Quoted from Mr_Tantrum:This speaker cover talk got me thinking that I've wanted to light might for awhile, but wanted a more inexpensive solution than what's out there. Given that the grills have a design on them and are recessed, I thought lighting them from the front with a strip that blends well (i.e. black, narrow, etc.) would be a good idea instead of backlighting them. While I think white LEDs would be ideal, I had a leftover red strip just big enough to do the two speakers (the red does coordinate well with the backglass coloring). So, using the strip, some Comet matrix cabling, and a little soldering here is what I came up with. The strips have to be cut every 3 LEDs, so I probably could have used one more length if my strips had been long enough.
I was hoping to offer instructions to others or even sell it as a kit to those who are adverse to soldering and such, but I can't seem to find the same/similar LED strips. These are only 3mm wide with about 3 LEDs per inch and have a black instead of white backing. I did have to cut off the plastic tubing that made them water proof and apply my own adhesive backing, but that wasn't a big deal. Also, these are 12V strips, but I didn't want them to be overly bright. When tapping into the 6V backbox LED circuit, the intensity of the light is nicely dimmed so as not to be blinding/distracting.
I'll keep looking for a good replacement (the strips I have were bought over 3 years ago, and no longer available), and if I find something I'll see if anyone else is interested in a ready-to-install kit.
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You are right about lighting the painted grills from the front. When you put lights behind a painted grill you are going to really wash out the designs they have on them. That is why I recommend users of my Speaker Light Kit to mount any painted grills behind the light frames if possible. That is easy to do with Jurassic Park or any of the Data East games that have the painted grills. The exception would be Guns n' Roses, where the painted grills are stapled between the back of the plastic cover and the front of the actual speaker panel. On that one it is a bigger pain to get the grills removed to put behind the lights.
My light kits are RGB and also have adjustable brightness so they can be as bright or dim as a person would want them. It's just a touch of a button to adjust the brightness or to change the color of the lights. The lights are attached to a frame so they are not in direct view around the speaker hole.
Sorry the $45 price is off-putting.
Doug (SpeakerLightKits.com)
Jurassic Park 2 (resized).jpg
Los Angeles, CA
London, ON
