Newbie - - 1st Slot Purchase - Question about Premium Sound

[cowboygames]

Sounds good, but use 10 ohm resistors, a 10k pot will mute all sound

[kolby2004]

Well just a quick update... Today I finally received a DSV00042 from Slot Machine's Unlimited.  I installed the simm and did not get the error.  I changed all the sound options to stereo and Preferred sound.  I am not getting the Ding and Donk sounds on the  Triple Diamond and red 7.  And the music that goes along with the larger hits! I am happy to get that working. 


Now, all I have to do is decide if I wanna go with resistors soldered on the wires to the speakers or just pop for the 504b main board.... humm Decisions Decisions... I will post a youtube video link later this weekend so you all can see and here my machine now.  Thanks again for all your help!  [size=78%] [/size]

[rokgpsman]

Glad to hear that the new sound simm corrected all the wrong sounds and lack of sounds on your machine. The 10 ohm resistors are cheap, you can add them inline in the speaker wires pretty easy and see what difference it makes to the noise problem. It may fix it so well that you don't need to do anything else. If not, you an always get the improved mpu later. I don't think it will hurt anything for the 10 ohm resistors to be left installed even if you decide to upgrade to the better mpu board.

[cowboygames]

That would be correct, at 10 ohms it cleans up the sound but switching MPU's, even to a 1270, doesn't require taking them out again

[kolby2004]

Thanks for your suggestions.  I think I will try soldering the resistors in-line with the speakers.  Is the resistors I want to order, like these?


http://www.amazon.com/E-Projects-Ohm-Resistors-Watt-Pieces/dp/B00IYU7H9K/ref=sr_1_17?ie=UTF8&qid=1458448059&sr=8-17&keywords=10+ohm+resistor

[rokgpsman]

Yes, those should be fine. They are 10 ohm, which is a measure of their electrical resistance to electricity flow, not enough to lower the sound level significantly but enough to lower the static noise level from what I've heard. The 1/2 watt rating refers to the heat (power) rating of the resistor. As electricity flows thru a resistor it can get warm, so you want a wattage rating high enough to handle the heat. In this case where it is going to a speaker the electricity won't be that much (afterall, the speaker coil doesn't get very warm) so the heat in the resistor won't be very much, you probably can't even feel it with your fingers. Be careful when ordering, don't get 10k ohm by mistake, the "k" stands for thousands so that would be 10,000 ohm resistors, much too large. The 3 color bands on a 10 ohm resistor are brown, black, black, then a 4th band of gold color signifies 5 percent tolerance, meaning the resistor is guaranteed to be 10 ohms, + or -  5% (.5 ohm).

Those resistors you linked to are spec'd at 5% tolerance, if you can find them you could use 10% resistors and they might cost even less. But spending less than $5 to fix your noise problem (hopefully) is a pretty good deal I think. Also, you could probably find the resistors on ebay for less but may have to wait longer for delivery, some of those ebay items come from Asia by slow methods. For example, here are some 10 ohm resistors for much less price, they are 1/4 watt but that shouldn't matter. I'm a bit of a cheapskate so I'd probably be inclined to get these, but it might take a while to get them: 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/30-x-10-Ohms-OHM-1-4W-1-Metal-Film-Resistor-FREE-SHIPPING-/321050801704?hash=item4ac01e7628:g:5SsAAMXQzopRzUrF

You don't necessarily have to solder the wires to the resistors, after cutting the speaker wire you can use small wire nuts to attach the wire ends to the resistor leads if you want, that might be easier. In either case you will want to sleeve or cover the exposed resistor leads or position them so they don't short to the metal chassis. Maybe a good-sized (McDonald's ?) drinking straw could be cut in half, use that to slide over the bare leads of the resistor. Or you could cover them in black electrical tape. Perhaps someone that has done this mod will say how they did it.

[kolby2004]

Here is what my machine sounds like now, before I solder the resistors in....

https://youtu.be/akmsHzr9GOo

[kolby2004]

Updated .... So I decided to try what Ohio Gaming said and use 47 Ohm resistors, thinking that I dont really need my machine to be all that loud in my house anways.  Here is a pic of where I put the resistor on each speaker and Here is a sound clip of what it sounds like now:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AG70KGfkrok


I have the Game Volume set at 5 on the machine. 

[cowboygames]

My only argument against using the 47ohm versus 10 ohm is having to turn the volume higher to get the same sound. You're driving the amp harder and creating more heat. With 10 ohm resistors I set volume at 2

[kolby2004]

My only argument against using the 47ohm versus 10 ohm is having to turn the volume higher to get the same sound. You're driving the amp harder and creating more heat. With 10 ohm resistors I set volume at 2

Good to know, I may experiment with the 10 ohm resistors as well... I am having fun trying things and learning how these things work.  Thanks for your help Cowboygames!

[rokgpsman]

Since you are sitting right in front of the machine what is your assessment of the annoying noise now that you've installed the resistors inline with the speaker? There are 3 speakers and you used 6 resistors, right?

[kolby2004]

Since you are sitting right in front of the machine what is your assessment of the annoying noise now that you've installed the resistors inline with the speaker? There are 3 speakers and you used 6 resistors, right?

Well 1st of all, my 3rd speaker  in the bottom is not hooked up.  I can post a Pic of the connection tonight as I am not sure how to hook it up with the existing connectors.


2nd.. I only put the resistors on the white wires like I show in my pic.  That is what Ohio Gaming told me to do.  Are you saying I need to solder a resistor into the Green Wire too?


All in all I am a little surprised by what I am hearing.  My wife seems to think that the sound is better, dont hear the wining of the reel spin as much.  However, If I put the game volume up higher than 5, the speakers sound like garbage, crackle and static the higher I go. 


Settings below 5, its hard to hear the sound over the mechanical reel sound.

[cowboygames]

Regardless of what omh resistor you use, put them on both wires to each speaker as the sound, in my experience, comes in through the ground

[rokgpsman]

Ha! maybe your wife can hear higher freq sound better, that's the way it works in my household. 
With the mod you've done she doesn't hear the reels stepper motors as loudly, so it is an improvement.

cowboygames is right, from the other repair threads here on NLG the method many people report working well is to install resistors in both of the wires going to the speaker. This is because nowadays in most audio setups (car, home stereo, slot machine, etc) neither wire is actually connected to a "chassis ground", both are connected to the audio amp high and low outputs. This is to avoid the static noises present on the metal chassis ground found in cars, slot machines, etc. Years ago in older cars it was popular to just run one wire to a speaker and then connect the other speaker terminal to nearby chassis ground, that saved on time & cost of the installation by the car companies. They stopped doing it that way due to the noise problem. But even if you just install a resistor in one speaker wire it will help with the noise problem.

So, the 2 wires going to each speaker are called "speaker +" and "speaker -". These wires get connected to an audio amp and neither wire is actually connected to normal power ground or chassis, hopefully. At least that's what I'm aware of in all good audio designs. But even if one of the speaker wires in your machine is actually connected to chassis ground a resistor on that wire will likely help reduce the noise present on that wire.

On your 3rd speaker that isn't connected, if there are 2 speaker wires near the speaker you can just connect them if you want to. But someone may has disconnected it if the speaker is defective and the sound it makes is bad.  Or they have just wanted the other 2 speakers to work without the lower one.

Keep in mind that folks here have said all along that this resistor mod was not a 100% solution to the noise problem. If it was that easy IGT would have simply included the few resistors themselves somewhere in the sound system. It wasn't considered a major defect since in the casino with all the noises there you would hardly notice the noise from the machine you are playing. It's only when a private owner has the machine running at home that it becomes a bigger problem.

The resistors help by knocking down all of the sound level, good sound and bad, and can reduce the crackle heard in the speaker. But if you then jack up the volume you will start hearing the noise again. That's why a smaller value resistor may work better, so you don't have to increase the audio level (and noise level) as much to overcome the loss of sound by a higher value resistor. As you said, try the 10 ohm resistors (on both speaker wires) and see how that affects the noise, it may be better than what you have now.

A resistor is not a noise filter that can select which sound to reduce and which sound to not affect. Doesn't work that way. After trying the resistor mod if you find the sound is acceptable that's great, simple fix. But if you still don't like the way it sounds the only thing to do is replace the mpu with one having better quality sound, as mentioned earlier in the discussion.

Post a photo of your 3rd speaker and its wires, maybe we can see why it is not connected.

[Ken]

There are many ways on how to solve the same problem. I guess if this was high tech stuff then it might be a little more critical how the fix is made.

A 47 ohm 1/2W 5% resistor has the color bands as the one in the picture. I'm color blind so not sure what size resistor is in the picture you posted from the colored bands.

I have taken a photo of the wiring harness in the top box and circled the three wires that need a resistor. The white with yellow stripes (center) goes to the bottom speaker. The other two white ones (not sure what color the stripe is)  go to the upper speakers. Any resistor put inline will have to have the sound level increased. I think you will hear rattling sounds when the volume level is set to the higher end of the volume range ... with or without a resistor(s) in place.

[kolby2004]

Ok, so I tried soldering another 47 ohm resistor onto the other (green) wire on the speaker, Picture attached.  I found that the volume did get even lower, so I bumped the game volume setting up from 5 to 7.  I found that it was still not as loud as I would have liked, however the speakers did crackle and pop.  So I would said adding the 2nd resistor did not help.  I have since removed both resistors to atleast remind myself what it sounded like with no resistors and so I can say, as "Ohio Gaming" stated in this thread. Putting the resistors only on the white wires, going to the speakers was the best of the 3 things I have tried.


1st - no resistors
2nd - 47 ohm resistor on only white wires going to speakers (Best sounding)
3rd -    47 ohm resistors on both white and green wires going to speakers


Next I will be ordering some cheap 10 ohm resistors and put them on both wires going to the speakers and see how that sounds.


I really Appreciate everyone's input on this... I am really enjoying trying things to see what works best for me.

[kolby2004]

Now for my 3rd speaker(the one down in the bottom) .... I have attached the pictures of the connectors.  I know the white connector looks kinda broken, some of the plastic has broken off of the connector.  But either way, the black and the while connectors will not fit together, I guess I am confused why the speaker was not hooked up....

[kolby2004]

There are many ways on how to solve the same problem. I guess if this was high tech stuff then it might be a little more critical how the fix is made.

A 47 ohm 1/2W 5% resistor has the color bands as the one in the picture. I'm color blind so not sure what size resistor is in the picture you posted from the colored bands.

I have taken a photo of the wiring harness in the top box and circled the three wires that need a resistor. The white with yellow stripes (center) goes to the bottom speaker. The other two white ones (not sure what color the stripe is)  go to the upper speakers. Any resistor put inline will have to have the sound level increased. I think you will hear rattling sounds when the volume level is set to the higher end of the volume range ... with or without a resistor(s) in place.

That is the same resistors I purchased and exactly where I installed them, on the white wires that go to the speakers as you have shown in the pic.... I just put them on the speaker side, rather than the wire harness side of the connectors.  My bottom speaker is not currently hooked up so that is why I did not do the 3rd white wire.  And you are exactly right, Any volume above 5 makes rattling sounds.  Thanks for your suggestion.

[Ken]

Now for my 3rd speaker(the one down in the bottom) .... I have attached the pictures of the connectors.  I know the white connector looks kinda broken, some of the plastic has broken off of the connector.  But either way, the black and the while connectors will not fit together, I guess I am confused why the speaker was not hooked up....

The white one was the first version and the black the second version of the speaker connector. You can make a jumper and by pass the non-mating connectors. Add the resistor to the white and yellow wire.

For the resistors there should be a reduction in the feedback noise that was heard.