I got my CFTBL speaker panel LED mod yesterday and installed it today. It was easy to install and it works great. This is definitely one of the better pinball mods I have seen.

Gord

Hi dmacy,

I have serial # 2005. Yes, the speaker panel has a small metal tag on the inside of the speaker panel etched with your serial number. It is that kind of attention to detail that makes this such a great mod.

I sent Jeff an email on Nov. 14, 2012, asking to reserve a spot and on Nov. 15, 2012, Jeff responded that I had a spot reserved with serial # 2005. I don't know if this is considered early or not.

On Monday, April 15, Jeff sent an email stating that the mods were complete and that payment was due so I sent him funding via PayPal early on Tuesday, April 16, and I received the speaker panel LED mod kit on Friday, April 19.

I have Pinball Pro speakers in the backbox and the right side speaker is larger than the small factory tweeter so I used a small coping saw to notch the plastic Pinball Pro speaker mount to accommodate the small molex interconnectors on the right side of the speaker panel.

If I would have had the regular factory speaker on the right side the installation would have been even easier. Even with the slight modification that I had to perform on the plastic Pinball Pro speaker mount it was still a very simple installation.

I purchased the CPR deluxe mirrored speaker panel well over a year ago and it looks great with this mod as the LED's line up absolutely perfectly with the tail lights on the cars. Also the blue LED's in the Starlight Drive-In sign cycle and it is really a very nice effect. The tail lights on the cars randomly turn on/off and occasionally a car will pump its brake lights. The UFO lights up nicely and also blinks at times and the moon is nice and brightly lit behind the clouds.

Gord

Hi Ken,

Yes, the tail lights go off and on at various times. This is completely normal.

I asked Jeff Thompson about this via email and here is what he said.

'On the previous revision the tail lights were on all the time. I added the dynamic effects due to popular demand.'

I also agree with you regarding the overall design of this mod. It is extremely professional in both looks and performance.

Gord

I bought the deluxe speaker panel with chrome bumpers new from CPR around 2.5 years ago for $89 + shipping from Canada. Total cost was $104 if my memory serves me correctly.

I know these speaker panels are not being made at the moment and are currently unavailable so a fair price might be a little more than I paid back then.

Gord

I like the more random effect of the tail lights occasionally turning off and then back on later. It is more like the actual Drive-In experience when the lights are somewhat random instead of always staying on.

Gord

Hi Tom,

Nope, that is the normal intended effect. There is a jumper that you can set on the panel that controls how the lights operate.

I have mine set so that the effect is the more realistic random pattern where the tail lights go off and on at various intervals and the brake lights also come off and on at various intervals. The other option is to set the jumper so that all the tail lights are on all the time which seems less realistic to me.

Gord

See photo below. I have circled the jumper in your photo. I don't know if removing this applies the dynamic effect or not, but you can always put the jumper back. Yes, it pulls straight up. Use a small pair of needle-nose pliers or a pair of tweezers to remove the jumper.

Gord

347915-i.jpg

I have a version 2 (# 2005) and I previously owned a version 3 (# 3036) of the LED speaker panel mod. I recently sold the version 3 to a fellow Pinsider which I believe was designed to have the proper clearance to work with a Color DMD. I have the version 2 installed on my CFTBL and do not have a Color DMD.

There have been 3 versions to date.

Version 1 - Tail lights always on (see post # 535 below for how to make this version Color DMD compatible).
Version 2 - Tail lights may be set to always on or randomly on (dynamic effect) via jumper (may not be Color DMD compatible unless the speaker panel is modified).
Version 3 - Basically the same as version 2 with the allowance of more clearance so that the panel is also compatible with a Color DMD without further modification.

If you go back 3-4 pages or so in this thread and read up you will notice that some folks are using the Color DMD with this speaker panel mod. I don't know if they are using it with version 2 and making a modification to the speaker panel to make it work or are using it with version 3 which should not require any additional modification to the speaker panel to function with the Color DMD.

I may be wrong, but that is my understanding of the different versions of the CFTBL LED speaker panel mod to date. If anyone else has any different experiences please correct me and I will update this post.

Gord

No worries. I purchased 2 different versions of the speaker panel mod and I am not 100 percent certain as to all the differences between the 3 different versions.

Gord