So it looks like I am getting a NIB Premium this Friday. I am overpaying big time but I am an instant gratification kind of guy and since there aren't any pre-owned available near me, I had to buy a NIB. I am about to head out to the powdercoater (I have spare sets of parts). The color I am going with is candy raspberry (furthest to the right in the pic). I know the color is a little out there, but what the heck, I like to be different.

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I was actually surprised by well it works with the game, it's very subtle, but rewarding. Personally I recommend it.

Interesting. I like subtle. My Mando shaker is too much for me. Might have to temporarily pull the one from Mando to try in LZ.

I have one on the way as well. Who did you buy yours from?

I did a cliffy search on this thread which returned a couple of hits about a cliffy shooting lane protector. Anyone use the cliffy protectors on the playfield? Are those recommended? This is my most played pin by far so am researching ways to preserve condition. Just learned what the cliffy protectors are and thinking maybe the left scoop may benefit from having it?

Bought my cliffys a while back so he didn't have the scoop protectors then dunno if he updated that. I have the inlane, out hole and shooter protectors. Outside shooter protector needs a tweak as top part is not anchored. Maybe he fixed that by now. But in general I really like them, have them on all my games.

I put Cliffy’s in all my pins, especially scoops. Even Stern is putting some cliffy type protectors in some of the newer games, but they are not nearly as good as Cliffy’s from what I have been seeing.

I’ve had issues with balls hanging on the switch protectors. For switches, I prefer using mylar, trimmed to fit with an Exacto knife. Actuually I haven’t found a situation where mylar didn’t work just as well as a Cliffy.

When EM multiball is over (drain to one ball) is the EM supposed to drop? Mine stays up until I hit a main shot(ramp,orbit, eject).

It stays up until you hit a shot so It travels down when ball is away from it to avoid issues.

Thanks. Is there any benefit to keep ripping the spinner while it remains up?

nothing worth while (may a few thousand points per spin or something), but thats the signal its time to hit any shot and move on...

After a long wait (nearly 11 months), I finally received my Topper today. Installation went well (albeit with incomplete instructions --- one of the connection points was missing). The Topper lights up as expected and both spotlights move in unison. However, it seems like I have 2 left-side spots vs. 1 left and 1 right (refer to image). I am thinking I need to dismount the right spot and rotate it 180 degrees.... Thoughts?

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Nice! I hope this means mine is coming soon. I ordered it in late July or early August.

Same here!

I dig the speaker panel where did you get that if I may ask ??

UPDATE --- I think I stand corrected; when I first started playing a game with the Topper installed it seemed that the spotlights were either aimed straight at the player, or both pointed to the right. This prompted me to submit the post. However, after playing a few more games I can see that the spotlights can and do move in opposite directions at times (ie. one aims right, the other aims left). I'm sure there is some logic behind the spotlight movement patterns, but I can't figure it out...

Yes, nice speaker panel! Id like to know if it is available as well.

Found it !!! WizardMods !!!!!

they will both point same direction at times . after you light any symbol they will move and during multiball it goes crazy!

Does anyone know if stern is going to make more toppers?

When did you order the topper? Thanks.

Hi Folks,

Excited to be on this forum and getting into the world of pinball. I was born in the 70s but had older brothers who let me tag along with them to the arcades of the 80s. Mostly down in Salisbury beach at Joe's Playland in Massachusetts.

I have the Pro which has been pretty good, I play it a lot. I was hoping to get some help on diagnosing issues. One thing that has happened is the the top right flipper gets "stuck" in the flipped position. It will go down on its own or system restart. Is this likely a mechanical or electrical failure or could be both. I am going to crack open the owners manual tonight but it would be good to know if any of y'all have a good systematic diagnosis process I could leverage to rule out the "easy" stuff before I call in a pro?

Thanks,
Brendan

Probably just a coil stop. Very easy to replace, just two hex key bolts.
https://www.pinballlife.com/flipper-coil-stop-for-sternsega.html

Easiest way to troubleshoot this: When it sticks, take the glass off and push down on the stuck flipper. If it easily falls back down the problem is mechanical. If it gives resistance and feels like it is energized then it's electrical. Not very likely at all that your problem is electrical. The only electrical issues would be a problem with the flipper button switch or a shorted transistor. But if it was a shorted transistor the flipper would go up as soon as you powered on the game and then a fuse would blow.

If it's mechanical probably just a coil stop. Super common. Other thing could be that there is not enough play between the underside of the flipper bat and the bushing.

Hi, I got it from my local Stern dealer in Maryland. Arcade Game Sales.

Joined the club this weekend with an LZ Premium. I have my spare set of hardware at the powdercoater (Candy Raspberry) and I hope that I get it back this upcoming week.

I immediately did what I do on all of my spike pins. I completely "overhauled" the sound system.

In a nutshell. I use the pinsound adapter which gives a low-level out from stock amp.
- I unplug the speakers from the stock amp
- I buy a compact class D 2x300W amp and run the low-level backbox speaker out to this amp
- I use the speakerlights combo kit (upgrades to 5-1/4" speakers)
- Install coaxial speakers. In this case I used JL Audio C2-525x (went a little higher end for LZ Prem as these are ~$300 speakers)
- Run the sub low level out to an external powered sub

A/V is my other hobby and I like clean sound. Grabbing and amplifying the sound before it hits the Stern amp is the right way to go for this. I am not knocking the methods others use but for me, (key point is "for me") all of the other sound upgrades are not worth it because you are still using the stock Stern amp, which is really not good.

After the upgrade, the game sounds fantastic. I had a local collector over (person who bought my JP Pro to make room for LZ Prem) and he spoke highly of the sound and has embarked to do the same on his pins.

I will probably put together a write-up on how to do this. There really is no comparison before and after the upgrade. Truly a day/night difference.

Would you mind sharing a link? Thanks.

EDIT: I’m guessing this one?:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08CJZGT6H

Yes, that is a great deal as it uses the TI TPA3255 chip.

Has anyone experienced weakening flippers? I played 2-3 games in a row a little while ago and on the 3rd game, I noticed that I could not backhand the right ramp. (typically, if I hit it perfectly, it barely gets up) Then after I gave up on that shot I noticed that I couldn't get up the ramp from the left flipper either.

I thought...ok, the coils are overheating, time to order the Pinmonk coil cooling kit (Tibetan breeze). But on the sheet for that kit, Led Zeppelin is only in the mild range.

Just curious what others have experienced.

Thanks,

ordered mine 11 months ago

Hope mine is coming soon

Get my zep premium this Friday. Can’t wait!! What settings are best?

It's nowhere near as bad as GnR but I had the same thought and experience.

I stumbled across some earlier posts regarding flipper fade, so it isn't uncommon. I'll just order the pinmonk kit.

Thanks,

I have one more question....

I replaced most of the rubber with super-bands.

Are the drop targets really prone to bricks or is the super-band potentially causing this issue? (If it is stiffer than rubber) I seem to get a ton of hits to the drop targets that don't drop them. Of my other 2 machines with drops (Star Wars, Stranger Things) LZ seems far more prone to this issue. Star Wars never has the issue (probably because shots aren't direct). Stranger Things will get bricks once in a while (often leading to a SDTM) but not like I am getting on LZ.

Hmm…I wonder if I can attribute my lack of ability to backhand the right ramp from the right flipper to the coils as well. However, I feel I’m at this point where I’ve played this game enough to consistently make that shot but never really proactively tried. I previously read on this thread that people recommend changing the flipper angle but mine is still at factory default. Last night I actually did the backhand and the ball barely made it through.

Is this a somewhat easy shot for everyone else? If so is that because you changed the flipper? Meaning how many times do people normally backhand the right ramp per game? I probably haven’t done it more than once in a game, which bites me when I need to get 4x right ramps or similar to advance in the tours by relying on my left flipper.

move the flipper slightly like in posts theres a photo too

There is a cool thread going about DIY audio upgrades. Might be a good place to share some of your work.
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/improving-sound-quality-the-diy-route/

Wanted to ask your advise on using the Pinsound Spike 2 connector. This is a photo of my sub woofer. Currently I am running a couple alligator clips to the internal sub. What is the best option for using the Pinsound connector with this sub? Can I connect two separate pins to this sub? Thanks for the help!

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I'll start off by saying that if you are only connecting a sub using this adapter that I don't know what your results will sound like. You'd run the sub at the low-level out but still driving the speakers from the Stern amp. I don't know what Stern does to that signal post amp processing. Meaning, I've suspected that they push mid-end frequencies to that cabinet woofer. (These are frequencies not typically sent to subs)

To hook up with the pinsound adapter you would connect it to your board. Then you would need a 3.5mm to Rca cable. Something like this:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071R4R5B8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00

You'd connect the 3.5mm end to the pinsound adapter connector labelled subwoofer. Leave that middle knob on your sub like it is in the pic. All the way to the right. Your sub might override this setting since you are using your low-level sub but just in case turn it right.

At this point, I am a little blind as your sub has 1 low-level input. I don't know how Stern outputs that signal. If it is stereo or mono. So start by connecting the white RCA to your sub and then the Red. You may have to buy a RCA 1 male to 2 female Y splitter cable

Something like this:
https://www.amazon.com/Speaker-Splitter-Conductor-Shielding-Flexible/dp/B0916WWN9Z/ref=sr_1_1_sspa

Lastly, you want to disconnect the cabinet subwoofer. Not near my pins at the moment, but if I remember it is the connector at the lower right on the CPU board. You don't want both your external sub and the cabinet sub working at the same time.

After changing the flipper angle on mine, I can make a backhand to the right ramp from a cradle about 3/4 of the time. I was so pleased with this, I changed the angle of my right flipper on GOTLE and AS, with the same result.

2567 ish

this

#2569 I think but theres a photo nearby too.

Both of the spotlights on my topper no longer light. They still move around normally though. Any ideas on whT to check?

Check the wiring on the spotlight, probably a disconnected (broken) cable.
I had to extend one of the cables, right side spotlight.

More info: Post #6300
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/led-zeppelin-le-thread/page/126#post-6528789

Thanks for the help with this. So the current set up with the alligator clips, is it ok to keep the pin internal speaker connected when running a sub the way I am currently doing it? It seems to sound pretty good with the alligator clips. Do you think with this sub I could connect two separate pins? It seems to have two separate L/R slots on the back.

If you like it, then that is all that matters . Enjoy it as it is.

I'd not mess with it if you are happy with it. It is fine to run like that. I am just a wee bit of an A/V fanatic so I like to go all out.