ColorDMD easy; best mod ever.

Better sound is OK, but half the people will just say the OG files aren't great quality anyway

Definitely agree with TheLaw - colordmd is a great upgrade and brings new life into dmd pins

LCD set on small dots.

Both....the stock sound package on TZ sucks, and pin sound board (and speakers) helps bring it to life....if I had to prioritize it would color dmd, and then pin sound board

Sparkles is a good word for it. Its bright as shit, but you can turn it down.
The lcd is a little more and has more options of looks. Just watch a Video or 2 and decide, it's pointless to ask, it'll always be a 50/50 vote.

Have both. Would go with Color DMD LCD. After that I’d get PinWoofer speakers & amps, then Pinsound if it’s a keeper and you want to go all out.

I don't have one, but I thought that is the whole point of Pinsound. Doesn't it replace the lower quality original source material with different new higher quality source material?

Or are you confusing Pinsound with other products that just replace the speakers or amplify the original signal?

Ah yes sir you are correct, my fault!

To the original question I'm on the other half that isnt bothered by OG audio; sounds fine to me. I have an upgraded speaker system and I neve even then them up loud anymore anyway. colordmd would always be my choice.

I’ve never heard of this Pinsound? New voice actors and everything?

Surprised you haven't heard of it, there's threads here going into great detail about it. But I have no personal experience with it, just reading those threads and taking a listen on youtube. I'm also generally satisfied with the original sound on machines, but I'd like to try a machine with Pinsound sometime: maybe I'd feel differently after that. I have done some speaker upgrades though: I find even with the limited quality the highs and lows are still brought out better on some machines.

I do have several color DMDs on my machines, really enjoy it on some games.

Literally just ordered my first Pinsound board..
Had heard of it, but thought it involved more than it does to install it.

So on lockdown decided to order a kit yesterday. Pinsound board, speakers & shaker Motor

The new shaker motor sounds Awsome.. you can add it to sounds..!
Imagine CFTBL with a rumble as Move your Car weapons used, blowing up the snack bar, guy banging on the trunk, punching the guy in video mode...

Options are pretty much endless.. expensive, but very cool way to spend $600!

Pinsound is amazing on this, big improvement. Some good mixes with great sound quality. Be interesting to see how the clock copes with a shaker motor.
Colordmd lcd is worth having too, I change between dotsxl and hires every so often.

I did the exact same thing for my IJ....installing a new pin sound board, new speakers, and uploading their revised mix was a game changer. I haven't purchased the shaker yet, but its on my list

Color DMD easily. Twilight Zone already has one of the best sound packages in pinball. Pinsound can improve the mix a bit, but no alternative sound package I've heard comes even close to sounding as good as the original.

I'd go with the LCD simply because you can customize it a lot more and it's high-res enough that you don't really see the pixels unless you get up close, so it looks pretty much the same as a standard DMD (But in color of course!).

I have both on my TZ.

First, on color DMD, both LED and the LCD are a great improvement. I go LED on my B/W's mostly ,but, plenty of people favor only LCD's. Can not go wrong either way. For me the LED seems more appropriate with the older B/W games (Stern games I am a big LCD fan). I have LED on my TZ and I am very satisfied.. I do have LCD on TS and WW and like them also. Installation is very easy.

On Pinsound, I am finding it really depends on the quality of the down loads available for a particular title. TZ has two really hi quality down loads that significantly improve the game experience. Other games I have found to have hi quality down loads are IJ, BSD and STTNG. I am working with LOTR now to see if I can find one I like. Installing the boards are pretty straight forward

On TZ, I would go first with sound then DMD, but that is me. I am finding I am enjoying my older B/W games with both upgrades tho.

Not sure what you've heard or not heard, but the sound quality of the pinsound mixes far exceeds the original

Well I made a thread about this a while back but higher sound quality doesn't necessarily equal better sound design. Twilight Zone's FM synth music and sounds are incredible even if it's not realistic sounding (Heck, I have some of the game's soundtrack in my music library!), and while the sample quality stinks, that doesn't change the fact that the callouts are still great. I've heard Chris Granner's DCS mix before and while good, I don't enjoy it as much as the original. Obviously that's just my opinion though, so op should definitely give the different Pinsound mixes available a listen before making their decision. If you ask me though, I'd efinitely go Color DMD first, then speaker upgrades, and then Pinsound if still not satisfied.

My LOTR had color DMD when I bought it, and I added Pinsound. I'd recommend going the same route in upgrading a game, especially if it's likely a keeper.

Color DMD is fun, especially when modes start on LOTR, and because it was implemented well, looks very good. More importantly, it does help somewhat during gameplay - the color differentiation seems to help one get information quicker when glancing up to see status.

My LOTR sound board died last year, and after some research I decided to spend money on Pinsound + Headphone Station rather than board repair. LOTR is my wife's favorite game & likely staying in our house for a long time.

We have all 4 mixes (including original) on the card and (with Headphone Station) can switch between them on the fly. My wife said the Wool & Hawknole mixes made it seem like playing a new game. There are a few choices they made that I don't agree with, and a few challenges with levels, but mostly I'm very impressed with the alternate mixes & play with one of them loaded.

I also agree ColorDMD first (I really like the LED version in TZ). Speakers second - Can even be pretty cheap Pyle or other brands, but they make a big difference. (You can also do the dual 5 1/4" backbox speaker upgrade.) Pinsound last. The Pinsound with 8" Pyle cabinet sub hits as hard as external 8" powered sub I have on other pins.

Another cool thing about pinsound besides the equalizer and true 2.1 stereo (rewire the speakers in TZ to allow this) is that you can customize all of the sounds, voices, music etc... if you want. Don't like the "Jackpot" callout? You can tweak the original sound file or replace it.