Quoted from PinMonk:If you offered variable post locations (maybe two sets of holes and the user picks which set to install the threaded posts in?) for your replacement speaker plates that would allow either the stock speakers or the larger speakers like on the LE, that would make it more attractive. I know I spent about $90 getting all the LE parts to install larger speakers. Stern=highway robbery.
Also, have you thought about angling the frame inward about 30 degrees so the LEDs are pointing more inward toward the speaker? That should reduce glare on the glass and if you put a 1/4=1/2" bezel on it, even reduce the LEDs peeking out from side angles.
I was wondering if Stern would even sell the speaker plates for the larger speakers that some LE games have. If they did, I didn't expect they would be too much. I got the standard speaker plates from them for $13ish each. Of course, as I said, I'm a bit surprised they even sell the LE plates separately. I'm sure they keep a tighter stock on them and that may cause them to charge a more premium price for them.
I see what you are saying about my Replacement Speaker Plates, but I don't see how that would be possible. So you have the plate and 8 speaker mounting holes in it. 4 inner holes so you could add the mounting posts for the 4" speakers and 4 outer holes so you could add the mounting posts for the 5" speaker.
So how big is the actual speaker hole in the plate? If you make it the size for the 5" speaker.....that hole for the speaker would cut out the 4 inner mounting holes....so that takes mounting the 4" speakers off the table unless you added mounting tabs jutting inward in the speaker hole to mount the smaller 4" speaker and even then...the smaller speaker would have a gap floating around it from the bigger speaker hole. If you had a speaker hole in it made for 4" speakers, that would work ok as far as just getting either size mounted, but do you think many people would want to pay to upgrade to a 5" speaker that sits behind a speaker hole made for a 4" speaker?
In any case....making plates to add bigger speakers to ones game is not my business. I did not have these made just to have something else to sell or to make money on them. I simply designed my SPIKE 2 Replacement Speaker Plates so it would make installing my SPIKE 2 Speaker Light Kits easier for people that have upgraded speakers. Using the factory speaker plates with my light kits can still be done with upgraded speakers, but a person would probably have to cut the bars in the speaker holes out of the factory speaker plates to get things to all work together. I decided to make my SPIKE 2 Replacement Speaker Plates for the folks that didn't want to go to the trouble of cutting those bars out. While I was doing it I decided to also improve some things. I made each plate have 4 speaker mounting points instead of 2 like the factory speaker plates have. I also moved the speaker hole so it was centered in the honeycomb grill area. Again, I didn't make these to have another product to sell. I had them made to make my existing product (Speaker Light Kits) a more attractive, easy to install and versatile product.
As for my SPIKE 2 Speaker Light Kit design...I can tell you very little was not considered or tried. As for angling the frame walls....a user can spring the frame walls out as much as they want or have room for. Though I don't think that would help with anything and would probably make the top of the lit area look strange, as it could be bent to be almost parallel with the back of the speaker panel. It would also probably throw a lot of the speaker light on the bottom of the translite from the back side. As far as angling the light frame walls out....there is very little room to do that on the bottom or outer sides You have all the room in the world to do that at the top and there is no way to do that at all on the inner wall (as it is what hold the LCD in place). My main concerns on the design were trying to make each side look as uniform as possible (same distance from the honeycomb edge), getting the light frame walls as far in from the honeycomb area as possible and to allow as much surface area on the mounting side of the frame as possible, without being visible in the honeycomb grill area.
My main concern was the visibility of the inner light strip. This inner wall of the frame is RIGHT AGAINST the LCD screen and what holds the LCD in place. So there is literally no place to go with this one. There is no way to get that inner frame farther inward away from the honeycomb grill edge. My first idea was actually to make a set of brackets just to hold the LCD screen in and then add a light frame over that...I then realized that would just make that inner wall jut out in the honeycomb area even more and the best way to keep that inner wall in, as much as possible, was to make that be what holds the LCD screen in place. Having said that...other things can be done if the inner wall is to visible to some users. I make sure to put the light strip in the light frames so there is a cut area on the light strip in the bottom inner corner. That means a user can actually snip the light strip there to deactivate the inner light strip wall. I tried some tests like this and I honestly didn't like only 3 sides being lit, but I did keep the light strip placement like that so a person could snip and remove that inner light strip if they would choose to. You can also put a strip of electrical tape over the inner light strip or even over the inner most honeycomb column (on the inside of outside of the panel).
The reason I wanted more surface area on the bottom, mounting side of the frame is mainly so there is more surface area to hold the foam in place if a user decides to keep the speaker foam in there. I also knew the frame had to be reasonably stable as it is what holds the LCD screen in place. Making the frame super narrow would make it a bit too flimsy. I also realized in early testing that if the frame went into the honeycomb area...it would darken up the honeycomb and not look right, as I expect a bezel might do. SEE ATTACHMENT on the right side
So I made the plate as big as possible on it's mounting side, without being viable in the honeycombs area (no matter how it is slid on it's mounting slots) and I also made the walls that hold the light strips as far away from the honeycomb area as they could be, while trying to keep the bottom, top and outer walls a uniform distance from the honeycomb area. From a players perspective, seeing the bare led bulbs isn't an issue. If you decide to leave the factory foam in that usually defuses the light quite a bit and the light kits can be dimmed with the included remote. A bent plastic glare guard can also do wonders.
SPIKE2 left test (resized).JPG
Los Angeles, CA
