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New Product: PinWoofer Amplification Sound System - Installation and Impressions

Straight Down the Middle·video·29m 20s·analyzed·Jul 18, 2020
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.020

TL;DR

PinWoofer audio system receives positive first-impression review from Straight Down the Middle hosts.

Summary

Straight Down the Middle hosts demonstrate the installation and real-world performance of the PinWoofer audio amplification system, a comprehensive upgrade package that replaces factory speakers, subwoofer, and adds a custom engineered amplifier. The installation is presented as straightforward and well-documented, with hosts noting that the system delivers cleaner, more detailed audio reproduction that reveals previously inaudible elements in pinball soundtracks without requiring excessively high volume levels.

Key Claims

  • Spike 3 machines lack sufficient power output to deliver optimal audio quality, which PinWoofer addresses

    medium confidence · Hosts discussing limitations of factory audio in modern Spike 3 machines

  • The PinWoofer system allows users to hear audio details and complexity intentionally embedded by audio engineers that factory systems cannot reproduce

    medium confidence · Greg and Zach discussing Jurassic Park audio revealing horn sections and orchestral details

  • PinWoofer amplifier is fully customizable through service menu adjustments and independent control of speech and music attenuation

    high confidence · Installation walkthrough showing specific service menu settings (volume at 15, speech attenuation at -10, music attenuation at 0)

  • Installation can be completed by non-experts using provided instructions and hardware

    high confidence · Hosts successfully install system with step-by-step visual guide and labeled components

  • PinWoofer components include upgraded 5.25-inch head speakers, new subwoofer with larger magnets, custom mounting brackets, and proprietary amplification board

    high confidence · Product walkthrough showing each component during unboxing and installation

Notable Quotes

  • “This is an upgrade because the Spike 3 these machines they just don't push the power to really get you that good crisp audio.”

    Host@ 2:39 — Identifies the market problem PinWoofer solves regarding Spike 3 audio limitations

  • “You hear all the horns. All the horns. It doesn't sound like just one horn. You hear everything. It literally feels like that orchestra.”

    Greg@ 22:22 — Specific example of audio detail improvement, supporting the value proposition

  • “It feels like upgrading to the 4K. You're at the 1080, the 720. You can go up to that 4K.”

    Host@ 23:49 — Analogy conveying incremental but meaningful quality improvement

  • “This is for the audio heads out there. Those audiophiles.”

    Host@ 23:29 — Identifies target market segment for the product

  • “Don't let these confuse you it looks like you're going to have too many wires here one of them is a jumper set”

    Zach Sharpe@ 18:31 — Addresses potential user confusion during installation

  • “Like if there's a mistake, you're probably going to hear it.”

    Host@ 22:50 — Acknowledges increased audio clarity as double-edged sword

  • “I would you know what? We're in 2020 There's some good audio digital audio running through this.”

Entities

PinWooferproductStraight Down the MiddleorganizationZach SharpepersonGregpersonJerry ThompsonpersonJurassic ParkgameSpike 3product

Signals

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Positive reception to PinWoofer system from influential content creators with no negative feedback reported

    high · Hosts state 'I've heard nothing bad about this product so that's one of those things it excites me' and conclude 'I think it's a winner'

  • $

    market_signal: Aftermarket audio upgrade market demonstrating demand from enthusiasts willing to invest in audio quality improvements post-purchase

    high · PinWoofer product existence, professional packaging, comprehensive documentation, and Jerry Thompson endorsement suggest established market validation

  • ?

    product_strategy: PinWoofer emphasizes proprietary amplification design specifically engineered for pinball rather than generic audio solutions

    medium · Marketing messaging contrasts with generic speaker upgrades or external subwoofers; Jerry Thompson cited as authority on embedded audio complexity

  • ?

    product_strategy: PinWoofer represents comprehensive audio system upgrade addressing factory Spike 3 audio limitations with amplification, speaker replacement, and customizable equalization

    high · Product demonstration shows integrated hardware solution with amplifier board, mounting brackets, wiring harnesses, and service menu calibration options

  • ?

    technology_signal: Spike 3 platform identified as having insufficient audio power output for optimal sound reproduction, creating market opportunity for third-party solutions

    high · Host explicitly states 'Spike 3 these machines they just don't push the power to really get you that good crisp audio' as core problem PinWoofer solves

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.088

0:00
Welcome back to Straight Down the Middle of Pinball Show. Greg and I are here to showcase a brand new exclusive product that's hitting the pinball market, I think, today. Oh, so our friends over at PenWolfer were kind enough to send us out their latest, like the coolest audio package for any PenWolfer kit. So we basically, and everything came in the most amazing packaging. You and the packaging. I love it because it was so clean. Everything was amazing. Came with these awesome instructions and everything. And this just isn't like cheap. I mean, this is like, even their instructions are like high quality, glossy, nice, trifold. trifold yeah but so you get that you get obviously you're upgrading your your subwoofer you got this nice pile of people upgrade speakers yes and their pinball machine but we'll get there we'll get this is not just a simple speaker upgrade that's not the problem you've got your sub you've got your get them spinning 20 head speakers no 20 so you got your 200 watt those are nice ones too five and a quarter inch speaker for in your head great that's amazing But what good is speakers, though, if you don't have anything, any power behind it? That is where PenWolfer excels. That's a game changer here. So PenWolfer has came out with this. Oh, look at it. That is a brand new amplification system for your pinball machine. Amplifier. Yeah, so you take those upgraded speakers. That's the difference maker. It is the difference maker. Fully customizable, expansive amplification system. So what we were told by PenWolfer was, you know, people like Jerry Thompson, this is going in my Jurassic Park because it's staying for good. It's got to go in Jurassic Park. It has sweet sounds in it. And, you know, they told us, he said, hey, listen, people like Jerry Thompson, people that do the audio on these pens, there are things that they put in there that they hear when they're creating these sounds that you don't really get because these manufacturers don't necessarily, they put they put good audio in there it's just not the the opponent yeah do not they don't have the ability to think about great when you when you buy a big-screen TV are you gonna use the speakers in there no no no that's why you get a sound bar you get your surround sound it gets you by though it does get you so that's what this is is this is an upgrade because the the spike system these these machines they just don't push the power to really get you that good crisp audio. They're about to. Exactly. And you know, I mean, he literally is thought of everything. I mean, you've got the amp, you've got all your back box hardware, you've got all of your harnesses. And I mean, everything is packaged to perfection. Packaged to perfection. So what we're going to do, we're going to show these people a step-by-step guide on how to install this. Yes. Right. The good thing about the new amplifier system, it's smaller, it's more efficient and it's easier to install. So even knuckleheads like us can do it. It literally looked like a couple, you know, what two C4, I can't remember. I don't want to say anything. A couple of things in the head, then just rerouting, pulling your old sub, pulling your old head speakers, putting some spacers in there and you're good. So we're going to walk you through the process. And then at the end, Greg and I are going to sit down. We're going to try to show this off as much as we can in video form with audio. And then we're going to sit down and talk about any differences that we could tell listening to the score of the tour program when they get back of Jurassic Park and I'm so here we are we pulled our back glass we've lowered our speaker panel here are our head speakers we're going to remove our factory ones and we're going to go in with these new sweet piles here. Is that how you say that, Zach? Sure. Pile?

Host@ 24:53 — Notes that modern Spike digital audio benefits particularly from this upgrade

Twilight Zone
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Circus Voltairegame
PinSoundproduct
4:08
Kill? Pile? We'll see. Oh my goodness. That's a speaker. That is a speaker. Whoa! What an upgrade, dude. I cannot wait to pull one of these off of here and let you see what this guy here looks like. Actually, let's go ahead, while I've got you here, let's go ahead and pull one of these speakers off because I want to show you this one here you guys probably get a little better view let's pull this speaker off here real quick i want you guys to see the difference of what you're getting compared to what you have and that sucker comes right off which is amazing so here is your factory speaker and here let me unpackage this guy here the grill off there is what you get so here here's your difference pretty too it is pretty it's almost a shame to like stick it behind the panel okay so we have two of our custom speaker mounts I want pull these guys out so they will actually go where your original speakers were they come with your additional hardware that you will need that you see here so there is a thicker side to your ring and there's a thinner side to your ring that thicker side goes toward your LCD display the notches go where your factory speakers mounted so you'll just go right in again thick side towards the LCD there you are put your nuts on there and then we'll install our speakers on the four posts that are on the custom bracket okay so we already have we have our factory screws where our factory speakers were you have some nuts already on here leave those nuts on there those are utilized as spacers for your speaker so don't touch your nose so leave those on there we're gonna go in through our washers back on here we're gonna get our nuts hand tightened on there those are provided 6 32nd nuts yes 6 32nd nuts provided with number six washers I guess so if you want to get that specific and we're again we're gonna just hand tighten these guys on here sorry I'm in the way of the camera and then you got a little bit of adjustment if you need to go up or down. Set a little lower I don't know if it makes a difference. Alright we're gonna tighten that down again nothing too harsh just lightly tighten it. Tighten it like you tighten the legs of your of your pin. The good thing Greg is that Penwoofer also supplies a step-by-step visual guide on how to install these things as well. Very much So now again we have our new speakers I going to lift this up just so I can get it underneath this cord here that keeps your head from falling down I going to place that onto the new bracket Simple as can be Again all of our washers and nuts are provided So I going to slip those washers over top of all four of these posts. Just like so. Easy peasy. Your mom likes it when it's breezy. We're going to tighten these down again again I cannot stress you got a little ways to go here with this but do not tighten it too much you just want a good firm good firm shake on it hand tight don't use that power tools you know it's one of those things that I've heard nothing bad about this product so that's one of those things it excites me is not hearing anything bad about it. People rave it. Okay so we are... And to me it makes sense because like remember in high school you had the subwoofers in your car but if you didn't have an amp it wouldn't go to the sound. You know what's great about this product is from what I was reading on it is it's not something that you just blast and you blare to get the good sound. It's actually controlled good sound. Okay so there's our first speaker installed. Okay so here we are with the second speaker we're just gonna repeat I'm gonna pull this guy off lay him over there again thick side to the inside towards your LCD. We'll knock this guy out real quick and we'll come back to you with the wiring. Okay so we have our factory speakers here for right now until we get further to see if I need to remove anything else we're just going to remove them with the simple molex connectors right here where they're at just as easy as that. I like that those are connected with molexes. Oh I do too. That makes it just smooth, super smooth. So all done and if we need to install something further down the line we will but right now again we're just going to get these out of the way and make sure we're not having any clearance issues and we're gonna come back and go into the board. So here we are with our factory sub and again we got a molex connector i'm going to go ahead and undo this guy first this time um and again just like on the opening of this video what you saw on the screen always make sure to unplug your pinball machine so again we're just going to remove this sub instead of two screws there are four for this guy and they are a lock nut a little different than what was up top old sub out paper cone again i know you guys think that i am freaking insane with my packaging stuff uh you know me things grab me so you open this guy up and they already stuck again your hardware in here and what is super freaking important play field glass tape reduces glass shake vital for good sound That is what you freaking need, man. That's how bad this thing rumbles. So let's toss that to the side. Let's pull this new speaker out. Mounting bracket, again, with our awesome packaging. They already have the mounting bracket down in there for you. Mounting bracket's in the bottom. We'll pull that guy out. Our new sub, we'll get it mounted. Again, you've got your holes. That'll go over your factory post in there. We're just going to lay that on top.
10:45
Go ahead and get that guy in there. check that out man that is insane look at those magnets on the back insane that is that is a major upgrade but again like what we were saying in our other video that is not what is so special about this what is so special about this is the proprietary engineered amplification system designed solely for a pinball machine. Okay so we're going to use our supplied hardware. We're going to slip our washer over that guy. Get our, I want to push this ring firmly down make sure it's flush. Get our lock nut started. Barely tighten it. Again you just you want it good and firm just like you do the legs on your pins. do not over tighten do not over tighten it's exactly right i'm gonna go ahead and place washers on the uh the other four studs here poking up and our last one and then we'll go through and we'll tighten all these guys okay so we got our ring tightened now it's time to take our sub we're gonna put it over there you got a foam ring around here which is going to be great for that shock absorption on this guy we're going to go down into the cab again you've got your your mounting holes I'm going to put each of my let's turn around this way I'm kind of OCD so that way we can see it we'll have our speaker connections on each side simply slip it over top of the new studs post mounted again washers all the way around on all four posts and then we'll tighten our uh lock washers and be done okay so here we have our platform harness our boards will go in the head we're going to pull this guy out take a look at what we got for all of our wiring very nice package thank you sir here's our boards we'll save those guys expander board spike power board everything is there we're going to lay those off to the side we're going to take a look at our connections here these are our two harnesses for our sub and our back box speakers okay so here we are with our wiring harness seems a little intimidating with everything but it's actually really clear cut here you've got two ends this end right here we will leave it up it has your quick connects for your head speakers it's even labeled right speaker left speaker so that will stay up along with this connector and what is that called the t3 million three millimeter three millimeter like a headphone jack on the top of there so this whole portion here will stay up in your head you'll take your bottom half with our CAs and your cut wires and those will feed down your head into your cabinet so again you've got your RCAs that toggle there and then you've already got all these will go to your sub it's even labeled for your subwoofer in your cab and the RCAs will go to the amp and the RCAs will go down into the amp in your cabinet so we're feeding all of this down our head and into our cab you like the Bob Vila pinball particular I want to go around here we're just going to simply drop these down and we will clean them up after we get everything hooked up. But they're already clean. Look at that. Look, they're already zip-tied for you. Look how clean that is. Cleanest installation ever out of the package. Amazing.
14:32
I feel like so many people would just send you a jumble of wires Okay so you got your connectors on the back of your speaker here There is polarity there is a positive and a negative your blue wire not your blue connector your blue wire is your positive so we just going to do that quick connect on there separate that that wire pull a little bit if you need a little gauge and we're gonna slip our negative on there that's all there is to it we're gonna repeat on the other side so blue positive blue positive negative black negative the color of the wire the color of the wire yes sir we're gonna install our pin Wolfer power board and to do that we need to disconnect see in seven up here and you want to grab don't grab your wires grab the connector itself you got a really pull that thing down we do oh my god You're going to wiggle it on out? Done. Oh my God. That thing is keyed up. It's got a little blocker in it so you know when it goes up there like so. Bada ping, bada pam. booyah right there and then you're gonna take this but a bing but a boom right back it's like idiot proof like that so there's a little plug in there won't allow you and there's a space in there howie kapoopti boom then we're gonna take where's that other nice just like that except oh failure I got to use this. Bam. Bam. Right back through there.
16:31
Okay, so now we're going to go to our Penwolfer Expander Board. How's it feel to void your warranty?
16:38
Thank you. So now we're at the Penwolfer Expander Board. Again, this is part of what sets this apart from just normal replacement upgrade speakers. What's the Expander Board do, Greg?
16:52
Expand shit. so on this we're gonna disconnect cn4 and cn1 cn4 great be seeing for after he drinks and Bruce cn1 is your larger connector we're gonna try to get to this this little one here first oh here we go again so we got that guy out we're gonna go with this larger one these are the guys I have a problem with there we go look at the sweat beating down his face that's scary okay so now we're going to take our board just like up there you've got idiot proof again you got your cm4 over here cm1 over here and that board will plug directly in now i want you guys to pay attention this factory calibrated on the bottom of here do not remove so we're leaving that on there do not remove that tape you always feel like you want to remove some shit don't do it we're gonna put this again it's like Clark Griswold doing this pinball bone-proof right in there so smooth that's nice so easy so now we're gonna take our TRS three and a half millimeter plug you can handle this give that will go right into there real easy mmm feel good I like it okay so technically we are done in the head now we're going to clean this up a little bit fold this up we're gonna go back down to the sub and we're going to install the most important part what is that Zach amplifier amplifier don't let these confuse you it looks like you've got have too many wires here one of them is a jumper set so these two black your two red will go in one side this will jump over your speaker and go to your red and black on the other side because it's dual it's not a single so we're gonna go ahead on these they push down and insert push down and insert so we're gonna come around this side feed the wire in let up that is going to clamp those hold really well no twisting necessary only the best just feed it in that hole all the way down they feel like that they're gonna end look good and secure now again we're gonna take this jumper we're gonna go over red and black we're gonna separate these a little bit i want to come in from this back side just where i prefer all the way down put that in there our sub is now hooked up now let's go to our amplifier with the heart of this system the pin woofer amplifier do not touch your knobs leave them all neutral pointing straight up again do not touch your knob we're going to simply again idiot proof plug them in only one way to do it only one way to do it plug in secure we're gonna take our RCA's obviously your red to red white to white that's your left and right channels it's pretty obvious and then you have your toggle and that toggle is going to go right into that port right there that's it folks you have your new pin woofer setup again I want to clean all these wires up I want to mount our amplifier inside the cabinet okay so inside the cab here I have my amplifier to sit on top of my coin box for right now you want all of your knobs facing vertical so you want them just pointing straight up that is all in your instructions here and then there are also adjustments that need to be made in the service menu and then you can go in and you can start adjusting and tweaking everything but these are your default so you want to go into service menu volume at 15 all others to default service menu adjust feature adjustments speech in attenuation at negative 10 service adjustment music attenuation at zero so we're going to go in and we're going to do that right now here it says that it's likely that our amplifier settings will not be optimal so at this point you can go in and you can adjust them to your preference so we're going to slap a few games on here we're going to see what it sounds like then we're going to come back we're going to do some adjustments and we're going to give you guys our thoughts all right greg so we've hooked it up we've installed it we've played it what do you think buddy i like it yeah so it's hard not to like it's hard not to like it's different um you know it i don't know how to Explain it. It's something you know, we tried to capture it on
21:48
Audio recording It just something you can capture doesn feels muddled to me when I played it feels like the head speakers are meant for Your high your tweets your mid obviously and then you can feel that bass with that sub replacement But it exactly what they touted and what they told us when they sent it to us was that you hear things that you normally wouldn't hear. And I'm not talking about you hear all these drastic sounds and it opens up this whole new world, but it is sort of a whole new world. It feels more full. Yes, it's just like we were talking about during John Williams' score on this. You hear all the horns. All the horns. It doesn't sound like just one horn.
22:25
You hear everything. It literally feels like that orchestra. And that's the thing. It's all the underlining background stuff, the complexity of the audio that you normally wouldn't get or feel. You get in this. I think it puts the audio engineers on stage. You see all the little details. Yes. So don't think you're going to get by with the factory speakers on some of it because we're going to catch it with this audio system. I agree. Like if there's a mistake, you're probably going to hear it. And just even in the speech, something is clear. You noted like during the first, like the John Hammond, like walkie-talkie. Yeah. It feels like a walkie-talkie. It's strong. You're like, ah. Yeah, it's powerful. It's there. It's in your ear. And just the fact that you can adjust to your liking. I like how you can separate it. It feels like there's two systems and you can now separate and tweak. You have that amplifier that acts sort of as a normal amplifier would, but it feels to me, I'm not a super large audiophile, but it feels more like almost like an equalizer in a sense. Just because you can adjust everything so separately and independently. This is for the audio heads out there. Those audiophiles. Very much so. Because it's not huge drastic. Yes. But it's enough that you can definitely, even our dumb ears can tell. You smile and you appreciate it. Yeah. Yeah, if you like a higher-end speaker or you throw your Sonos system together over to some cheap sound bar or something, this is... It feels like upgrading to the 4K. You're at the 1080, the 720. You can go up to that 4K. I agree. And, you know, it's going to be one of those things that I'm anxious to play with it because it's a toy. It's a toy in a sense. I like that the install was easy. All the parts were high-quality parts. Very much. I don't know. overall I think it's a winner especially if you're an audiophile you really like the crispness I just caught crispness everywhere everything sounded a little crispy I liked it is and that's stuff that hooking up like an external sub you don't get no it doesn't change that yeah you get more rumble you get more bass but you you can't change the cleaner bass though if this isn't like I've got the Polk audio everybody under that just gives you like the obnoxious thump thump yes it's like a shaker motor replacement or alternative this You feel it, but you're not thrown by it. Yeah, I don't know how to explain It's weird to explain audio on a damn video. What if you want a little heavier bass you have that adjustment? We could yes, it just feels good. It puts a smile on your face because it's just clean clean clean It was clean clean Sam those clean. I would you know what? We're in 2020 There's some pretty good audio digital audio running through this. Yes, I could only imagine the difference in like a WPC game of what the change Twilight Zone or something then you put this on there that is probably even more drastic I can see people wanting to collect these and kind of just putting them in their machines that way they know they have the crispest cleanest most filtered nice sound that you're possibly going to get for whatever's on the market right now I wonder how this would incorporate with a pen sound I don't know how that works I would be curious about it but I'm certainly impressed I like it a lot there was that difference. Like you said, it's not this, like, it's not going to, like, oh, it's going to knock you off your feet like difference. No. But you feel it, you hear it, and, like I said, I think that I can't wait to get in there and adjust it more because when you first turned it on, levels were way off to me. Yeah. I messed with it a little bit, it sounded better. Zach got in there, really honed it in a lot better, but I think even with a few more, he honed the... Not the bone. But, you know, that's what I'm saying. Like, I can't wait to get in there and just, like, define, tune to what I, like, what I like. And I'm not like everybody because, like, I don't like to blare my games. No, no, no. And, again, like I kind of said. That's why it's perfect system for us. Yeah, because you don't. And that's the thing, too, is you don't have to blare this thing. Like, you don't have to crank it up to get the feel of it. You don't have to crank it up to get the feel of the bass. You don't have to crank it up to get the clarity. You're going to get all the clarity. Yeah, you can keep it lower. It actually works at a little bit lower level a little better. So yeah, dude I don't know pin woofer pin woofer. It's a woofer woofer woof woof woof woof woof woofer pinwoofer Com get one for yourself. Let us know what you guys think after installing it into one of your favorite pinball machines or your collection I agree email us at SDT and pinball at gmail.com And when you go over to pin woofer, let them know that straight down the middle since you that would be very kind of you I think wait no one more time what else what I just got to talk about the packaging again oh god this damn it was packaged amazingly I love the packages the install was easy it's almost as if the package was just as clean as the sound on listen so you've got a deeper I got to throw this in there you've got a deeper magnet a little bit bigger going on there it still fit oh yeah with my speaker yeah see you were knocking me yes I was nervous because your speaker light bracket Everybody likes it. Yes. It still works. It fits in there. It fits in between that and the power supply.
27:35
Perfection. I'm trying to think which machine I'm going to put my pin woofer system on. I've got one in mind that I want to put one on that I'm really excited about. Circus Voltaire. Tales of Raiden and Ice. I can't speak of it. All right, guys. Until next time, go install it yourself. Let us know what you think. Straight down the middle is Adam. See you. Bye. See you.
27:58
So we're going to install our PenWolfer power board. To do that, your top plug, you're labeled CN7. We're going to pull down this tab. We're going to very gently...
28:18
You want me to do that? Terrified. Let me do it. You're my distributor. Are you ready? Okay. So we're going to install, can you see my face? We're just on this. Not now, it doesn't zoom in. All right, go ahead. Are you ready? So we're going to install our PenWolfer power board. And to do that, we need to disconnect CN7 up here. And you'll want to grab, don't grab your wires, grab the connector itself.
28:51
You've got to really pull that thing down. here I'll do in five seconds dude okay here we go we're gonna wiggle it on out