I have a half dozen of these, you can easily move one from game to game or hook up multiple games. They go on sale often and similar brands are available for half the price.

https://www.amazon.com/Polk-Audio-PSW10-Powered-Subwoofer/dp/B0002KVQBA

One is an upgraded bass speaker, the other is a powered subwoofer; apples & oranges.

Well it looks like the swap out wouldn't take more than 10 minutes and a screw driver since the connector is already there.
You will only get so much out of a bass speaker upgrade since you are not adding any external power, but I'm sure there will be some improvement since the Stern bass speaker is about as low quality as you will find. Looks like the upgraded bass speaker is 4 ohm (which should be a good thing), compared to the factory 8 ohm speaker. I believe there is a way to change that setting in the Stern service menu to accommodate this change since Stern occasionally uses a 4 ohm bass speaker (AC/DC and maybe a couple others?).

Curious on results...following.

Suggested Settings:
Enter the service menu through the coin door buttons. Go to Utilities->VOL
Adjust the settings to these values. This is a starting point and you may wish to adjust to your taste or game’s music style.
Cabinet Speaker = 4 Ohm
Cabinet Bass Frequency = 125 Hz
Cabinet Bass Gain = +7.875
Cabinet Treble Frequency = Disabled
Cabinet Treble Gain = -12 db
Fade = -6

You know who works at Pinball Life? Scott Danesi
You know who likes thumping Bass (and Drum)? Scott Danesi
If I had to guess who those suggested settings come from? Scott Danesi
Who is an all around great guy as well? Scott Danesi

It might be a great sub, but the Spike amp is pretty weak and will distort when you crank the bass.

Those have not gone on sale all year by the way, the last sale was $129 last year. The era of those being available for $79 periodically seem to be behind us.

Since there is only so much you are ever going to get out of the Stern Amp, I assume this Boom Boom bass speaker is not overkill, since that would cost $$$ and the results wouldn't end up being much better than this $45 speaker.

Then your just sacrificing performance for having it look clean. Adding an external sub is one of the best mods you can do, night and day difference from any speaker kit that will end up be more expensive for less sound improvement.

not enough wattage thru the pin to get a good thump imho. I use the external powered subs and couldnt be happier. clean, reversable, easy, inexpensive.

Hello Jeremy, I sent you a PM.

Buy on Craigslist for 50 to 60 bucks
Pop up Pretty regularly.

I put these in my Stern machines. They sound great. You may need some tape to keep the glass from rattling

Pyle Car Subwoofer Audio Speaker - 8in Non-Pressed Paper Cone, Black Plastic Basket, Dual Voice Coil 4 Ohm Impedance, 800 Watt Power and Foam Surround for Vehicle Stereo Sound System - PLPW8D https://a.co/d/2d2Qmpu

OK OK
Here are some facts about the Boom Boom 3000 subwoofer that is on our site.

- Is it a super expensive high end speaker? Nope!
- Is it better and sound better than the stock speaker? Totally!
- Did we put some thought into the speaker? 100%, it even comes with a custom spacer since it is an interference style subwoofer.
- Why is it called the Boom Boom 3000? Because we were having a good time at work.
- Should you update the software settings we recommended? YES!
- Is this subwoofer going to change your life? Absolutely not, but your game will sound a bit better than stock without the use of an external sub.

This subwoofer was designed to be paired with the Kenwood backbox speaker kit that we recently started selling or the stock Kenwood backbox speakers that come installed in most of the LE machines.

I would not recommend slapping in an aftermarket sub with a very large advertised wattage as the stock amp in the SPIKE system is not very powerful and will have a tough time driving it. I am unsure what the actual RMS output of the sub channel is, but it is probably somewhere around 50 watts RMS for the subwoofer channel. Whenever I build a system I always try to match the RMS input of the speakers as close as I can to the RMS output of the amp with a little headroom on the speaker side.

We are well aware that this is not a super high end upgrade for the machine, but this subwoofer is a really good match for the amp when we went though our testing and R&D. Hope you guys enjoy it!

--Scott

I would want to know a little more in the way of specs before buying this, eg sensitivity (to help establish if it will be fine on the integrated amp, or whether a higher powered external one would be preferable) and QTS figures (important to know as you're basically running it as an open baffle-type enclosure and so you need to know the suspension system is lower compliance to cope in this environment). Having said that, it's fairly inexpensive so could be worth a try for sure.

From your questions, it sounds like you want an external sub, so go with that.
--Scott

I’ve done that, but for an integrated solution I went with a RF P3SD2-8 with a high QTS of 0.72, and using an external Dayton amp giving it 100w. It’s magical, albeit at many times the price of your sub.

Yeah, this is definitely an inexpensive sub upgrade compared to what you did. This sub just pairs nicely with the amp on the SPIKE CPU. If people are wanting to put in additional amplifiers, I do not recommend using this subwoofer. If people want a nice simple upgrade, this is the way to go. The audio settings posted in the installation instructions really make the game sound nice. Again, this will not blow your socks off like @bangerjay's infamous Slayer pinball machine.
--Scott

Jeremyczu Any updates as to what you think of the speaker?

As there are some settings recommendations for the Boom-Boom 3000 I wanted to know, if there are any recommendations for the Kenwood Speaker Upgrade (Pinball Life PBL-100-0155-00) as well?

There are no official settings recommendations at this time. Honestly, plug them in and leave every setting stock and it will sound good.
--Scott

Can you buy the recommended Kenwood speaker kit without the lighting kit? I was thinking of buying a myth pinball speaker light kit.

You cannot at this time, but I do know you can stack both of these kits together...
--Scott

So... stern upgraded the volume/sound menu and none of the settings on the pinballlife BoomBoom webpage or included instructions are actually there in the menu anymore.

I can switch the speaker to 8ohm and thats it.

Stern Rush Pro with the stanard backbox speakers and the boomboom installed... the boom boom gets no power with the new menu options

I found all of the boom boom recommended settings on my GZ 1.04 code. Found them under VOL setting.

Now they’re sold out…good job thread

Just ordered one and will be doing a full review.

Just ordered one for my Guardians and will also report back, might be selling a bunch of Polk subs and pinnovater pinsub adaptors if decent.

Got the Boom Boom today and installed in Guardians. Definitely a lot more bass than stock.

Clean install and well worth the $44.

Can’t decide what sounds better 8ohm setting for cabinet or the recommended 4ohm.

Any thoughts on that?

Weirdly, I ended up with the same question in my head.... I end up setting the machine to 8-ohm because it sounded better to me. I don't really have any explanation for that, but it sounds better.

Yeah it’s weird, to my ears it’s not necessarily that it sounds better but if you go under the cab it seems there is just a bit more thump and volume on the 8ohm.

Either way though much more full sound for a self contained speaker at a very reasonable price.

Maybe one of the sound experts can chime in on the 8 vs 4 ohm sound difference.