I was wanting to ask....why the dark area in the top right side of each speaker? Pinball Pro "light kit"? That's just my guess, as their lights don't go all the way around and their unlit area being in one of the speaker corners would be where they would land with the new diamond speaker orientation. Other, lesser light kits, also have this issue of the light strips not going all the way around them (there's a hack in Germany that sells them with only a light strip on one side), but seeing the LEDs in a ring shape and fairly visible all the way around the speaker hole also points to Pinball Pro...or a DIY project using after market speakers with spacer rings attached to the front of them (which is how Pinball Pro does it).

My quick and easy suggestion for you would be to rotate the speakers so the dark areas are symmetrical. Ex: Both unlit corners being either both on the inside or outside of the game and both in the same high or low position. My pick would be the dark areas in the bottom inside (but I don't really know why I pick that area). SEE MOCK UP PICTURE, but I really think having them both either inward or outward would balance them out a bit.

For those interested....a better SPIKE2 Speaker Light Kit solution is on the way. I mean it took over 14 years for someone to think up the idea and design for the Whitestar / SAM RGB speaker light kits (and then it was only a couple of months after that before others started copying the design and / or idea). So I hope people can at least give the SPIKE2 kits a few months while ideas are being thought up, worked out, tested and improved on.

Doug (SpeakerLightKits.com - Home of the Original Pinball Speaker Light Kit)

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I'm trying to cover all of the angles so the early adopters aren't stuck with an inferior or incomplete product. I have made changes and improvements to my current light kits in the past 4+ years, but the basic design, components and wiring has remain unchanged. Having things well thought out and uniform has made it so all of my light kits have been compatible with other mods that have been released since then (ColorDMD, TRON LED light mod PCB, under-cabinet kits, ect...). If I were in it for the quick buck I would be listing my current light kits for Batman / Aerosmith / Star Wars...as they do work (as pictured above and elsewhere on this thread). There was a buyer that even showed me how they could be mounted (in a creative way) and the current light kit wouldn't need any modifications at all to be mounted in SPIKE 2 games. I just wasn't a fan of that look (especially with those bars over the lit speaker holes) so I am taking the time to do the Speaker Light Kits for SPIKE 2 games the best that I can. There have been many holdups and delays and I am still testing, getting quotes, comparing products and weighing price / feature options.

I know it has nearly been a year since Batman was first shown off, but I hope people can be patient while the designing, testing and fine tuning can be done. This is a completely new and more complicated speaker panel than the ones that Stern have use in the past. Any changes Stern has made since my Speaker Light Kits were first released has normally been tackled in a timely manor (before the game in question was even shipping). Coming up with a new design for a speaker panel that is so different isn't as easy as just buying someone else's product and cheaply copying it (as many have done with my product in the past) and I want to make sure all things are taken into account before releasing them.

So the update is, they are being worked on and are progressing. I'm not a fan of announcing products or taking pre-orders before there is a product to sell. That is why you haven't seen or heard many updates from me. They are coming and when they are ready they will be announced, listed for sale and available to ship to customers then. Speaker Light Kits is all I sell, so you can believe they are coming and I am doing my best to get a well made product to the people that want them as soon as I can.

Doug (SpeakerLightKits.com) The Home of the Original Pinball Speaker Light Kit.

I agree, it does seem strange. I'm not sure if they were hoping for more speaker separation or what, but I think the bigger issue is the honeycomb placement.

I have been messing with these panels a lot. If I had my way they would have had an extra short honeycomb column on the outer side of the honeycomb patters and centered them on each side (between the display edge and the speaker panel edge).

As for simply changing the speaker alignment....you couldn't really change it the direction it would need to go. If you needed the speaker to go AWAY from the display....theoretically you could add washers / spacers and longer screws to hold the display in. Even this would have it's limit as the speaker plates mounting slots (and the speaker plate width) would only allow you to shift the speaker plate outward so far,...BUT the speaker would actually have to go TOWARD the display to be centered with the honeycomb pattern more...and that's pretty much impossible without making a replacement speaker plate with the speaker hole in a different location.

I'm not sure how the speaker in the super LE is, but the standard Stern speaker can only have it's speaker hole moved over a small bit because of their wonky "we will save $.05 by using only 2 mounting points per speaker and positioning the speaker in a diamond position instead of the normal "squared up" position".

With that being said, the speakers actually ARE centered between the edge of the display and the outer edge of the speaker panel....the thing is the honeycomb patters is what is not centered. When you see the speakers lit up (like NeilMcRae's picture above) you can see the lit rings do look centered on the panel....just not centered with the speaker honeycombs. I'm sure it's just a case of them not putting much though into it when designing the speaker panels for SPIKE 2. Having said that, please don't change anything Stern, please don't change anything Stern, please don't change anything Stern, please don't change anything Stern. Spike 2 Speaker Light Kits are about to be released from SpeakerLightKits.com and I don't want SPIKE 2.X or SPIKE 3 (or at least any speaker panel changes) any time soon.

Doug (SpeakerLightKits.com)

As contradictory as it may sound...I'm fairly sure that you should NOT have got the FF speakers that are for speaker light use. You should have got the standard FF speakers that have the spacer rings on the front of the speakers. When FF added the option of speaker lights or no speaker lights....he is assuming if you choose that you have speaker lights, you have a speaker light kit that takes the place of the spacer ring (that is normally on the front of the speakers) whereas this speaker light mod doesn't have that added area for the speakers extended tweeter to go while supporting the body of the speaker.

I can't imagine you having your speakers mounted the way you have described will last long without bending the threaded studs on the back of the factory speaker plates....or the speaker falling off. As you described, it sounds very precarious just sitting on those 2 standoffs with no other support. I would see about possibly exchanging your backbox speakers for the standard ones with the spacer rings or FF might actually be able to send you some rings to attach to the front of the speaker yourself.

Doug (SpeakerLightKits.com)

PS: Does this light mod actually add any thickness to the speaker mount besides the added size of the upgraded speakers that many are getting with it??? I would think the speaker plate would have to mount the same depth as it did from the factory unless I'm missing something big here.

When you go to Flipper Fidelity and select "Yes, I have SpeakerLights" they are assuming you are using speaker lights that add 5/8" to the front of the speaker mount....so he sends speakers that DO NOT have the spacer rings attached to the front of them (to protect the extended tweeters that his speakers have). They are assuming you are using a speaker light kit that adds the extra space to the front of the speakers which will take the place of the spacer rings that are usually attached to the front of their speakers.

When you go to Flipper Fidelity and select "I do not have SpeakerLights" they are assuming you want their standard speakers that DO have the spacer rings attached to the front of them.

Yelobird's light rings DO NOT add any extra thickness to the factory configuration....so you will want to get the standard FF speakers by selecting "I do not have SpeakerLights" and you will get the ones that DO have the spacer rings attached to them. As for other Flipper Fidelity resellers (like Pinball Life) they don't even give the SpeakerLight option when ordering, so you should receive the standard speakers that do have the spacer rings that you will need for Yelobir's light mod.

Doug

Being sold by "Chachi's Tchotchkes" I believe. I don't think they are available yet, but I hear they are.......arriving soon.

If you put a slit to the hole from the bottom....would you be able to slide the protector in from that direction? Or would you still have to loosen and lower the trough up kick to move the protector in from that direction?

I have to believe that pulling that end of that rail was probably chosen over the alternative as a simpler means of installing. I'm also not sure how much of the protector would be needed that far down the shooter lane.

UPDATE: I just checked Cliffy's site after wondering how this could be done....it seem this type of protector would have been better suited (as long as that design hasn't caused any issues and been re-designed to what you received).

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My Speaker Light Kits for SPIKE 2 games are available at www.speakerlightkits.com.

RGB, color selectable with 44 key remote. Speaker Light Kit $65 & Bat Acrylic Designs $20.

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You would be surprised how many don't realize those switches can be pulled out and do the same thing as the switch does when the door is closed. I've had friends there were into pinballing for years and it was like I blew their mind when I pulled the switch out instead of closing the door to restore the high power.

Ali-express is pretty reputable as far as receiving items anyway. I don't think you would have anymore data breach concerns as amazon or walmart.com. The quality or authenticity of the item might be questionable, but if paid for with PayPal and the item is significantly different you could open a dispute.

Ali-express is pretty much on the up and up as far as my past transactions (20ish) have gone.

It's is the noise a modern Stern makes when you get a special. It will do that when you reach a high enough score or get a match at the end of a game. It signifies you winning a free game.

There are settings in the game where you can shot off, I'm not sure if it can be adjusted to be turned down, but it's not an issue and should be considered a good thing when you hear it.

Sorry to hear about that. If you take the speaker off you may be able to get a bit better angle on the screw. It may also help to have a screw driver with the handle long enough to clear the edge of the speaker panel so you can get a better grip / twist on the screwdriver.

Also.....if you are doing a lot of hard pushing on the side of the speaker plates to get those screws removed, you will want to make sure your LCD has stayed aligned to the plastic shield that is mounted below it on the speaker panel. In some cases, pushing hard on one of the speaker plate sides to get those side screws removed may make the screen and other speaker plate slide over a bit. So just make sure the LCD screen is lined up with the clear plastic shield when you go back to putting the light frames or speaker plates back on the panel. To keep this shifting from happening is why I instruct one light frame be installed at a time, but if extreme force is needed to remove those side screws, sometimes some sliding on the screen and other speaker plate can take place.

Some further observations I have had when messing with a lot of these. Just because one or two of the screws are tight, don't assume they are all that way. It sounds like you have already looked over the others screws and noticed they are though. I have had some that are a real pill to get removed and the other three will be no issue at all. Sometimes they just go way overboard on tightening things. I was removing the AC cover on a friends game and the nut on the front of the AC cover was so tight they had bent the metal cover in. It actually looked like the worker just said "screw it" and angrily tightened it down as far as possible. The nut had actually scraped the finish off of the metal cover when it was embedded in it and dented it in.

Here is another, slightly related, tip for when you do get the screws removed. When you go to put the light frames on.......go ahead and start the side screws in the screen. Do not tighten them but have them threaded in the side of the screen far enough to hold the screws in place. Then lower the light frames over the screws. You will notice that the light frames have mounting SLOTS there and not mounting HOLED. This makes it so they can be slid over the loosened screws that are protruding out of the sides of the screen. This can make it easier to get the holes and slots lined up (especially on the hole that also has the ground strap going through it). It's also much easier to make sure you have the screw threaded into the holes straight if you aren't having to deal with getting so many things lined up together. Then tighten the light frames and side screws down as you normally would.

Doug (SpeakerLightKits.com)

I don't know what type of speaker lights you were using, but all of the light kits I sell have adjustable brightness.

Doug (SpeakerLightKits.com)

In that case you would want to choose "I have Speaker Lights" when buying those speakers from Flipper Fidelity.

This choice was originally added to let them know if you wanted the speakers to have spacer rings attached to the front of the speakers or not. Spacers ARE needed for those speakers, but if you are using one of my Speaker Light Kits....the light frames work as the needed spacers. Keep in mind, the attached spacers CAN be used along with the speaker lights EXCEPT for SPIKE 1 and SPIKE 2 games, where space is tight behind the right speaker. That is why, I believe, he only has that choice for his SPIKE 1 and SPIKE 2 speakers.

Recently, I have heard reports that FF had started using removable spacers again. In my opinion, that is the way it should be. Then a user has the spacer for the speaker if they need it (now or later), but it can be easily removed and not used if they have speaker lights and don't need it.

You will also want to look here and see some other info about installing some aftermarket speakers with my light kits. It describes that you will also need to remove the bars that cover the speaker holes on the factory speaker plates or buy a pair of my replacement 4" speaker plates that already have the bars removed.

http://www.speakerlightkits.com/Upgraded-Speakers-Type-11.html

Doug (SpeakerLightKits.com)

Anyone know the screw size for the cat....things? I have a bunch of gold screws that would probably make people's games look much better in that area if they fit. I'm not to sure how well the gold color would match though.

I have actually seen people sweating putting double sided tape or velcro on the BACK of a speaker panel. I mean it's not like you can't just peel it off and remove any signs of it ever being there with a spritz of orangy good smelling goo gone.