So, just opened up my Mando pro and the speaker was blown immediately on factory settings. This is the third NIB stern I’ve had out of my last five NIB games that shipped to me with a blown speaker from the factory (the other two were Stranger Things and Black Knight). Stern using cheap speakers is nothing new…but they seem to be getting even worse the last couple of years.
Stern speakers are now basically the equivalent of the headphones airlines give you to listen to TV in flight.
Man I’ve never heard of blown ones out of the box like that. Sorry that sucks 
did you get them warrantied or just replace?
Quoted from northvibe:Man I’ve never heard of blown ones out of the box like that. Sorry th
Yea, I’m not worried about the warranty…too much of a headache to deal with. I’ll just replace the speaker with a flipper fidelity (I was actually planning to do that anyway).
Stern’s quality control keeps getting lower and lower. They are lucky they make such fun great playing games. Check out this decal tear right out of the box:
Quoted from drummermike:I put Flipper Fidelity speakers in most of my Stern pinballs. Soon to be 4 out of 5.
Yep, I will no longer buy a Stern without pricing in the flipper fidelity kit as a necessary added cost (kind of like a shaker).
One of the first things on my list is to always replace the 3 speakers. The ones they come with are a joke. Shameful really how cheap they are. Cant be a buck a piece to Stern.
I’d like to install a Flipper Fidelity kit from a WPC 95 into one of my sterns spike 2s . Does anyone know if this is possible or has anyone done this?
This happened to me with Godzilla. It hasn't really bothered me due to it being on location in a loud venue and the fact that it's not an expensive thing to replace. I have a bigger issue with just about every damn screw head on the flipper bases breaking off of new Sterns as that's more of a pain in the ass for me.
Quoted from tilt-master:I’d like to install a Flipper Fidelity kit from a WPC 95 into one of my sterns spike 2s . Does anyone know if this is possible or has anyone done this?
Why not just ask the good folks at Flipper Fidelity if they recommend it.
Quoted from TheLaw:Shooting out an email too much work these days?
Quoted from PinFever:I am sure it is the waiting for a reply and getting any satisfaction or help is the tough part.
this was it, never heard back
Quoted from TheLaw:They got back to me in a day but we'll see how long the part takes.
Adam got back to me and resolved an issue under warranty with part order confirm in less than 48 hours.
Have not had any issues with Stern support.
Quoted from TheLaw:Shooting out an email too much work these days?
Yea, I had to go through a bunch of hoops to fix a splitting cabinet issue on my EHOH…though they eventually sent me a replacement cabinet after a year or so of waiting and various back and forth communications, the juice is just not worth the squeeze to try and go through those hoops with them on these junky speakers.
Quoted from Zablon:That is some bad luck right there. It doesn't seem to be common, but for you to have that issue 3 times is kinda crazy.
Yea, it’s wild. The first time I didn’t think anything of it, felt like it was just bad luck. The second time I literally didn’t care because I had the Flipper Fidelity in hand and was ready to convert immediately upon opening…this time it’s a clear pattern and I can’t really play the game because it’s so bad…going to change out the speakers tomorrow evening.
Quoted from TigerLaw:Yea, I had to go through a bunch of hoops to fix a splitting cabinet issue on my EHOH…. the juice is just not worth the squeeze to try and go through those hoops with them on these junky speakers....
I w0uld guess there's a lot less squeezing for an easily shippable cheap ass speaker...but I hear ya.
This thread has a lot of great info on improving sound quality. I especially liked the comparison between a bunch of different speakers. https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/improving-sound-quality-the-diy-route
Follow up: turns out this speaker was not blown…rather the mesh was not glued down or screwed down or anything and made it sound like it was blown. Changing out the mid range speakers now. I really think Stern pays like $2 for their speakers they use in these games. 
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Quoted from TigerLaw:Follow up: turns out this speaker was not blown…rather the mesh was not glued down or screwed down or anything and made it sound like it was blown. Changing out the mid range speakers now. I really think Stern pays like $2 for their speakers they use in these games. [quoted image][quoted image]
Nice telescope!
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Jennings, LA
