While this is nice, What we use the most is the main game volume kill switch that Pinnovators has.
This will be a hassle if I have to open the coin door every time to turn down the exterior game volume every time and then back up again.
I sure hope Pinnovators is still allowed to make their own version like they did for SAM games.

Edit.... I sent Pinnovators an email asking if they were still going to be able to make their own? We shall see.

Sld be included from factory imo....

Will this mute the main audio, when plugged in?

Where does this mount?

I'm assuming in the rectangular plate on the bottom left of the coin door (same area I put a batman and robin magnet in pic below). I think that's also the spot you would put a dollar bill mechanism.

rps20170815_230505 (resized).jpg

Thanks. Makes sense. Completely forgot about the DBV plate.

Well, in fact I thought someone had posted that the other Stern speaker kits did not mute the general sound. In that context it would make sense that the headphone accessories by pinnovators do have a separate mute button.

Use cases for letting the main audio run in parallel are:
- Headphone use at an arcade, where you cannot distinguish the machine you are playing from the ambiance noise, but need the machines to all play sound externally to maintain the atmosphere.
- My special use case of course. a Line-out continuously plugged in, in order to send the machine sound to my Philips HUE lighting for translation into Star Wars themed dynamic lighting effects in the entire room... :b

100 bucks for what is a headphone jack extension cable and a 2 dollar plate? Seriously?

This took No thought or engineering. It’s purely a money grab. They didn’t even bother to take the 3.5 m/m out of the cables to go bag before photographing it. Save yourself 94 bucks and get the 6 dollar one from amazon.

This is the same thing:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00L4102I4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_8qX9zb4YZEVCK

Hell you could even get a 3.5mm to Bluetooth adapter for < 20 bucks and not have anything showing and get game volume control since most Bluetooth headsets can modulate their own volume.

I think the photo is generic and not complete. Mainly because there is NO jack whatsoever on the node board itself (definitiely not on SW LE). I think you forgot to look into your machine before posting...

I’m pretty sure that the jack is in the backbox on the main board. Not on the cabinet node board.

A49C0942-0C6B-4C4A-82BA-56637542B0E1 (resized).jpeg

That’s game of thrones. (Spike) I wonder what the other differences betweeen spike and spike 2 are?

This is bullshit. Looking at the manual for Batman LE (spike 2) it clearly shows CN18 is the headphone jack, but I don’t see CN18 on the picture of the board on the right.
5B09D499-A029-491C-B443-C13F938627B0 (resized).png

Come on Stern. Get your act together. It’s time to step up your game.

I just checked. On SW there's absolutely nothing in that location. Couldn't find CN 18 anywhere. Not even as pin-headers. Possibly it was re-routed to the USB or some other pins headers.

--> Has anybody ordered this headphone jack set yet? Where does it connect?

I've had Pinnovators headphone Mod on my B66Le since day one! Don't pass on this one,get the original!!

I cant say enough nice things about Pinnovators products and the customer service, I've always been very satisfied. Skip this and go with them

I've talked to them. They do not have a headphone kit for spike 2.

What they have is a subwoofer kit. To my understanding that lacks the volume control and also the option to mute the machine. For sure it is an option for me, bit I will wait until I

A. Know for sure that they will not be doing a full featured headphone kit and

B. Understand how exactly the stern kit works, a.k.a. where it connects and if it can be muted.

This patience is necessary due to an additional problem we have with the European version of the pinball machine: the coin door lacks the cut-out, which is used for the dollar bill slot in the US.
This means I anyhow have to modify any kit to fit into the hole for the tournament button.

So, in case more technical info pops up on how exactly these two kits work, please do post it

Thanks. I did not get any response from my email to them.
I have talked with them in the past and got two different stories.
1. We can't do Spike 2 at this time.
2. We are actively working on it.

As all my games have Pinnovators headphone jacks with Subwoofer output as well, I really miss not having it on my Aerosmith.

These don't sound like different stories.

I assume it’s like Batman 66 super Le .. has a special connector on the board ... you can chose to control
External volume from the knob or only headphone could ... you can also chose to mute or not mute when you plug
In the headphones .

I purchased the Spike 2 headphone kit for my Stern Star Wars Premium. In the picture on the Stern webpage it shows the dollar bill validator plate headphone kit and a clear bag with a stereo jack headphone cable. Before I placed the order online with Stern I called them and spoke to a lady that said this WILL work. I placed my order on line. It took 7 days to receive it in the mail. When I went to install the Spike 2 headphone kit.... the stereo cable that arrived was not the correct cable. Its the same one on the Stern webpage. SO in short that cable is for a SPIKE 1 pin per Stern tech support.

They told me they would ship the correct cable that works with a Batman 66 and the new Star Wars. The correct cable that should have shipped is really on back order. No ETA. THe real cable that is supposed to work and was not shipped is a 5 pin connector on both ends. No place to plug the stereo cable on both ends.

The backbox node board says its onCN16 or 19th in the SPIKE 2 instructions.

As of today.... Still on back order and I'm just wating for the email to tell me its shipped. I ordered it on October 16th... Today is Nov 1st.

Just bought a Jersey Jack Headphone adapter for my Dialed in Standard Edition. $30.00.

Stern asking for $100.00 for the same thing is a bit extreme. Such markup!

I was hoping for a Pinnovators headphone kit (ive purchased before on other Stern titles) but was told by Pinnovators there was no Pinnovators headphone kit available for Stern Star Wars yet. So, I went to Stern and purchased. I'm sure someone on pinside might be tinkering with wireless headphone adaption to a Stern or Williams/Bally pin. Thoughts on this??

on a side note:
I'm building my own virtual pin and will be installing a wireless headphone setup. Since this is pc based its easier to install and get working.

Actually this is what I have been discussing with Pinnovators as well. We shared Ideas on how to implement a headphone jack that would have muting options and volume regulation, so a wireless BT transmitter can be hooked up to stream the pinball machines sound either in stead of or in parallel to the cabinet speakers.

For this reason: When you receive your correct set, please photograph the hell out of it and post all information pertaining to the pin headers and all that so Pinnovators can figure out how to do the magic.

Wow I will be ticked if mine come like that ... wish pinnovators had one.

We've already designed a kit for spike 2, mark just refuses to let me make it. Instead of a 3.5mm off the spike 2 board it's a five prong wire plug in.(I laughed when I saw their file photo of 3.5mm on both ends). They took all the tech and coded it into the spike 2 board, the minute u plug the wire into the spike board the headphone kit options appear in the menu scroll.

I'm really confused here!!! I've had my SPIKE 2 Pinnovators headphone mod on my B66LE since day one!!It has everything you want in controlling speaker volume from the coin door!Also has a woofer connect if you want that much bass,but its really not necessary with this title!!

This is the kind of thing that I just don't understand,bluetooth should be standard on all pins. What's the cost of a bluetooth chip these days? I'm sure its cheaper than a headphone jack.

Who is Mark and why does he not want my Aerosmith to have your great products?

Funny. Mark was the guy I talked to. To me it seems like Pinnovator's is having internal issues that need to be resolved before we take this discussion any further. :b

I don't think cost is the issue. You have to use a driver. And that driver won't work with everything. And you're going to get support calls that X headset doesn't work, etc. Copper connections always work...

Here I thought it was 2017 and pretty much everyone has a bluetooth enabled device. Its pathetic to consider they can't handle bluetooth, if that's the truth fine provide a headphone jack. I know pinball has crazy consumers but the idea that any consumer would happily pay $100 for a headphone jack is baffling to me. It's blatant rip off and just shows Stern is still a good 20 years behind reality.

Not everyone has BT yet—look at the insane reaction Apple got when it removed the headphone jack last year...

I'm curious if anyone can post if they have had any success with any of these strategies yet for Spike 2.

Insane reaction and just crushed the earnings report. I wonder which is the better measuring stick. My point was that almost everyone has bluetooth enabled device, it's dead easy to use. Drivers are not an issue. I have a junk drawer full of those bluetooth speakers because they are so cheap they give them away for free. Yet Stern can't manage to support it in 7K pin.

Ok got mine today with the correct cable .

Works good you can control volume of game and headphones or just headphones with dial ... menu option . Also it can mute when you plug in or not also option.

Sound is good but I find bass on pinnovators better.

Nice for USA buyers but export coin doors don't have that removable plate - so I guess we are shit out of luck?

STERN removed the headphone jack on the SPIKE board so you have to buy this accessory...and we cant use it!

Back to speaker wires from the cabinet sub it seems

If you think BT drivers are not an issue than you must not have worked on BT drivers... because they’re really hard.

Marc

So BT is in basically any device, the chipset cost less than a cup of coffee. There a countless open source stacks available but it's hard. That's the excuse we're giving Stern. No I have not personally written a Bluetooth driver but would have no issue doing so.

I don't want to futz around with pairing or any of that crap. Wired connections are better. They're more reliable, they're more common, you won't have interference issues, and you can easily move between machines. Bluetooth would complicate things so much.

BT isn't really practical for pinball machines. How do you quickly change pairing from one game to another and swap pairings with the other players. If you are playing a 4 player game, how do you switch pairing between players or do you have a chipset that allows many people to pair with the machine. If you have 20 BT enabled games in a room, BT will not work for anyone due to interference.

Wired is the way to go and the $5 worth of parts should be included on each and every Stern from the factory.

What a joke that this thing is $99. At this price, I expect they will sell very few. There is no way I would pay that rip off amount for <$10 of BOM but I'm sure there are some folks with more money than they know what to do with that will bend over happily.

I just wanted to add this tidbit about volume control on outside of cabinets:

At a public location you will blow speakers and raise volume to an annoying level. It causes issues. I have seen it at other places.

I am not sure people see the timing of this Spike 2 headphone thing as coincidence but with Guardians of the Galaxy coming out I just assumed it is aperfect accessory for that based on Starlord using a wired headset. Just my opinion but that is why I am getting one for location.

Would someone be able to take a few photos of the actual kit and its parts - possibly with a size reference? I am especially interested in the size of the parts located on the reverse side of that coin-door plate...