I couldn't wait for mine - so I got the digital download on Saturday. It contains only a few sounds/voices that are in the game. So - remastering the sounds is out of the question - but it does have some pretty cool alternate sounds. Sounds that could be used for custom attract mode. A couple of alternatives for a long looping background - replacing the tones. Hoping to get examples out in a bit.

You're saying when the 2'nd ball on playfield hits the cattle-gate, the locked ball will lip-out of the saucer ?

I wonder if the two fins in the saucer are to close together so it cradles the ball to high -or- to much tension on the leaf switch

got a pic of that area or a video of it happening ?

Yes, that’s exactly what it’s doing. No video as it doesn’t happen all the time but when it does it’s frustrating. I’ll check to see how the ball sits in there and compare it to the top kick out hole.

I also thought perhaps it's the switch just above the saucer activating -as if- a 2'nd ball was shot in the tube , that would fire the kicker though so that may be an indication if that is happening.

Did you play the record yet? I'm curious as to what is on it...

I did play it. A lot of unused sounds. I think you can listen to the entire record on bandcamp.

I follow Suzanne Ciani on social media and this was on the website she linked about it:

This disc presents the full extent of Suzanne Ciani’s groundbreaking musical effects for Xenon, in their isolated form, for the first time ever heard outside of the confines of the machine which recently earned the composer her own induction to the Pinball Expo Hall Of Fame.

https://finderskeepersrecords.bandcamp.com/album/xenon?fbclid=IwAR1EkL-IYwrDSyATkXoMxn462D-v43T8HHjeiTfSlH20OLijKe5p6BFELKA

If anyone has a CPR playfield for sale, or a good lead please let me know. I’ve got the machine playing really good and think I’ll do a full restore this winter. Thanks for all the help.

Just talked to CPR via email inquiring about Xenon playfields. This was the response

“ we have 200 playfields ready for clear coat right now so we are backed
up are clear coat guy.

xenon is being cut on the cnc machine now we should have it ready in 3/4
months time.

i can add you to a reminder list to let you know when they are back in
stock if you want.”

Thank you for the info!

I’m on the list! Response: “we are working on the wood work now for them but its going to be 6 ish months till we see them back”

Yikes. Worth the wait though

Put on some cans before you listen to her:

Happy day! CPR Gold Xenon playfield came in the mail. This is a playfield from three years ago that a fellow Pinsider had from a prior restoration. Had a few mechs populated but then the prior owner lost interest I guess. Anyhow, I snagged it for a good price.

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New Hotness:
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Awesome. Nipple-less option but if you have a ball point pen you can do it up

Nice. I'll be starting my 3rd xenon swap early this year. Got a 2019 cpr.

Wow! You have game #8! (serial numbers start at 1000) That would have been a lab prototype game.

Your game originally had blue posts. They fade over time to purple and pink.

FYI, the color dies fade in reverse order to the rainbow with the blues fading first leaving the reds as the last remaining die.

You're gonna want that pin in near the exit chamber, the new playfield isn't drilled for it though : it slows the ball down so it's less likely to lip-out of the saucer.

Xenon saucer pin (resized).jpg

Ok cool, thanks! I will make sure to drill the playfield for it.

Does that spring post actually do anything?

I was wondering the same thing! I saw that and was confused. I don't see that it does anything?

That was my thought as well.

Wow, I didn't know that! I have game #1033 so I guess that would be game 33.

I now have my Xenon fully playable with the exception of the sound during gameplay. Pressing the red test button on the sounds plus board cycles through the vocals (so the speaker definitely works) and the sound setting is on mode #3.

Sound test from the coin door does not work.. at one point after messing with the sound settings I got one sound when the game boots up, but still no sound in gameplay. Trying to figure out what could be going on using the schematics but I'm stumped!

EDIT: I think it could have to do with one of the adjustment volume pot parts.. one controls volume while the other seems to do almost nothing.

I don't have my machine close by & not good at shooting video.

Multiball was an afterthought as it was being designed and thankfully it was implementd

The ball bobbles first between the washer post and a ball lane guide, -then- between the washer post & a playfield post with a rubber ring , sometimes putting a 2'nd rubber ring there helps, -then- between the rubber ringed post and that little pin.

I am not sure how those springs come into play

Xenon exit chamber bobble (resized).jpg

That area acts like a choke. Even in its factory placement sometimes the ball gets the perfect angle and zips thru without hitting anything, when that happens the ball usually quickly bounces in and out of the saucer ejecting itself. I adjusted mine so the ball always hits and needs to find its way thru and then it dribbles into the saucer and always stays.

It could be the volume pot. They are open to air so they dirty and oxidize. Try giving it a few full turns in each direction and if you atleast hear some sounds trying to play. GPE has a nice replacement for these that are enclosed to eliminate the problem. Do a voltage test on the test points and compare to pinwiki. There are 3 diodes on the bottom corner of the speech board that are notorious for overheating.

I was able to get some high quality sounds off the new Xenon vinyl recording for my Replacement Sounds Plus/Vocalizer board. There was a nice sound that I used for the custom attract sound which is available for all sound banks with DIP switch 6 - "ATTRACT". For sound bank 5, I replaced the two male female "ow" voices for the pop-bumpers with 30 different short versions of the "ow" from the recording. The top pop bumpers rotate through 15 of the deeper voices, while the lower center two have another 15 of the higher voices. For sound bank 6, I have both the new pop-bumper sounds and a nice long repeating background sound from the recording. I demonstrate these in the below video.

The WAV player can support stereo sounds. You'd have to attach your own stereo amp to the headphone plug. But... The Xenon vinyl recording is in Mono - so you'd have no advantage.

And, of course, sound banks 0, 1, and 2 with DIP switch 6 "Attract" off will produce a stock sounding game.

This is awesome! Good work

After the first 10 games the next 300 were pilot games that went out for location testing. Your game #33 would have started life in a Bally's Aladdin's Castle arcade somewhere or as a showroom sample on a distributers salesfloor.

I was going to mention checking the sound setting is at 3 but you already did that. Next step would be to crank the volume pots back and forth a few times to clean them.

What is the best source for Xenon parts? Pinball Resource is my usual go to but they don't seem to carry much for Xenon. I need multiple parts but the biggest ones are a 3.5" OD straight wire guide (original is broken) and the spinner is missing off my machine completely. Can't seem to find anyone who has a reproduction spinner unless there is a generic Bally spinner available? I have the decals for the Xenon spinner already. What site have you guys had the best luck with for this game?

Edit: I did find a generic replacement spinner that may work, anyone use this one from PBR? I don't have an original to compare. http://www.pbresource.com/spinner.html

I don't know about the spinner but did you call the Pinball Resource? They have items that are not listed on their site. I got some Xenon specific parts from them that were not posted.

https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/A-3460

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/vids-guide-re-populating-playfields#post-4526968

I made ones from stainless wire, came out great!

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Awesome, thanks guys!

I used the same technique to replace broken flipper return lane guides and formed them like classic Stern guides. Absolute game changer.

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I have to touch up a few blue areas in my cabinet's stencil artwork, can anyone recommend a paint available at Michael's (for brush, not spray paint) that's a good match?

That must have sped the game up considerably, no more ball cradling.

Nah you can still do it, but much smoother and faster through the inlanes.

This wire broke on the tube shot switch. Does anyone have a clear pic of the switch with the cover off and know the gauge of wire?

37CDA8CC-611A-4892-AF74-B439A00D3DF0 (resized).jpeg

You need this but will have to bend it to make it work. https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/02-2112

Thank you!

You can also make one from an old flipper/pop bumper/slingshot spring.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/make-your-own-microswitch-actuator-wire

https://photos.app.goo.gl/1GE7ZP1qZNe24nQe8

Status on the volume pots! Top one works, sounds come through loud and clear. The lower one seems to control some type of feedback and has no effect on the test sounds.

I noticed a few resistors on my solenoid driver board look swollen and burnt, but I also see the board has had some mods to it. Can anyone confirm these resistors look bad? Wouldn't want to replace the board if it turned out that it was fine and just the board itself looked bad from previous usage/damage.

Lastly...There is a solid yellow wire that had been broken and alligator clipped to connect to Ground, but it seems to have no effect on the game whether it is connected or not.. thoughts? It goes into the upper part of J3 on the solenoid driver board. Not sure if I'm looking at the correct thing here but it might be one of the unused wires.

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LOL. This board was totally redone. The old-fashioned 5 Volts gererator with its big heat sink was replaced by a up-to-date circuit (that one produces no heat) There is a display added (does it show 5 Volts? The capacitors have been replaced. Some ICs are now in sockets. The Relais also looks new. Those resistors are not "swollen" but have been replaced by ones with higher wattage. The potentiometer also has been replaced. I bet, when you turn around the board, you will find 3 more modifications (the one who did all this will have made some common modifications on the back side as well.

I guess, this board is fine. What problem are you trying to solve? I would guess to search elsewhere. This board looks fine.

There is only one thing I may criticise with that board: Although technically no longer necessary, I would have left the heat sink on the board just for a more "original" look.

Need a close up pic of the mystery yellow wire.

The other volume pot if for speech level. If you cleaned and turned it a few times and still no speech then there's a board issue w vocalizer. Possibly a bad tms5200 chip.

Are all of the could firing? Run self diagnostic test. Manual explains the process of testing.

Still trying to resolve my game’s inability to keep track of multiball. All my switches seem to be working and reacting as they’re supposed to. Just repinned my connectors too. Edit: I should note I am running Alltek MPU and SDB.

Also curious why the background sounds drop out after a pop bumper fires. They will resume either on the next ball, or after shooting the tube shot.

Long shot but try doing a memory clear on mpu. Make sure dips are set to xenon.

My game used to fire 2 balls in shooter lane every time I started a game. I disconnected the trough micro and the game played perfectly. Just desolder one wire so you can connect it later if need be.

I took a video to show what it’s doing. I tested all three trough switches and they seem to know their job and have appropriate connectivity.

It seems like it’s triggering multiball too early because when I actually got the multiball callouts in this video, it tracked multiball. Otherwise it’s flashing the “releases captive ball when lit” insert and launching the ball, but not accurately starting multiball.

Aaaaand my buddy caseydanger figured it out for me. I had a bad gap on the switch before the saucer on the tube shot. Adjusted and both problems are gone!