The Aliexpress reproduction Capcom mini cute

[Kamiboy]

For posterity and community interest the discussion of this reproduction is being moved here.

This is regarding the Chinese reproduction Capcom mini cute which can be purchased from the following shop:

Vintage Japanese Arcade Accessories Store
https://a.aliexpress.com/_EQLmfHS

The unit is as seen quite exquisite externally. It comes equipped with a CRT and the price is $1500.

IMG_2748.jpeg

There are several Chinese vendors selling Capcom repros, it is unknown they are all the same or not. There is also a French vendor called Vortex arcade selling them, and theirs seem to have some custom enhancements.

The Chinese variety has a number of shortcomings which I hope to overcome.

The CRT image quality is subpar, especially in the terms of black levels and screen brightness stability.

The audio quality is also underwhelming. In this thread I hope to overcome some of these shortcomings by potentially replacing the chassis, plus replacing the speakers and/or adding an audio amplifier.

[Kamiboy]

IMG_2772.jpeg

IMG_2770.jpeg

That's a minineck Toshiba tube.

The pins where the wires are soldered to on the yoke are numbered. Unplug the yoke connector from the chassis and measure resistance across 1 (grey) and 5 (blue). That's the horizontal coil and will have a lower resistance. Across 2 (white) and 4 (green) you have the vertical coil with higher resistance. For a more accurate reading, short the meter leads with each other and if there's some parasitic resistance (ideally it should be zero) subtract it from the yoke readings.

I think it would be a good idea to make a dedicated thread for this or even for the whole repro Cute cab as it would help people decide if they want one too or not.

3.3 ohm resistance between grey and blue.
10.1 ohm resistance between white and green.

[PrincessPrinPrin]

Such a low ohm reading on the vertical is not what i was expecting because the chassis is apparently a clone of the Wei-Ya 820H which is made for tubes with a high inductance/resistance vertical yoke (120mH/56ohm). This is because it uses transistors (see the two heat sink next to each other in the above pics) and not an IC for the vertical deflection.

820Ha.jpg

820Hb.jpg

820Hc.jpg

Tubes for chassis with a vertical deflection IC have a vertical coil in the 12-15ohm range for 14-21" so 10ohm belongs to this type (on the low side).

Did you make the measurements with the yoke connector unplugged from the chassis?

To remove all doubts, it would be safer to repeat the measurements with an LCR meter (you can get a very cheap one like the LCR-T4).

If it turns out to be indeed a low ohm vertical yoke, there is a wide choice of good replacement chassis.

edit: then again, we have other clones (pretty much the same with transistors for vertical) for low ohm vertical yokes:

https://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index. ... c=156141.0

The brightness issues are a constant for these chassis.

[Kamiboy]

Actually the measurements were made without removing the connector. After removing it they didn’t change, only they are not stable, jumping up and down 1 ohm, but around the previously measured values.

If the measurements are correct, what would be some higher quality replacement options?

[Kamiboy]

IMG_2773.jpeg

My chassis sure does look like the one you posted a picture of. Has the two transistors too.

[PrincessPrinPrin]

So if you measure on top of the yoke across 2-3 and 3-4 it's 5 ohm each?

I think it would be safer to have inductance readings too but on the basis of these resistance readings these are in my view good candidates (if replacing connectors is not a problem):

https://www.ebay.it/itm/226434093585

The control board can be made remote with an IDC extension that is very easy to make (the seller probably can sort it out).

https://www.ebay.it/itm/225070078492

https://www.ebay.it/itm/225963273415

[Kamiboy]

Thanks for the suggestions. These are new old stock, which is quite neat. Not too familiar with the brands, some or all are Italian?

I am vaguely aware that there were Italian manufacturers of arcade monitors back in the day. I guess they made quality stuff?

Any chance there are some Japanese chassis that would be compatible? Finding those in new old stock condition would be unlikely though…

[PrincessPrinPrin]

Yes, they're all Italian (Hantarex, Intervideo, Semio). European techs know them very well and can repair them easily. Most replacement parts including flybacks are available.

I don't think the chassis in those auction links are NOS. The pictures are probably just for reference but the seller (tecknoservice, Italian tech based in Spain) is relieble and also offers a repair service.

Note that compared to the Japanese monitors in that size (e.g. Nanao MS8-18, Sanwa PM1723), the above chassis have a more modern design that allows to adjust the horizontal size with a trimmer instead of a coil. Also, they work straight from the 230V mains, no transformers required.

In any case a Japanese chassis like the MS8-18 requires a yoke with unusual specs, the one on your tube won't be compatible.

While looking for chassis on ebay I came across this Nanao which has the same main board as the MS8-25/29 (thus different from the MS8-18/26 one) and a neckboard with minineck socket (compatible with smaller tubes). Not sure what it is. It has 19" written on it with a sharpie. I know there exists a MS8-20 but I thought it was more similar to the MS8-18/26. Rest assured that it requires a weird specced yoke and it's untested...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/167117642472

[Kamiboy]

A real shame about the quirky yoke requirements of Japanese chassis. It would have been neat to have a bit of genuine Japanese arcade legacy in there somewhere.

Also a bit of a bummer that those listed Italian chassis are not in new old stock condition. I understand that outside the capacitors, which I hope have already been replaced, the flyback is the major point of failure on old arcade monitors.

Well, I guess I can always hope I end up with one with quite a bit of life left in it still.

[pubjoe]

Also a bit of a bummer that those listed Italian chassis are not in new old stock condition.

No it's not. They're genuine working and serviced parts in demonstrated good condition. Better than waiting years to find a sale of a 20~30 year old mystery box, that arrives rattling and smelling of fish.

[arcnl]

Maybe i missed it but did you contact the seller about the state of the monitor?

Regarding hantarex, I used to have a few "professional" hantarex video monitors that would easily match anything japanese you'd want to compare it to, so i personally wouldn't per definition disregard them.

[geotrig]

Now hold on a minute @arcnl let's not get too out of hand
Yeah I'd take those refurbished hantys no problem if they where a match.

[Kamiboy]

Maybe i missed it but did you contact the seller about the state of the monitor?

Regarding hantarex, I used to have a few "professional" hantarex video monitors that would easily match anything japanese you'd want to compare it to, so i personally wouldn't per definition disregard them.

I never contacted the seller, no. I saw no reason to do so, the monitor was not broken, just not optimally tuned, and who knows, perhaps this was due to the ravages of the trip.

The low quality chassis prevents the image to ever be tuned up to par with my other CRTs. Not really anything the seller can be faulted for in my opinion, the quality of the chassis is about as good as one could hope for something using vintage circuits from that part of the world.

The most important parts of the cab, the shell and the tube are in my opinion up to par, and the rest can be brought up to par with the right replacement parts.

I am going to get the Hantarex chassis, and see about replacing the speakers and add a separate audio amplifier with a subwoofer output, which I plan to connect to a bass cone.

These should all be doable for under 250€, which still keeps the total price of the cab low enough to be reasonable.

[Kamiboy]

First part of my efforts in improving the audio quality of the cab is officially a bust. I bought some full range speaker cones to replace the ones that came with the cab, only to see how the stronger magnet on these units interferes with the tube.

The difference in sound quality was not too discernible to my ears either, so back in the box they went. Luckily they were not very expensive, so not a huge loss.

[PrincessPrinPrin]

The speakers of the original Cute look very average. I can't imagine they sound so much better (and they are not shielded). Is there an L-pad attenuator as on the original cab? If you can, I'd love to see a few pics of the inside as I'm considering buying one too.

[Kamiboy]

Well, the idea is that I want this repro to match the performance of my Blast City in terms of the audio visual experience, not replicate the performance of the original Cute.

The audio in the cab doesn’t sound very good to my ear, the high tones are especially harsh sounding at times, though that might have been the game I was testing…


I haven’t given up, I am cooking up something else, and I ordered the Hantarex polo 2 chassis you mentioned.

I need to sort out the connectors for that once it arrives, but hopefully that will bring the video portion up to par, or I just wasted more money.

I don’t know what this L-pad attenuator you mentioned is, but I can provide photos of any part you specify.

However I suggest that if you want to buy a reproduction Cute, and if you live in Europe, consider instead to order it from Vortex Arcade on facebook.

They just started selling their own version of the Cute and I regret not waiting and getting it from them instead.

From photos they posted on their page their version is better built on the inside. I am fairly certain they are not making the exterior themselves, though. I think they buy the cabinets from China and outfit them with custom parts to improve them.

Seems they are using a different chassis in theirs, not sure if it is a quality dealio or not. You know better, why don’t you have a look and report back?

https://www.facebook.com/share/1B5kxExp ... tid=wwXIfr

[PrincessPrinPrin]

The Blast City is surely more refined in this department. I think it's the only cab with speaker boxes, tweeters, bass reflex. You would need to custom build something similar or adapt some quality speaker boxes.

The L-pad is like a big pot that adjusts volume:

z.jpeg

The chassis in the Cute sold by vortex is a variation of a common Chinese chassis like this (with the addition of a degauss circuit):

zzzz.JPG

https://scontent.fpow1-2.fna.fbcdn.net/ ... e=677DE602

[Kamiboy]

Yeah, it has the volume pot. I will have to bypass it if I decide to use an audio amplifier though.

Does that common Chinese chassis have the same shortcomings as the one in my cab?

[Kamiboy]

So if you measure on top of the yoke across 2-3 and 3-4 it's 5 ohm each?

I think it would be safer to have inductance readings too but on the basis of these resistance readings these are in my view good candidates (if replacing connectors is not a problem):

https://www.ebay.it/itm/226434093585

The control board can be made remote with an IDC extension that is very easy to make (the seller probably can sort it out).

https://www.ebay.it/itm/225070078492

https://www.ebay.it/itm/225963273415

Turns out I actually have a tester capable of measuring inductance:

Grey/blue: 3.7ohm 3.06mH

White/green: 10.4ohm 30mH

Hopefully the inductance measurements check out?

Apropos, the Hantarex chassis arrived. I doubt it has been serviced. At least I don’t think the caps have been replaced.

Would you happen to know what these connectors are called? I need to secure female counterparts to connect to my mini cute cab CRT.

IMG_2876.jpeg

IMG_2878.jpeg

[PrincessPrinPrin]

30mH is just fine for vertical. I was expecting something lower on horizontal but it should be ok also.

The green connectors are AMP Modu I.

280592 6-way housing

181299-1 crimp contact

The white ones (power and degauss) are AMP Mate-N-Lok, very common.