Original Astro Speaker upgrade

Arcade cabinet hardware and accessories
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Sp33dFr34k
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Re: Original Astro Speaker upgrade

Post by Sp33dFr34k »

Hmmm, those look pretty good, also found these in the meantime:

http://www.amazon.com/DROK-Speaker-Loud ... B00LSFFWUE

Guess we'll never know if we don't try them out... :)
hungar
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Re: Original Astro Speaker upgrade

Post by hungar »

That's true, I'll give them a punt after christmas and report back. The ones you posted are worryingly inexpensive ;)
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Sp33dFr34k
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Re: Original Astro Speaker upgrade

Post by Sp33dFr34k »

Hahaha true that, but you never know... :)

Awesome, let me know how those pan out, looks are great, hopefully the sound will be as well. You haven't amplified your speakers have you? :)
hungar
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Re: Original Astro Speaker upgrade

Post by hungar »

Yeah I use a little digital amp for stereo sources (see previous post) does the job, and I've added a cheap powered sub.
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Sp33dFr34k
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Re: Original Astro Speaker upgrade

Post by Sp33dFr34k »

Okay, think I'll be doing that as well mainly for the sake of having stereo output instead of dual mono, but let's find some decent speakers first.

Found these as well, what do you think?

http://m.aliexpress.com/item-desc/32493441151.html
hungar
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Re: Original Astro Speaker upgrade

Post by hungar »

Nice find, they look like they could be half decent. They're not shielded though :/, saying that though the original sega speakers aren't shielded.
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Sp33dFr34k
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Re: Original Astro Speaker upgrade

Post by Sp33dFr34k »

I was going to order these just now:

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/guan-Aud ... 81837.html

However they are 5,7 cm deep, I wonder whether it will fit in the NAC as I read somewhere that you have right about 2 inches, which equals +- 5,1 cm.

As I won't be home within the next week, does somebody know how much room there is for the speakers by any chance? The speakers take very long to arrive (up to 39 days), so prefer not to wait for too long to order them... :awe:
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Brettster
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Re: Original Astro Speaker upgrade

Post by Brettster »

I changed my NAC speakers yesterday
the original Sega ones are 5.5CM or 2 1/4" from front to the back of the magnets

I swapped mine with a set of Cambridge Soundworks (Creative Labs PC Speakers T40 II) the original mounting on the Sega ones is not common so I had to improvise some way to hold in the replacement speakers, but now my sounds fuller and less tinny
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Sp33dFr34k
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Re: Original Astro Speaker upgrade

Post by Sp33dFr34k »

Thanks for your quick reply Brett. So the main question here, will 5.7cm fit in there?

Also curious to see pictures of your setup, did you take any? :)
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Brettster
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Re: Original Astro Speaker upgrade

Post by Brettster »

I didn't take any of the process unfortunately
the extra 2MM should fit and if not then you may need to add some foam tape or something to fill the gap in the speaker box, the screws are long enough to hold it all together but you wouldn't want the back of the magnet touching the back the speaker box directly as it may cause unwanted vibrations

Here is a pic of the finished article though
NAC_SPKR.jpg
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Sp33dFr34k
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Re: Original Astro Speaker upgrade

Post by Sp33dFr34k »

Looking great there Brett, thanks for the info! Might wanna paint the yellowed shroud at some point though, you won't regret it :)
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Brettster
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Re: Original Astro Speaker upgrade

Post by Brettster »

yeah its on my to do list
had the cab less than a week !!
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Sp33dFr34k
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Re: Original Astro Speaker upgrade

Post by Sp33dFr34k »

Then you are well on your way, well done! I've let the guy I bought the cab from paint the shroud, but as the color doesn't fully match I think I'll go for black when I have some spare time on my hands.

Ontopic: I have ordered a high low converter, the new Lepai amp and a big bunch of connectors, pins, a crimping tool and 100 meters of wire (lol), so really only need to order the speakers now, will keep you guys posted :)
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Sp33dFr34k
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Re: Original Astro Speaker upgrade

Post by Sp33dFr34k »

So I have bought the Guan audio speakers and they are absolutely no upgrade, more like a downgrade.

I know the NAC has better standard speakers than the AC, but still wasn't expecting this.

Plus is they are shielded, so less interference, however they sound like they only produce mid tones, no low at all.

I am going to try them next with the amp I have bought when I get the connectors I need, to be continued.
drguild
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Re: Original Astro Speaker upgrade

Post by drguild »

Chiming in here saying I'm following this thread for my own Astro City.

Looking for some decent speakers myself that I can pump game consoles and a PC etc through and good enough for playing DDR and general music jukebox stuff.

May go a 2.1 or something if anyone can recommend something.

I also am putting a headphone socket on mine for my headphones and will be having a toslink port on the back for digital out of needed.
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Sp33dFr34k
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Re: Original Astro Speaker upgrade

Post by Sp33dFr34k »

Why would you do that? It's an arcade cabinet, not a jukebox :awe:

Here is a guy who has done this:
https://segamadebaddecisions.wordpress. ... tereo-mod/

I have amped my speakers yesterday after having properly crimped the cables I needed to hook everything up. Works like a charm, however the new speakers are still crap, think they are tweeters instead of full-range so I am still looking for a decent replacement set for my NAC... :(
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mrjamma
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Re: Original Astro Speaker upgrade

Post by mrjamma »

I've upgraded speakers on an Astro 1 (not new astro)

Used a pair of satellite speakers from the Logitech z5500.

These speakers are a direct screw in fit, no cutting or drilling required.

The factory Astro City negative speaker wiring slips straight onto the negative terminals of these speakers. The positive terminal on the Logitechs however, use a slightly larger terminal, so I made a short wire with crimp connectors on either end, as you can see in the photo, so as to keep the original Astro City wiring in tact, without any cutting.

z5500 series - general google image of them:

Image

Compared side to side with the standard Sega speaker:
20150720_222937.jpg
Before transplant:
20150720_182821.jpg
After transplant:
20150720_231238.jpg


A couple of months after these photos were taken, I ended up putting a small sub in my cabinet too.

I used the Edifier S330D as the amp/sub, as it fit snug behind the coin box area.

What I done, was in the control panel area where all the wiring is, you'll see that the speakers have a 4 pin male plug, which plugs into a 4 pin female connector. This female connector ends up eventually routing into the JAMMA harness for audio.

I bought a second 4 pin female connector (part numbers here http://www.evolvingconsole.com/2012/01/ ... onnectors/ ) , and connected some speaker wire from that new female connector, through to the speaker inputs on the Edifier sub/amp. Then on that sub/amp combo, I used its RCA connections, and hooked it up to my CPS2 RCA connections. Amplified stereo sound, with woofer, using factory speaker locations.

In short, I have modified the cabinet in a way that it is completely reversible, no wires had to be chopped.
Also, if I want to change games to an older JAMMA game with no stereo, all I need to do, is simply open my control panel, unplug the speaker connection from my newly installed 'stereo' 4 pin female speaker connector, and plug the male 4 pin (speakers connector) back into the OEM 4 pin speaker connector in the control panel.

Eventually I'll have to take some pics. I used a lot of cable ties and followed factory harness routing. Came up very neat!
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Sp33dFr34k
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Re: Original Astro Speaker upgrade

Post by Sp33dFr34k »

I did exactly the same, also without hacking into the original wiring (4 pin AMP UP), works like a charm!

However I do think that the Z5500 satellite drivers are not full range, so without a sub they won't do you a lot of good :(

Still looking for decent replacement speakers for my NAC, but I'll keep looking :)
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mrjamma
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Re: Original Astro Speaker upgrade

Post by mrjamma »

I cant 100% agree on z5500 speakers not doing a lot of good without a sub. I was using the logitech's for a couple of months before adding a sub, and they were a fair bit better than the factory sega rubbish that were in there.

That being said, I cant speak for New Astro city's factory speakers (as I have only ever owned astro city 1, and astro city 2), but the astro 1 have rubbish standard speakers, so anythings an improvement :)

New Astro's look to have better speakers than astro 1, and have an amp already right? I cant comment how the factory sound is on them, so im probably not the best judge on an upgrade.

One thing I noticed with the logitech's though - Once they were amplified via the amp/sub, even if i turn the bass knob all the way down for the sub, the amp has done wonders on the z5500 3" logitech speakers - they sound excellent with my CPS2 games via RCA. I just think a good amp needs to go in one way or another... On the other hand, non amplified i.e. via the game board / JAMMA harness - as mentioned a fair bit better than standard in comparison to standard sega, but the amp just done wonders, even with the bass turned down.

Best of luck, and definitely keep the post updated if you end up finding an upgrade you're happy with.
hungar
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Re: Original Astro Speaker upgrade

Post by hungar »

Ah crap news about those guan speakers Sp33dFr34k. Back to the drawing board I guess :/ The z5500 ones look nice but the individual speakers are quite expensive on fleabay. They look good and according to this page they are full range.

http://soundnews.ro/2011/05/29/logitech ... h-version/ and more importantly its states that they are made my 'Tangband' they look like they could be the W3-1011SB 3" or this one http://www.parts-express.com/tang-band- ... r--264-809 which has some great reviews. Sweet good find :)
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