Austin, TX
Quoted from netman63129:I received LE #800 two days ago. I've been tweaking it and here's what I've learned...
1) For a music pin, the sound quality isn't that great. It definitely needs a subwoofer and more high-end frequencies from the backbox speakers. I can barely hear the cymbals. I have another Polk 10" PSW108 on the way from Amazon ($250). I've found this to be the best sub for the price and it supports connections to two pins. The 4 ohm/8 ohm setting is under Utilities, but this only changes the volume. It does not improve the sound quality, which I expected being an engineer and understanding how impedance works. However, there are 10-band equalizers for both the backbox speakers and the cabinet speakers. On the backbox, I recommend increasing the midrange bands a little and the treble bands a lot. Do the reverse on the cabinet speaker, increase the bass bands. This makes a small difference, at least until the subwoofer arrives.
2) I wanted to make sure the playfield was exactly 6.8 degrees, as recommended by Stern. Usually, this makes all the shots and angles correct as the playfield designer intended. However, I noticed that no matter how much I lifted the front of the pin, the level bubble didn't move. Then I discovered that the level was not properly seated in the bracket. Push, click, fixed. After leveling (it was too high), the issue I had where my manual ball plunge was not hard enough to drop the ball to the upper flipper is now corrected.
3) The flipper strength on my machine was much to strong. Balls were flying everywhere and I was worried that things would get damaged, especially the scoops. The game was also impossibly fast and I was getting all kinds of strange deflections into the out-lanes. I lowered the strength from the default Hard to Normal and the machine plays like a dream. My first game after this correction, I was hitting all my shots, getting multi-balls, and making progress instead of watching cheap drains. I can now perform multiple loops with the left flipper and the right ramp shot is actually easier to hit.
4) My biggest complaint is the fan noise that kicks on every few minutes for about 20 seconds. I assume that this is to cool the CPU but wow, it's like someone plugged in a Hoover. Is there anything that can be done about it?
I will say that I am pleased how Stern has upped their game recently (pun intended), especially the big improvements like the quality of the cabinet artwork, the Expression lighting and the mirrored back-glass. There are a lot of little things, like the wires that keep the speaker panel from hitting the glass and the nice labels in the backbox. If they would just spend the extra $50 (wholesale) for some better backbox speakers, which on a music pin should be a no-brainer. They could also enclose the cabinet speaker and add a port, which would dramatically improve the bass.
I've been a huge Rush fan all my life, one of those people that you see in the documentaries, that explain how Rush music changed their life. I may be a bit biased but I love a well designed pin and Rush LE looks and plays like a thing of beauty. I am really looking forward to the finished code
The fan is the power supply fan. Those can be replaced for ~15 bucks for a quieter one. Runs more frequently, but decibels much lower. Believe this should work:
https://www.pinballlife.com/stern-spike-system-plug-n-play-quiet-fan-kit.html
