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Arcade1up Pac Man 40th Marquee Mod & Audio Fix!

RetroRalph·video·10m 20s·analyzed·May 29, 2020
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.023

TL;DR

Arcade1Up Pac-Man 40th Anniversary marquee and audio mods reviewed.

Summary

RetroRalph demonstrates aftermarket modifications for the Arcade1Up 40th Anniversary Pac-Man cabinet, specifically a replacement marquee from Barnyard Arcade Game Factory that brings the marquee forward to resemble classic arcade cabinets, and an inline volume control to address the cabinet's excessively loud audio output. Both mods are evaluated as functional and reasonably priced solutions, though the marquee remains a prototype and the volume control is presented as a workaround rather than an official fix.

Key Claims

  • The stock Arcade1Up 40th Anniversary Pac-Man marquee is inset too deep compared to traditional cabinet aesthetics

    medium confidence · RetroRalph introduces the mod by noting players may not like that the stock marquee 'is inset so deep'

  • The Arcade1Up Pac-Man 40th Anniversary cabinet has excessively loud audio, measured at approximately 80 decibels (alarm clock level)

    high confidence · RetroRalph uses a decibel meter and explicitly documents the volume at startup as 80dB, corresponding to 'alarm clock' level noise

  • An inline 3.5mm volume control adapter costs approximately $10 and effectively reduces the cabinet's audio output to acceptable levels

    high confidence · RetroRalph states 'this is a $10 cable that you can get' and demonstrates reduction from 80dB to 'quiet street' levels (around 50-60dB)

  • Barnyard Arcade Game Factory marquee includes speaker mounting points and a power adapter for PCB connection

    high confidence · RetroRalph details that the kit includes mounting spots for stock speakers, power cable, adapter, and two mounting screws

  • Arcade1Up has not yet provided an official solution for the audio volume issue on the Pac-Man 40th Anniversary cabinet

    high confidence · RetroRalph states 'we're still waiting to see if they have any solution for it' and frames the mod as workaround pending official action

Notable Quotes

  • “Maybe because you want to look more like the traditional Pac-Man cabinet or you know kind of like a mashup between that and the old Cabaret cabinet.”

    RetroRalph@ 0:16 — Explains the design philosophy behind the marquee mod and its aesthetic appeal to different player preferences

  • “Now keep in mind you cannot connect this directly to the PCB so he even went a step further and gave you the adapter to plug it in there which is awesome”

    RetroRalph@ 0:37 — Highlights thoughtful engineering detail in the Barnyard Arcade Game Factory kit that addresses a potential installation barrier

  • “It went from alarm clock to quiet room, so that's what we want. We want it to be more acceptable and enjoyable.”

    RetroRalph@ 8:51 — Summarizes the effectiveness of the volume control mod in practical terms, demonstrating measurable improvement

  • “This isn't in lieu of Arcade1Up doing something. We're still waiting to see if they have any solution for it but it does sort of you know help make it more pleasurable and you have more control at different volume ranges.”

    RetroRalph@ 7:50 — Clarifies that the mod is a temporary workaround and acknowledges Arcade1Up's responsibility to address the issue officially

  • “I really like the fact that it brings the marquee forward quite a bit. And it honestly gives the overall cabinet a little bit more depth because if you look at like an original Pac the screen was tilted back at a far angle.”

    RetroRalph@ 4:48 — Explains the visual and spatial benefits of the marquee mod by referencing original cabinet design principles

Entities

RetroRalphpersonBarnyard Arcade Game FactorycompanyArcade1UpcompanyArcade Game FactorycompanyPac-Man 40th Anniversaryproduct

Signals

  • ?

    community_signal: Content creators like RetroRalph are providing detailed modification guides and troubleshooting tutorials for Arcade1Up cabinets, serving as a knowledge repository for the user community

    high · RetroRalph demonstrates step-by-step installation procedures, provides product recommendations, and evaluates effectiveness with quantitative measurements

  • $

    market_signal: Aftermarket accessory market is thriving for Arcade1Up cabinets, with companies like Barnyard Arcade Game Factory producing replacement components across all cabinet generations

    high · Barnyard Arcade Game Factory manufactures replacement marquees 'for all generations of Arcade1Up cabinets' and RetroRalph describes their products as 'probably one of the best marquees that I've seen so far'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Third-party manufacturers are developing aftermarket solutions to address Arcade1Up cabinet design limitations, specifically marquee positioning and audio output

    high · Barnyard Arcade Game Factory has developed a replacement marquee kit; an inline 3.5mm volume control adapter is available as a workaround for audio issues

  • ?

    product_concern: Arcade1Up's 40th Anniversary Pac-Man cabinet exhibits significant audio volume issues, with stock audio output measured at approximately 80 decibels (alarm clock level), indicating a manufacturing or tuning defect

    high · RetroRalph uses a decibel meter to objectively measure the cabinet's audio output at startup and explicitly characterizes it as 'really loud', requiring a third-party mod to achieve acceptable listening levels

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.031

0:00
Alright guys, let's get right to it. So today we're looking at a replacement marquee for the Arcade 1UP 40th Anniversary Pac-Man cabinet and this is by Arcade Game Factory. So why would you want to do something like this? Maybe because you want it to look more like the traditional Pac-Man cabinet or you know kind of like a mashup between that and the old Cabaret cabinet. And you know maybe you don't like that it's inset so deep, the stock marquee. So the cool thing about this is he gives you two spots to mount your stock speakers right in here and then he gives you the power cable to connect it. Now keep in mind you cannot connect this directly to the PCB so he even went a step further and gave you the adapter to plug it right in which is awesome and two screws so you can mount it nicely on your arcade 1up cabinet. So this is pretty sweet. I'm very excited to see how this is going to look and it's a prototype right now but it should be available on arcade game factory soon and I'll put a link in the description as soon as it is. also going to tackle a second issue today. We're going to tackle the sound issue. So the sound is a little bit, a little too loud on the Pac-Man 40th anniversary. So we're going to check out this inline volume control to hopefully alleviate that issue as well. Let's get started. All right, we're going to remove the stock marquee. I'm going to do this without taking the cabinet apart. So we're going to actually loosen this screw right here that goes into the L panel in the back. Don't take it out of the way, just loosen it. Then we're going to remove a screw from one side of the marquee and set that screw aside so we don't lose it. Then we're going to spin the cabinet around and we're going to do the same thing on the other side. So we're going to take the screw on the back that goes into the L panel and loosen it up a little bit. And then we're going to take the marquee screw on the other side and remove it completely and put it somewhere safe so we don't lose it. Okay, this next step might freak you out. So you're going to need to pry the cabinet away from the marquee a little bit because the wooden dowels are in the marquee. You might have to force it a little if it freaks you out then just don't do it and stop and take the cabinet apart to remove the marquee but you're going to also need to remove that back h panel just be careful and then you know you this cabinet has a little bit of give to it just pry it a little bit and then it'll pop right off you will have to make sure you disconnect your speaker wire and your marquee power wire as well all right in the next step we're going to take the stock marquee and we're going to remove all the screws that hold on the stock speakers so there's four in each speaker then there's three in middle that hold the bar that's sort of a conduit for the wiring and then there's another four on the other speaker so we're going to take all of these out be careful because you going to want to make sure you save these We are going to reuse the screws All right now we just going to take the speaker assembly off and then take the marquee out of the way and we're ready to install the speakers on the new marquee. All right, normally I'd say to reuse all the stock components, but these things are really being a pain in the butt and I can't get the screws lined up and be behind the camera at the same time, so they're out of here. But don't do that. You should reuse them. So anyways, Let's screw down these speakers and then we'll be ready to install the marquee back into our cabinet
3:04
Alright we need the screw bag that came with the kit We're just gonna take out the two screws and the power adapter will set aside for later You're gonna need these two screws to secure the marquee down So let's go grab the marquee and want to set it into place now You're gonna want to make sure you put these two wires the power wire and the speaker wire Behind the monitor because you don't want to pinch it when you put it back and install it back into place So do that. It might be helpful to have a second person, but I'm stubborn. So I'm going to try to do it myself. All right. Now that I got it in place, let's screw down one side of it. Make sure it looks lined up real good. We'll screw that down. And then I'm going to make a suggestion here. Go get a level to make sure the thing is actually, you know, in the center and it's all centered and looks good. Then you can use that to make sure you got it in the right spot before you screw down the other side and then screw it down and you're good to go. all right we're almost in the final stretch here we got to spin the cabinet around and we have to put the h panel back now remember those two screws on the side of the cabinet we kept those loose that's going to be important that those are still loose otherwise the h panel won't go in so you want to flex the cabinet a little bit get the h panel in and then after you can screw down those l screws and the l bracket on each side all right now you're gonna need that power adapter so you can plug the marquee into the pcb now this is the raw pcb i actually have cover off it because I have some other plans for this cabinet later. So yours is going to look a little bit different, but the process is basically the same. So plug that in so your marquee lights up when your system turns on. The other step we're going to do is our speakers. Now we're going to fix the audio after this, but I'm just going to plug it in for this purpose and then we'll go back and do that. And then finally plug in the power. We should be ready to fire this up and see how the marquee looks. All right. So question is, is how does it look? All right. I really like it. So this isn't going to be for everyone, but I really like the fact that it brings the marquee forward quite a bit. And it honestly gives the overall cabinet a little bit more depth because if you look at like an original Pac the screen was tilted back pretty uh at a pretty far angle So you could even further modify this by pulling the screen back more and then maybe putting like a black spray painted panel on the back If you really wanted to try to bring it you know bring out the authentic look as much as possible But I'm really loving this.
5:20
All right. So how about the volume? Have we fixed the volume? So if you notice, it's still really loud. I have a decibel meter and it actually says that we're in traffic. So obviously it thinks it's pretty loud. So what we're going to do is we're going to install the inline volume, and we're going to see if we can get this thing to be at a more reasonable volume. And right now I have the actual arcade on one. All right, to install this volume control is really simple. So we're going to remove the 3.5 millimeter jack here that's your speakers, and we're going to plug that into the Koss volume control. So we're just going to plug it in right there. Then the other end is going to plug back into your 3.5 millimeter jack on the PCB. Simple as that. and then we can adjust the slider volume as needed so that we can get it to our liking on the arcade. Okay, so we're in front of the cabinet and I have my decibel meter here. Now I'm talking, so it's making a lot of noise. So you see the decibel meter adjusting. I'm going to start the game and put it near here. Now I haven't made any adjustments to the volume switch yet.
6:20
Okay, let's fire it up. So you can see I'm getting like 80. It's saying alarm clocks is the volume. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to grab the volume, and it's going to be hard for you to see this.
6:38
So on my right-hand side is the volume. I'm going to lower this until I'm comfortable with it. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to adjust the arcade to put the arcade at 1.
6:50
And just see how... Okay, I feel like that's reasonable. It's saying normal conversation right now. So maybe I'll even put it a tad bit lower.
7:05
Okay, it says quiet street. So I can hear it, but it's not crazy loud, so I don't need to worry about that volume control anymore. Now I can put it up on my arcade, and the top end is an acceptable level. It's really loud, but I'm not going to play it like that. You know, I'm going to play it toward the middle somewhere. So as I restart it, you can hear it's really quiet now. It's comfortable. Now, you can always make an adjustment to the back if you want to, but this is actually an acceptable level for playing it in a quiet room or whatever. So you can make micro to the back of that until you feel comfortable with it but I say we pretty much resolved the issue Now this isn in lieu of Arcade 1 doing something We still waiting to see if they have any solution for it but it does sort of you know help make it more pleasurable and you have more control at different volume ranges. And as you see, as I bump it up, it's much more comfortable. If I put the decibel meter back there, it's still at normal conversation, so it's not crazy. Now if I put it up to the top end, it gets up to alarm clock and traffic again. But that's pretty good. I think we've solved the problem. So let's go to final thoughts and wrap this thing up.
8:22
All right, guys, it's final thoughts time. So what do I think about this marquee by Arcade Game Factory? It's really cool. Just keep in mind, it's a prototype right now. I have no idea what it's going to be priced or anything. But if you check back, I will have a link in the description once it is available. Now keep in mind, Arcade Game Factory sells replacement marquees, light-up ones, for all generations of arcade 1-up cabinets, and they make probably one of the best marquees that I've seen so far. So definitely go to them for your marquees if you're modding your arcade 1-up cabinet. Now what about the audio? This whole audio issue? I feel like we fixed it. It went from alarm clock to quiet room, so that's what we want. We want it to be more acceptable and enjoyable. Now keep in mind this is not a replacement for an official solution from arcade one up But it's a $10 cable that you can get and I'll have a link in the description below But overall how did I feel about the marquee? I think it's pretty neat I don't know whether or not you know you're gonna like this But it is an option if you want to sort of bring that marquee further forward to look more like a traditional Pac-man cabinet or even the cabaret so you know I would love to know what you guys think put your comments below Let me know Give us a thumbs up if you enjoy the video and please consider subscribing to the channel if you enjoy the content That's it for now guys. We will see you Oh wait, and also hit the little bell so you can be informed of videos just like this one. That's it for now guys Oh, by the way, where'd this shirt come from? I was like looking in my office and it was on the floor just randomly and there was like these weird glowing glasses next to It I have no idea Anyway, if you guys know anything about that put in the comments below too. We will see you on the next one.