Mario Bros Very Low Sound

JonM

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I bought an original wide-body Mario Bros from some years ago that went straight into storage. I finally pulled it out today. It powered on and plays. Pretty shocked that it just worked. I don't hear any sound. Well, I hear a little sound when I walk in the game, but it is very, very slow. I've read the manual and looked around inside. Is there a volume pot somewhere? I can't hear anything when doing the sound self tests. Where do I begin on this? I'd be thankful for any suggestions.
 
Volume pot is on the monitor. Adjust that first and go from there. Going off memory, there is also one on the game board, odds are your issue is on the monitor though.

Edit: The volume pot on the game board is not populated unless the audio amp circuit is populated. That was not standard and certainly would not have been populated in a wide body. Seems I confused myself because I've been doing nothing but Space Fever and Space Firebird era boards for a while.
 
The monitor is almost guaranteed to be a 20EZ. Volume pot is on the rear of the monitor. You can really only access it from the back door.

Sanyos have the audio built into the monitor. If the audio board has never been capped, then it's time.
 
BONUS: do the hum mod on the audio board and eliminate the classic Nintendo background hum.
listen for this hum. if you hear that but the game sounds are low then there's probably something else amiss.

these monitors were super prone to _needing_ caps a decade ago, so if the monitor hasn't been serviced it's overdue. unfortunately some of the caps used leak. if you have foldover at the top of the screen then C407 in particular is sick. lol

also Mario Bros. might have a Sanyo Z2AW unless the monitor was swapped in the past. it'll have an inverter board like seen in the pictures here: https://www.arcaderepair.net/sanyo-ezv-z2aw-colors-white-balance/ (also, a good read, if I say so myself ;) )
 
Thank you for all the great information. So I found the volume pot and turning it up all the way, didn't change anything. I also don't hear any hum. The picture on this monitor is amazing, the control panel is missing parts. If I can get the sound working, I'll do a full restore. What should I do next? Rebuild the monitor audio board?



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you do have an EZV, rad.

make sure the amp board plugs are all plugged in exactly like the picture (just actually seat your plugs in all the way unlike my visual aid!)

if your JB and JC plugs are mixed up then you'll have other serious issues. that brown wire plug with the black and white wires is what connects the game sound to the amp, I've seen games where that was unplugged or the other end was missing entirely. the speaker itself has a red/white wire connection running to that transformer, make sure there's a solid connection between there and the speaker. and actually measure resistance between the +/- legs of the speaker, make sure you actually have 8 ohm there. the wires in the speaker can sometimes break off from the legs. I've saved a few speakers over the years soldering those back together. I think I've covered all the bases on this issue...

sanyoamp.jpg
 
Yep, sounds like a full rebuild makes sense in this case. Mario Bros WB is such an awesome game. I did a full blown restore when I bought mine a few months ago, and it was one of the most satisfying experiences I've ever had in this hobby.

Good luck!
Jason
 
Thanks again for your help, I'm working through it. I rebuilt the audio amp and replaced the speaker. I'm now getting sound. However, I only get some of the sounds. I ran through the self tests and I only hear sound on 3 of them. Sound 06, 1B and 1C. The running sound is 06 I believe and it sounds like it might be playing fast. Where do I check next? I assume something on the game board now.
 
After determinng the analog sounds were off and the digital sounds were a no show, I sent the board off to be repaired. El Dorado turned it around fast. It is back and all the sounds work. I'm continuing to refurb the rest of the game. Thanks for your help!
 
Yep, sounds like a full rebuild makes sense in this case. Mario Bros WB is such an awesome game. I did a full blown restore when I bought mine a few months ago, and it was one of the most satisfying experiences I've ever had in this hobby.

Good luck!
Jason
I got it done! Replaced T-Molding, Marquee light, Speaker. Rebuilt the audio amp. New control panel overlay. Replaced wrong/missing buttons, rebuilt joysticks. Made a back door, it was missing. Added highscore save kit. Sent the board out to repair the missing digital audio. Received it back in a week and it works great! The sides have a few dings and are missing the artwork. I'm going to leave that alone for now.

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