I’ve experienced differences in chime boxes between gottlieb machines. Some seem louder than others. I’ve struggled to explain it. Could be the tightness of he cabinet itself, the material used to cushion the plungers, the looseness of the nuts on the chime bars?

There’s a big debate on the cushion material. Beerseal, thinner weatherstrip material, of the individual rubber drawer bumpers? Each one has a different bounce to it.

There is a huge difference between manufacturers. Gottliebs sound the most musical, followed by Bally. Williams is a poor 3rd, but folks have done mods to make them sound better.

I haven’t rebuilt the chimes on our buccaneer and they do sound a little muffled, but that machine came to us in such great condition that I haven’t had to do the whole works on it. At some point I’ll pull it apart. Who knows? It might sound exactly the same when I’m done.

Dave

... and the chime coils aren't DC on Cleo and JQ?