let's resurrect this interesting topic and move it forward..

Personally I believe music is the most important aspect in a pinball machine after gameplay, and togheter with theming. It adds ( or detract) really a huge amount of character, so I am very concerned about it. Although I did not play many machines, I have repeatedly watched hundreds of online videos, paying special attention to the soundtracks.

In my opinion the two winner here are Space Station and Swords of Fury: both soundtracks by Brian Schmidt.
Just ABSOLUTE PERFECTION.

After those, I think that BSD has an excellent soundtrack, perfectly fitting the theme.

There's other pins of course with good music, but the two Schmidt's creation are my two favorites by far.

A special note about BK2K: another good work, again by Brian Schmidt. This is a catchy soundtrack for sure. But I find it a bit annoying after sometimes. Especially the oooh oooooh ooooh gets irritating after listening to it several times, and it gets old.
While I could listen to SoF and Space Station soundtracks forever.

I totally agree with your idea of the game room as a single music environment. A proper pinball "club". Perfect for playing socially: one of the great aspects of our passion! Of course this is an option for me too when playing pinball.
Anyway proper pinball music has a special quality: it follows the game's and ball's evolution. It's a beautiful feature when properly implemented.

If you like atmospheric subtle music, I strongly suggest to check a video of Space Station: the quality and game related evolution of the music, sounds and call outs are really AMAZING.

Modern pins of course allow you to set the music volume or to disable it entirely.

The best thing is to play with other people of course. But this is not always possible all the time unfortunately. When playing alone, especially if into serious playing (trying to go for the high score), I definitely prefer to listen to the pinball music.

Sometimes, even if alone, I also lower the pinball music volumes and listen to albums of my choice, but I have to say I do this just during very casual, not focused playing.

Agreed. Really like the Zenball idea!