I'm sure it was done for the good of the pinball community.

No.

No speaker lights from Stern since they used the last of the Batman 66 SLE speaker light parts on Deadpool LE (FUN FACT: They are actually listed as Batman parts in the Deadpool LE manual), BUT, keep an eye on my website. I will have my, better than factory "Deluxe 5.25" Speaker Light Kits" for SPIKE 2 use listed soon (target date Oct 1st).

Doug (SpeakerLightKits.com)

Where does it plug in? I'm guessing the cabinet node, but which connection? Some good pics of the connector and it's wiring should tell the tale.

US games don't include a tourney button. Games shipped to Canada do. I'm not really sure what the strange reasoning is for that, but it's been that way for years. I'm not sure about international games.

In any case, being a US customer and not getting it included stings a bit less now since the tourney button sticks out the way it does. The way they were indented in the SAM cabinets was much better and I always considered it a very simple, but obvious, oversight by people spending $100s on mods and not paying the extra $5 to add the tourney button and instead having an ugly square black plug on the front of their games. Seems crazy that people used to pay $100+ for a tourney system for the games and now folks don't pay the extra $5 to enable the tourney system that is already included in every game. Almost as crazy as Stern saving the less than $5 to not include the button on every game.

PS: Let the Tourney button rant go on: Why have they still not implemented a setting where you can have a game set on free play normally, but have a per play tourney running also? It would be great for parties. You could play for free if you would like or pay in to the tourney that was running for a chance at some friendly cash prizes. It's been mentioned for years....but still no implementation as far as I have seen.

My Deluxe Speaker Light Kits use individually addressable RGB LED light strips. The included controller has 7 basic colors, but with the addressable lighting it allows for 358 different color / color changing patterns. As imagamejunky stated, the type 12 kit lights the entire grill area as you see in his JP picture and my type 13 is the Deluxe kit that only lights around the 5.25" speakers that many LE games have.

The type 13 (Deluxe 5.25") kit in a JP LE should look like The Munsters LE on the right (as they the same speakers and speaker surrounds).

My Deluxe style Speaker Light Kits are sold at http://www.SpeakerLightKits.com and my Standard SPIKE 2, SPIKE 1, S.A.M. and older type light kits are also sold at various pinball mod / parts resellers (Pinball Life, Mezel Mods, CoinTaker).

Doug (SpeakerLightKits.com)

Tournament start button. Everyone gets them free from the factory except us dirty Americans.

They look kinda bad on the new cabinets (without the recessed button hole). I think it's past time for Stern to remodel them to fit better with the SPIKE 2 cabinets.

It has been that way for years on the tourney buttons. I don't know what the reasoning behind it would be. Some strange gambling laws in certain states that they don't or didn't want to mess with sounds possible.

No Houston for me. Expo, Cleveland, Pincinnati, Louisville and the Ohio shows are the only shows I normally hit......and I don't set up a vendors booth at any of them when I go. Though I do sometimes take some pre-arranged deliveries to them. I do hope to make it out to TPF next year.

No, I read it was CN15 on the bottom of the Cabinet Node board.

It's a 6 holed (but keyed) connection. I'm not sure if anything else has used that connection before. From the manual it is +5v and can drive 4 separate LEDs. I'm guessing they are controllable lights and wonder if using 3 of the lines they could do a single controlled RGB LED bulb or not?

It's cool that they added some lighting effects to the shooter. I figured they could with it being powered / connected where it is. I'm sure it's not a drastic change or incredibly noticeable, but I also doubt it took much to add it in.

I don't understand why they would make any setting change every time a game is power cycled. I can see the setting going back to default after an update or something like that, but it automatically going back to "default" everytime you turn the game on seems crazy. Though, my big question is why does having it set to 4 Ohms sound bad when they are 4 Ohm speakers in the LE? That seems like it must be some sort of bug itself.

Yeah, that type of SAM +12v connection will defiantly need some sort of adapter or extra power connection splitter for it to hook into a SPIKE game. The one like marksf123 mentioned (that goes to the Cabinet Node 1 board CN11) if the topper power cable is long enough. Or you can get those type of adapters / power splitters that plug into the CN6 connection in the backbox as estrader mentioned.

I would think they would have included the adapter with the topper (since that type of SAM connection is not in SPIKE games), but I do think the classic SAM type +12v power connection is the best one to go with on mods, even if they are SPIKE mods. As adapters and splitters for that type of connection are easy to make, cheap and readily available.

As discussed in another thread, the CN6 connection in the backbox is getting way too crowded with mods wanting to plug in there and there aren't any low priced adapters or splitters to create more CN6 type connections. As for the SAM type connections...there are plenty of adapters and splitters available at Pinball Life.

To the CN11 "ticket" connection on the Cabinet Node board (if your power cable is long enough). Pinball Life also offer extended ones if your topper power cable is not long enough.

https://www.pinballlife.com/spike-12v-power-adapter-6-long.html

To the CN6 connection in the backbox if you aren't using it for anything else....or planning on using it for anything else.

https://www.pinballlife.com/spike-12-volt-backbox-power-adapter-cable.html

Or this splitter so you can plug a shed load of the SAM type +12 mods into the CN6 connection.

https://www.pinballlife.com/8-way-power-splitter-board-for-stern-pinball-machines-using-the-spike-spike-2-system.html

I'm really digging those toppers. That small acrylic edge that is glowing around the border really sets them off.

When looking at your pictures I'm wondering why the left speaker cone is getting more light bleed from the backbox vs the right side? Behind the right speaker does have more components making it a tighter area back there, but I have never noticed it making one side get less excess backbox light than the other.

Doug (SpeakerLightKits.com)

All of my Speaker Light Kits have adjustable brightness.

Doug (SpeakerLightKits.com)

Thanks for sharing the link J-Freeze

Polidori if you are interested, I also can get different color speaker surrounds for JP. Ones that will allow the light kits to shine through them and match the game better than the factory Munsters "Goldtastic". If you are interested in seeing any videos of different color surrounds in action with the light kits...send me a PM and I can send some links to you.

Doug (SpeakerLightKits.com)

Yes, Star Trek LE, Mustang LE, Batman 66 SLE and Deadpool LE are the only games that Stern tried to light the speakers up on. Though Batman SLE and Deadpool LE did a better job than they did in Star Trek LE and (OMG) Mustang LE (I have heard from Mustang LE owners that didn't even know they had lights in them, as they simply can not be seen unless you make a point to look for them), the light kits I sell are still far full featured and, dare I say, better then what the factory Deadpool LE speaker lights can provide. Here is a video with the factory Deadpool LE on the left and my light kit on the right (click the video...the thumbnail is a bit deceiving). I actually think it would have looked even better with a red opaque surround installed instead of the transparent that they included from the factory. I suspect they went with the transparent so their under powered lighting could light them as good as they could. I can get different color speaker surrounds if anyone would want them ($22.50 a pair).

358 different color / color patterns, adjustable speed, adjustable brightness and a favorites list to save up to 8 of your favorite patterns to for easy access or for the controller to auto scroll through.

Doug (SpeakerLightKits.com)

Fun Observation: I think Deadpool LE got the factory speaker lights because Stern had the extra light parts around after Batman 66 SLE. They even have them listed as "Batman" parts in the Deadpool LE manual.
Batman in Deadpool (resized).jpg

PS: A Jurassic Park LE would light up even better around the speaker cones due to the Kenwood speakers they used having light silver speaker cones.

This got my Twipy vote for best topper of 2019. I had actually written in the Black Knight: Sword of Rage topper in the preliminary write in stage (as it is the most impressive topper I have ever seen)....but honestly I don't know why it made the ballot (as it hasn't been released yet...let alone by November 30th). It should have been weeded out, but wasn't. So I took it out of consideration when I was casting my ballot.

Some of the other toppers are nice, but seem to have their faults or be overpriced for what they are (or both). This one looks great and, as you said, at a fair price. That glowing acrylic edge really sets it off.

thanks for the thumbs up

These Speaker Light Kits have 14 different levels of adjustable brightness.

Doug (SpeakerLightKits.com)

I am getting a premium next week and was wondering the same thing. The only thing I know to look out for is the left side protector on the left ramp (being different and having a different place for the opto to show through).

Any other factory changes / fixes that I should keep an eye out for?

This is the only one of the changes I am not sure if I could spot. Anyone have a pic of the original vs the fix? Or at the least...a pic after the replacment post and accessories?

I didn't even realize there was a 4th shot to the skill shot until this weekend....as I had never hit the 3rd phase of it until then.

I'm going to throw my guesses out there. I have thought about buying some myself and possibly making them available with quick connects on the ends to slide on the speaker terminals for folks that are adding new speakers and are not soldering inclined. The bad part is...those molex connections were added who knows when...in any case, after SPIKE 2 games were already rolling out for a bit. So it would be a some SPIKE 2 games have them and some SPIKE 2 games don't scenario.

So here goes on my guesses (and this is for the backbox speakers):

speaker side
1 - 39012020 (2 Housings Receptacle)
2 - 39000039 (Female Crimp Terminal)

game side
1 - 39013023 (2 Housings Plug)
2 - 39000041 (Male Crimp Terminal)

Yep....exactly what I was looking to possibly offer. As I mentioned, the only down side (really just an inconvenience on selling them) is that not all SPIKE 2 games have that molex speaker connection on them. I'm not sure when Stern started adding them and I'm sure some games probably vary from run to run.

Was the terminal part number correct also? I've never used any of the square terminals like that before. The info would be appreciated.

It seems odd that 4" speakers don't have a universal mounting hole placement. Stern (going back to the Data East days) always used to have their speaker mounting holes so they used the outer limits of the 4" speaker mounts. With SPIKE 2....they strangely started using the inner limits of the 4" speaker mounts.

It seems most 4" speakers use either ovaled out mounting slots or open ended mounting. This makes it so they can be used no matter where the 4" speaker mounts land. However some speakers, as you are describing, do have smaller, more strict mount holes on them. Fortunately, it sounds like with the speakers you are describing, that was pretty easy to rectify. Like the ones you have described, it seems on most of the 4" speakers that I have seen that do use smaller / stricter mounting holes....they are usually using the wider mounting limits that Stern used in the past. So it seems like Stern made a bit of a misstep when changing their 4" mounting pattern on the SPIKE 2 4" speaker plates, after using the same mounting pattern since Back to the Future (1990).

I'm expecting no thought went into that design change decision and as long as the current 4" factory speakers fit on the studs....it was OK'd. Now if they find default speakers to use that cost $1.35 instead of the $1.48 ones they are using now...that will only work with the original wider 4" mounting pattern, they will be kicking themselves and wondering who made the mounting stud position change on the 4" SPIKE 2 speaker plates.

Hashtag:BoringSpeakerPanelStuff

Doug (SpeakerLightKits.com)

Yeah, I thought you were talking about the backbox speakers needing a bit of filing to fit. I haven't messed with the cabinet speakers much (not since my Spider-Man). I didn't realize they could have some mounting misalignment issues also. It sounds like the speaker industry needs to get their act together. Good to hear you got them all to fit OK.

I have never seen or heard of any 4" speakers that will not work with one of my type 11 or type 12 Speaker Light Kits. These are the Speaker Light Kits that light the entire rectangle speaker grill area in SPIKE 2 games.

Having said that....the 4" speakers you are adding do need to mount directly on the 4" speaker plates (so no spacers between the speaker plates and the speakers) and if the speakers can not mount directly to the 4" speaker plates without their tweeters hitting the bars that run in the 4" speaker holes....you will have to cut out the bars or get my 4" replacement speaker plates (for SPIKE 2 Speaker Light Kits use) that have the holes open for the protruding tweeters.

More details on that type of thing can be found on my website here:

http://www.speakerlightkits.com/Upgraded-Speakers-Type-11.html

Doug (SpeakerLightKits.com)

As Markharris2000 said and I said before....it should fit. No need to base your speaker purchase decision on depth size because of any of my light kits. The only time you should have to keep your eye out for a low profile aftermarket speaker is if you are wanting to add TWO Speaker Light Kits (one behind the other) in a single game. That is a thing and it can be done, but in that case...you DO need to use lower profile speakers. So unless you are putting a Speaker Light Kit in a Speaker Light Kit...you should be fine with any 4" or 5.25" speaker with my light kits.

Doug (SpeakerLightKits.com)