I think its the best in any version stern has done lol...

Merry Christmas!

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That's awesome, you West coasters are so lucky. This is the best our little town could muster. Still an awesome sculpture for no good reason. And the locals deck it out Seasonally.Merry Christmas!

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after my xmas haul, i finally needed to get GZ a dedicated display cabinet...he's almost got a room dedicated to himself now

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Great sculpture!

My pic I found online a while ago from a mall in Tokyo... wish we had something similar nearby!

Oh, that's cool, in fact so cool I just assumed it was a California thing. Here's one of our local guy during the worst of covid last year. I drive by him pretty regularly, I'll stop and take a picture of the plaque one of these days to give the artist the credit he's due.

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I slacked off on this thread a week or 2 after the games started shipping, when it went from a "wow, what a great game" thread to "how do I stop airballs from landing behind Mechagodzilla", simply because I won't be getting my Premium until March (hopefully) and want to discover it myself, good and bad. But I spent about 3 hours catching up on over 1000 posts this Christmas morning, and I have about $400 in mods ordered for this thing already. Can't wait to get my hands on my own game.

now that is some topper

next batch of premiums not due till August.

March is what I've been hearing... hopefully - since I'm waiting for mine as well!

With Stern who the heck knows.

The family is loving Godzilla. Bitter sweet Christmas, my mother passed away today

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Sorry for your loss. Can’t imagine what you’re going through.

Very sorry for your loss.

I'm still having the left ramp issue. I'll hit one dead center on the sweet spot and it only goes part way up and then comes back down. Seconds later I hit the exact same shot and it goes all the way around as intended. Is there a fix for this? Thanks.

Oops, one other question. I'm noticing that with the full skill shot plunge attempt, on my LE it only sporadically awards it and not all the time, even if lit. Wondering if anyone else is seeing this.

Nothing I can say can ease the pain you must be going though. You are in my thoughts and prayers.

Yes, because the switch assembly does not cover the entire area behind the flipper. Just makes it harder, and mad every time I make the shot and don't get the points

Hope things get better for you soon.

Sorry to hear about your loss, especially on Christmas which doesn't make it any easier. Best wishes for you and your family to get you through this difficult time.

Oh man. Condolences and good mojo sent to you and your family.

Thanks for the support and the order Captain Neo. I really appreciate it. Here is a little picture of today’s work.
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I put a spot light on the left side for Godzilla and ran the wires down through the split in the plastics there. Connected to a red gi build.
Also put an led strip across the back to get better illumination in that corner and the rest of the back panel

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Anybody have suggestions for 4" backbox speakers 4 ohms. Bolt in / solder swap for a speaker upgrade. Just pondering a consideration to try and improve the stock configuration with similar size and not go overboard. Actually I think the sound is ok. But I might be willing to try an upgrade.

Pingulp is about the only mod I install on my games. I pretty much like my games as they ship from the factory. Not a big mod guy, but thinking about trying a simple speaker swap and see if it makes a difference to my ears. I don't blast the volume on my games, but if some noticeable clarity can be had I may give a speaker swap a try.

You’re not going to notice a big difference. I suggest trying an external powered sub instead.

Don't want to mess around doing that. Just wondering if a simple speaker swap is worthwhile. Guess you are saying it's not.

I don’t think it will be. The sound quality will be improved, but I don’t think you’re going to be blown away or anything. It’s a cheap try though. A good set of new speakers would only be around $40.

I dont like external subwoofers under my pinball cabinets. I prefer a clean look. I am wondering why that seems to be the go to sound mod.

I will try an external powered amp for the internal subwoofer. I think it is very much underpowered by the spike board itself and i guess sound significally improves with a simple subwoofer amp in the 40$ range...

Because it’s awesome and easy to setup. If you want it all in the cabinet, then Pinwoofer is where it’s at.

If you’re adding an amp to the game, you’re gonna want to replace the speakers too. The stock ones are garbage.

I get these two things and it makes a huge difference plus a Pyle in the cabinet.

http://www.speakerlightkits.com/5.25-SPIKE-2-Speaker-Plates.html

Kenwood KFC-D131 5.25" 2-Way 320W Max Power Audio Speakers https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07NWWM6SB/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_fabc_BESQEPS75DZ8VMF677RE

The last time I got those speakers they were 50 bucks. Wow inflation is nuts.

I do the same expect I just get the backbox speakers that stern uses in their LEs, they sound great and are cheaper:

https://www.pinballlife.com/stern-le-speaker-set-5-14-4-ohm.html

Then I upgrade the cab speaker to this, I think it’s the same one as the LE cab speaker:

ebay.com link: Goldwood Sound GW 8024 Rubber Surround 8 Woofer 190 Watts 4ohm Speaker

The cab speaker used to be $20 wow…

You are right about the speakers. I have LE speakers, so i thought about improving only with addition of sub-amp

The potential of the internal sub is more than enough for most people. It is just not utilized by the spike 2 board output

Nice. I bought them as well for my pro. The LE speakers that is.

Something like that

Nobsound 100W Subwoofer Digital Power Amplifier Audio Mini Amp Audio Verstärker with Power Supply (Black) https://www.amazon.de/dp/B07C533R3P/ref=cm_sw_r_awdo_navT_g_9TP054NYG4R3NNSC50ZV

Because internal small open air subs don’t sound very good compared to a larger sealed sub. It also causes more vibration and glass rattle when playing.

I would recommend trying one of these:

https://www.svsound.com/products/3000-micro-subwoofer

It’s basically an 11” cube so it’s not a huge eyesore. Grab the pinnovator plug-and-play spike external sub adaptor and run the small cable out the topper hole to the pinnovator mixer. The mixer allows you to plug 4 pinballs into one sub and adjust output independently for each.

Thanks thats great!

You dont really need the pinnovator adapter because the spike 2 board provides a sub out at line level on CN5 or CN3

I can’t thank you guys enough for your kind words. I hope you all had a merry Christmas.

In the subject of subwoofers, I picked up one of these from Bestbuy for $115 and it was super easy to install.

Here is the writeup with photos.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/115-easy-sony-subwoofer-installation-on-2-pins-and-review#post-6667888

I have my GZ LE and Mando Pro both hooked up to a cheap powered Yamaha subwoofer old school style using alligator clips at the moment to the sub. Works just fine but I will probably build my own cable to tap off the CN5 connector line level output to clean up the sound a bit.

Lol. Me too.

I went psw10 since it's been on sale, and i adore it. if you're not adverse to a box under your machine, external is a whole other world of sound

How do you know that?

I've heard march and august for next potential runs. No one really knows until it happens and all just guesses at this point.

Agree on both counts. Huge difference.

My understanding is there are runs due in March and August. However, the ones due in March were sold months back and if you order one today you get it in August.

A few days after I put my deposit down I received a message that said, "your order has been accepted by Stern for a Marxh build." If that matters to anyone..

As with everything, I prepare for the worst and hope for the best. I'm not going to complain. I figure if I am in a position to purchase an entertainment device at this cost, I am already winning.

Getting node board 8 over charge error. Checked connectors and all are ok. Also trying to update the game with usb stick and doesn’t detect it when I start the game. Going to download the game code again or just create an image file and see if that works.

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No. I was lucky to get mine on a fair trade deal for my Elvira HOH. Both games have ovely escalated prices in my opinion. This is my 1st Stern le and it is cool and all but not 16k cool.

Here's some decent 4" speakers for $20 a pair. I have them in my TWD. The tweeters stick out a small amount, so you'll need to offset them with a nut or two.

https://www.parts-express.com/Pyle-PL42BL-Blue-Label-4-Coaxial-Speaker-Pair-267-078