speakers using original stock Sega AMP UP connections.
Good enough for rock n’ roll!
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3. I thought it would be nice to have som extra power available in my Astro, so I bought this from digikey. Small, sexy and robust!
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I cut of the plug and crimped on some proper connectors and added them directly to the power panel. I fitted the power strip to the side with some double sided 3M mounting tape. Durable, but easy to remove just in case.
Now we are playing with power!

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4. High to low level converter was fitted the same way and added some nice shielded RCA cables for input to the EQ.
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5. Inside of the CP looks like this.
High to low converter connected to the original jamma output.
Custom audio harness comes back up from the EQ and into the original AMP UP connection to the speakers. 1 cable connection to revert back to stock audio.
Mission complete!

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And a picture of everything set up and ready to rock!
EQ turns on automatically with the cab, so plug n‘ play!

Will have to play with the EQ a little more to get perfection, but everything sounds fucking fantastic! More midtones, less ear bleeding treble and more BASS!

Time to play some more Ketsui! 🥳

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After changing my Astro speakers twice and adding a stereo amplifier and powered subwoofer I’m still not completely satisfied with the sound. The location of the speakers and lack of a sealed enclosure is the problem. I already have too much stuff crammed in the cabinet so an active equalizer isn’t happening but that would at least fix the harshness. If I’m able to cut the harsh tones so I can turn up the volume a little more without thrashing my eardrums, I might be happy. Something I need to sort out soon. Something like a reverse bandpass filter may work. If I remember correctly the Logitechs don’t have tweeters but my current speakers do. Both sound super harsh.
 
After changing my Astro speakers twice and adding a stereo amplifier and powered subwoofer I’m still not completely satisfied with the sound. The location of the speakers and lack of a sealed enclosure is the problem. I already have too much stuff crammed in the cabinet so an active equalizer isn’t happening but that would at least fix the harshness. If I’m able to cut the harsh tones so I can turn up the volume a little more without thrashing my eardrums, I might be happy. Something I need to sort out soon. Something like a reverse bandpass filter may work. If I remember correctly the Logitechs don’t have tweeters but my current speakers do. Both sound super harsh.

The speakers From Logitech Z5500 sounded in my ears overly bright and crisp on some games. CAVE CV1000 PCB sounded fucking awful!
Since my AC is in my living room, I didn’t want my 6 year old to get tinnitus after playing Mushi pork 😁

After installing the EQ the speakers sounds warm, balanced and punchy on everything I trow at it.
It’s still just dual mono, but is one hell of a audio upgrade!

Since I can just revert back to stock by changing 1 cable, it’s easy to compare stock audio to improved EQ audio.
I don’t want to go back to stock audio 😁
 
Hi BuddyC - I'm working on an audio upgrade for my NAC. I have the Logitech Z5500 speakers and will be using the same subwoofer Thomas used in his cab (Acoustic Audio PSW250-6). Would utilizing the Behringer MINIFBQ 800 negate the need to have a separate audio amp (Kinter 2020A+)? Can the Behringer play the role of amp with a EQ? I plan to use this with a Mistercade, which has line level RCA stereo out. Thanks!
 
Hi @Onizuka

I'm working on an audio upgrade for my NAC
Not sure if the New Astro City use the same speaker size as my Astro City but I guess you checked?
Would utilizing the Behringer MINIFBQ 800 negate the need to have a separate audio amp
The Behringer MINIFBQ 800 is made to be a EQ and filter for vocals and guitars so it’s in reality not a amp. It does provide some amplification (+/- 12 db), but it’s main function is to clean up and provide 9-band EQ to audio.

Can the Behringer play the role of amp with a EQ?
I wouldn’t recommend it.
It doesn’t have enough power to drive a subwoofer without distortion.
In your case, I would find a suitable stereo amplifier with tone and bass controls and use this instead.
I never have the volume crazy loud, so I don’t need more amplification. I just wanted smoother JAMMA audio :)
 
After changing my Astro speakers twice and adding a stereo amplifier and powered subwoofer I’m still not completely satisfied with the sound. The location of the speakers and lack of a sealed enclosure is the problem. I already have too much stuff crammed in the cabinet so an active equalizer isn’t happening but that would at least fix the harshness. If I’m able to cut the harsh tones so I can turn up the volume a little more without thrashing my eardrums, I might be happy. Something I need to sort out soon. Something like a reverse bandpass filter may work. If I remember correctly the Logitechs don’t have tweeters but my current speakers do. Both sound super harsh.
@Thomas - Still learning, but wouldn't your subwoofer effectively do the same thing with its crossover filter? Or at least help a bunch? You'd only need to run additional speaker wires from the High Level output up to the Pioneers.
 
The crossover in this case sends low frequencies to the subwoofer and the mid and high frequencies to the speakers. To reduce harshness I need to reduce the level of a narrow range of frequencies. Roughly 2khz-6khz. A crossover won't do that. An equalizer can. The harshness is only a problem if I turn the volume up loud. At normal levels it's not an issue. You should test your speakers first to see how you like it before buying too much extra audio gear.
 
I went to Sweden this weekend to help a fellow collector with some of his cabs.
We fixed up a couple of Nintendo playchoice 10 and removed lots of chassis for service, but this post is all about some lovely rare cabs and a beautiful collection.
Enjoy some cab porn!
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Also got a good shot of discharging a playchoice tube. Sparkling!
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And same tube before some fast calibration….
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And after some buddyc love!

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Great road trip!
 
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All work and no play makes BuddyC a dull boy….. Time for update!

I bought a NAC a couple of months ago and it has performed ok after some minor wiring and TLC.
A couple of weeks ago I had some buddies over for beer and arcades when suddenly the monitor lost all blue color and got a lovely urine~yellow tint… Image was stable, but since I was drunk, I turned the cab off until I was sober enough to play with high voltage.
MS9 had been recapped, so I was pretty sure this was a tube issue.

The next day I hooked up my trusty B&K 467 and got some shitty readings for the blue gun.

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Fuck…
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Long story short… The blue gun had shorted with G1 and was basically dead.
Clean and balance didn’t do shit, so had to go full rejuvenation multiple times to get it working, but that again created multiple new shorts… Shit…
Did a real number on the emissions levels so this tube has little life left after this major surgery. Poor Tosh-tube….
As of now I have good readings, but this tube has not much life left according to the 467.
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I needed to do a full calibration since I basically beat the tube to hell and back, I got some good results, but these will not last forever.

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What can we do to remedy this crap situation when the tube eventually dies?
Time for a mother trucking tube swap 🤘🏻
 
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