Method of playing music in the arcade

WarLordAG

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What do you guys who have music in the arcade use for playing it?

I need at least 4 speakers, though 6 may be ideal. I have been throwing the idea around of a cheap home theater in a box, as it seems like a cheap and effective way to get a receiver and 4 speakers.

I'd like an iPod or USB stick, something along those lines, to be my source of music. I don't want a dedicated PC hooked up to just run music out.
 
Juke box(s) baby, juke boxes!

I have two 45 juke boxes. One is a 1982 Rockola 488, the other is my workhorse for the last 10 years a Rowe AMi R-89, 1984.

There is no substitute for a good jukebox. In case you're worrying about cost, I paid 12.64 for my Rockola out the door at a Super Auctions auction about two years ago. The Rowe is another story since I had it shipped BITD when I bought it.

The deals on the '80's jukes are out there because they're not all that popular but they sure sound better than a vintage juke. Either one of mine will blow you out of my gameroom without any extra speakers.

Tom
 
I have just a cheap home theater with detachable speakers. I'd love to have a jukebox but it would take up room that I am saving for more games. I would like to one day wire up something nice, speakers mounted in the ceiling corners, etc. With ALL of my favorites on an ipod or whatever. I'm still in the dark ages, though.
 
I don't have an "arcade" per se, but my basement area has a lot of games and I like to run music in there. My cheap way of doing it is to hook up speakers in the drop ceiling so they're pretty much hidden, and then run wires to the source...either an iPod, or (my favorite way) a PSP that runs RSS music channels over the air. I like choosing genres and letting it play forever until I get tired of it and switch it up. As long as you have WiFi nearby, that option is great!
 
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I had a jukebox at one point, but it was huge, so I ended up giving it away to a coworker. Now, I use a bookshelf system, and it works fine.
 
A fellow collector has a jukebox, and it looks and sounds very nice. I really do like it.

However, I have been collecting music videos and MP3's for the last 10 years, I have something like 2000 music videos 80's, rock, you name it, and 7000 MP3's. I wrote a custom jukebox program that will play both audio or video seemlessly, and you can queue them up while it is still playing in the background. When I have gamedays, there is always a group of 3 people queueing up the video jukebox. Yes, it is a windows computer with a nice LCD monitor, with the audio out jack going out to a several hundred watt amplifier. Nice thing about that setup is I have microphones hooked up so they love to karoake, without the words of course.

So in the end, its what you want

Simplicity, pretty, nice sound, limited selection -- go with a real jukebox.
Middle of the road -- Your average entertainment center these days allow you to hook up an ipod or MP3 player to pipe out audio.
Does everything, unlimited music -- go with a computer with some type of jukebox software.

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Behind the bar, I also run a 90's Pioneer receiver/power amp with a 100 CD changer, XM Satellite tuner, I-pod/phone dock and a sweet early 80's Technics Direct Drive turntable plugged into it.
 
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Behind the bar, I also run a 90's Pioneer receiver/power amp with a 100 CD changer, XM Satellite tuner, I-pod/phone dock and a sweet early 80's Technics Direct Drive turntable plugged into it.

That is a really nice setup... you need to get some chairs though. Those folding chairs aren't doing your room any justice.
 
What do you guys who have music in the arcade use for playing it?

I need at least 4 speakers, though 6 may be ideal. I have been throwing the idea around of a cheap home theater in a box, as it seems like a cheap and effective way to get a receiver and 4 speakers.

I'd like an iPod or USB stick, something along those lines, to be my source of music. I don't want a dedicated PC hooked up to just run music out.

Get you a WD TV Live and hook it up to a receiver for the amp. You can stream music and it also has a shoutcast server and it's foot print is about the half the size of a dvd case.

It also has a input so you can hook a grill up to it.
 
Jukebox
Seeburg Stereo Showcase SS 160 :D
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I looked into that WD TV Live and it looks nice. If I ever want to put $150 more into the music/video aspect of the basement, that'll do nicely!
 
I sued to have a Rock-Ola 454 for mine but sold that when I bought a Rock-Ola 2000X CD jukebox. 100 CDs. MORE than enough music for a gathering. It's pretty cool and this way, people can choose what they want to hear. To me, it keeps the true "feel" of being in a barcade. :)

Bill
 
MP3 touchscreen jukebox:
Picture003.sized.jpg

http://thebrokenjoystick.com/pictures/mp3jukebox

5 speakers - one in each corner of the arcade and one on top of Discs of Tron. Really old pentium II laptop sitting on top of Tron and running DWJukebox with radio mode enabled (so if nobody chooses music it will play random songs). Speakers and laptop output hooked up to an old and powerful amp again sitting on top of Discs of Tron. The amp has cool lights on it and makes it easy to control the volume or switch to radio if I am so inclined. The touchscreen is mounted on the side of a cabinet in the arcade front and center in the arcade right next to Tron. Works out great. Total cost of materials was ~$100 for the touchscreen - all the rest was free/scavenged/already on hand.
 
MP3 touchscreen jukebox:
Picture003.sized.jpg

http://thebrokenjoystick.com/pictures/mp3jukebox

5 speakers - one in each corner of the arcade and one on top of Discs of Tron. Really old pentium II laptop sitting on top of Tron and running DWJukebox with radio mode enabled (so if nobody chooses music it will play random songs). Speakers and laptop output hooked up to an old and powerful amp again sitting on top of Discs of Tron. The amp has cool lights on it and makes it easy to control the volume or switch to radio if I am so inclined. The touchscreen is mounted on the side of a cabinet in the arcade front and center in the arcade right next to Tron. Works out great. Total cost of materials was ~$100 for the touchscreen - all the rest was free/scavenged/already on hand.

This is what i will be going to once my arcade is finished in basement.
 
MP3 touchscreen jukebox:
Picture003.sized.jpg

http://thebrokenjoystick.com/pictures/mp3jukebox

5 speakers - one in each corner of the arcade and one on top of Discs of Tron. Really old pentium II laptop sitting on top of Tron and running DWJukebox with radio mode enabled (so if nobody chooses music it will play random songs). Speakers and laptop output hooked up to an old and powerful amp again sitting on top of Discs of Tron. The amp has cool lights on it and makes it easy to control the volume or switch to radio if I am so inclined. The touchscreen is mounted on the side of a cabinet in the arcade front and center in the arcade right next to Tron. Works out great. Total cost of materials was ~$100 for the touchscreen - all the rest was free/scavenged/already on hand.

That is a really cool idea! Is that PVC pipe around the monitor?
 
MP3 touchscreen jukebox:
Picture003.sized.jpg

http://thebrokenjoystick.com/pictures/mp3jukebox

5 speakers - one in each corner of the arcade and one on top of Discs of Tron. Really old pentium II laptop sitting on top of Tron and running DWJukebox with radio mode enabled (so if nobody chooses music it will play random songs). Speakers and laptop output hooked up to an old and powerful amp again sitting on top of Discs of Tron. The amp has cool lights on it and makes it easy to control the volume or switch to radio if I am so inclined. The touchscreen is mounted on the side of a cabinet in the arcade front and center in the arcade right next to Tron. Works out great. Total cost of materials was ~$100 for the touchscreen - all the rest was free/scavenged/already on hand.

I want to do this for my Outer Limits room. I have everything but the Jukebox and touchscreen software. Don't even know where to start really.
 
I'm surprised Brien / Arcadenut hasn't posted up in here yet with his cool mini Robotron juke...
 
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My MAME cocktail doubles as a jukebox running DWJUKE software... I have about a thousand different albums in it right now and plenty of room to add more. I was going to build a wall touch-screen juke but I have no real reason to as I NEED a table in the gameroom and this works great as a table and juke. Controls are done with the joystick and 5 buttons. The software is pretty slick as it shows album covers for each and has a nice "RADIO" feature that selects random songs with a mixture of "popular" songs (songs that have been played multiple times on the machine). I have it hooked up to a tiny little amp I got off ebay that pumps the 2 YAMAHA 8" 3-way bookshelf speakers I have hanging above it...

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