Let’s face it, your factory-issued 1990 or older pinball machine comes with some rather weak ass, limp bass. Time to kick some sand in the face of that pathetic sound and unleash the fury of rock steady in-your-face house rattling bass. Take your pinball machine to the screaming cinematic levels it deserves.
Size is everything in audio – an external subwoofer can make up for those tiny speakers in the pinball machine.
IT IS TIME TO KICK IT!
To really experience great dynamic range in the sound and music from a pinball machine, you need an external subwoofer.
A pinball machine cabinet isn’t an ideal subwoofer enclosure: the volume is too large for the size of speakers and the cabinet can’t be sealed or vented for a flat response curve.
The solution is an external subwoofer placed under the pinball machine or a row of pinball machines that share the same subwoofer.
Does a dedicated powered subwoofer for a pinball machine seem like an excessive luxury?
Sure if it was one of these BEASTS of a powered subwoofer like this pair of SVS home theater powered subwoofers featuring roof-raising 1500 Watt 16″ drivers! Only $4,798 for a pair of these plus home owner’s insurance for cracking the foundation with this earthquake-inducing setup.
BANG FOR THE BUCK
Pinball owners want something a lot less astronomically priced. After all every thing after basic food and water takes away from money for the next pinball machine.
What’s needed is a value-priced powered subwoofer that gets the job done.
Enter the infamous, bestselling Polk Audio PSW10 10″ Powered Subwoofer with “Power Port Technology” up to 100 watts for BIG BASS in a compact design.
This lean mean little sucker can be had for $129 and sometimes on sale for even less. And consider it a good investment as it can be hooked up to multiple machines as well as a fixture in the game room that doesn’t leave with any pinball machines.
If you trade out a slot, the subwoofer stays. Plus an external subwoofer won’t rattle the glass like an internal subwoofer would.
- POWERED SUBWOOFER FOR EXTRA BASS & PUNCH – A 10-inch Dynamic Balance woofer & a uniquely configured directed port provides accurate bass with added depth that brings your music and movies alive. A perfect solution for your small-to-mid size room
- LOUDER CLEARER SOUND EVEN AT HIGH VOLUME – Enjoy a thrilling yet balanced music experience with rich, deep sound, even at low frequencies. BLENDS EASILY WITH ANY SPEAKER and plays the most demanding nodes effortlessly without any distortion
- Double the amplifier power to 100 watts of dynamic power with its in-built 50-watt rms amp. Sophisticated engineering with best in class resonance-free driver materials make this sub highly durable and fit for extended use
- EASY TO INTEGRATE WITH EXISTING SYSTEMS – Hook up this sub to the receiver and upgrade your music sound instantly. Features continuously variable 80-160 Hz crossover and 40-160 Hz (-3dB) frequency response
- A sleek detachable grille on the front, speaker and line-level inputs as well as speaker-level outputs on the back, and a Phase Toggle Switch for multiple subwoofers, make this sub cohesive and complete
If 10 inches is good, 12 inches is going to hurt!
You can go bigger for less with a generic subwoofer from value brand Mono-Price. Consider this sub-$100 12 inch driver powered subwoofer.
HOW TO HOOK UP AN EXTERNAL SUBWOOFER TO A PINBALL MACHINE
Choose Your Signal Input: Stereo Line-Level or Speaker Inputs
The Polk Subwoofer can handle high speaker inputs (amplified signals that goes to speakers) or low stereo line-level input that gets amplified by the powered subwoofer.
- Audio Inputs: Stereo Line Level – (2) RCA, Pair (L/R) Analog RCA.
- Speaker Inputs: (2) Pair of Spring Terminals.
Your choices are multiple. You can tap off the existing subwoofer for speaker input.
Or get a stereo line-level off of a PinSound board or a Pinnovators subwoofer conversion.
Another option is to convert the speaker line to a low-level stereo line using an inexpensive device such as this:
This attaches to the existing speaker lines and then converts to the signal to a lower stereo level.
You might find one method provides a cleaner sound than another. It is also possible to share the subwoofer with multiple pins using a pin subwoofer mixer.
I put alligator clips on the end of speaker wire and just clipped it onto the 8″ sub terminals. I have the 8″ woofer and 10″ sub powered. Run the wire out a vent hole or the power cord hole.