Reviews - Advice Replacement Williams D-8224 Sound Board by Kohout Enterprise

corkgiants

Member
Joined
Aug 26, 2011
Messages
33
Reaction score
4
Location
Leesburg, Virginia
Reviews - Advice Replacement Williams D-8224 Sound Board by Kohout Enterprise

Does anyone have any feedback or advice on this replacement board?

I appreciate anything you could tell me. Has anyone else bought one and had any problems with the board or with this company?

Much appreciated. Jim


This is a drop in replacement for the Williams D-8224 Sound Board. Same as all the
other Kohout Enterprises boards, it uses new components (when available), and replaces any obsolete components to keep your machine running for another 20 years. It is particularly important on this board because of the large capacitors used for the power supply and the amplifier section, which do not age well, causing poor performance, such as bad humming. Capacitor technology has also improved greatly since 1980, as can be seen on this board. The same value capacitors require about half the room of the original, leaving extra space for larger heatsinks to keep the regulator and amplifier running cooler.

This sound board was used in a variety of Williams pinball machines as well as some arcade games. Unlike the original Williams board, the jumpers are clearly labeled and easily changed without soldering, so anyone set up the board for their application with little work. This board is built on a 0.094" board instead of the typical 0.063" board. This makes a HUGE difference in the rigidity of the board. You can feel a difference just holding the replacement board and it makes a BIG difference when installing while removing or installing the connectors as it grealty reduces the chance for stress cracks.

System 6 or System 7 With Speech:
Black Knight
Gorgar
Blackout
Firepower
Firepower II
Jungle Lord
Pharoah
Alien Poker
System 6 or System 7 without Speech:
Defender
Solar Fire
Barracora
Hyperball
Stargate
Cosmic Gunfight
Varkon
Time Fantasy
Algar
Shuffle Bowlers
Big Strike
Video Games:
Defender
Sinistar
Robotron
Joust
Bubbles
Warlok
This board comes supplied with a EEPROM and configured for the game of your choice from the list above, so be sure to provide the correct machine machine when ordering. This EEPROM will be one of the few I.C.s on the board that will not be new, along with the Motorola 6802 Microproccesor and Motorola 6821 PIA. Changing these would require a code conversion and specialized EEPROM. As a result, these three devices may not be "new" devices, however they are readily available from multiple sources.

Each board comes complete with the replacement board, schematics, board layout drawings, and
instructions.
The Old Williams D-8224 Sound Board:



The New Kohout Enterprises System 6/7 Sound Board:



Notice the larger heatsinks and jumper settings printed directly on the board for easy setup and configuration:






The extra thick board compared to the original:



The new Kohout Enterprises System 6/7 Sound Board mounted in the backbox with original Williams speech module:
 
I haven't used them myself, but Kohut has a great reputation for making quality stuff. Nothing fancy, basically a modernized version of the original design.

-Hans
 
I have the sound and speech board from them on my Gorgar. Dropped right in, the jumpers were already correct and have not had one single issue in almost a year. I would buy another in a minute.
 
Thanks Fellas

Thanks for the replies, good info. The new sound board did drop right in. I cant seem to get the right jumper settings to get my Alien Poker speech working however.

I'll drop him an email and see what I'm doing wrong. I'll post when I'm all set. Nice looking board in any case !!!
 
James Kohout = Good Guy & Good Product

This was a good experience all around. I had some set up issues with my particular board and ROM chip set up. The Alien Poker replacement sound board is awesome, clear, loud, crisp, and a huge upgrade from the older original board I had in my pinball machine.

Just as important, I was very pleased with James' quick responses to my questions, he really did a nice job walking me through the possibilities. Highly recommended!!!

www.pinballpcb.com

Great job James.
 
Okay...just browsed around their site, glad you posted that.

That's one hell of an approach to replacing the display driver boards. Kind of awesome.. "Screw these obsolete IC's, we'll just make everything out of base components!"

LOL. Completely defeats the point of an IC in the first place, but in this case, makes a rather compelling case for NOT having an IC.
 
Okay...just browsed around their site, glad you posted that.

That's one hell of an approach to replacing the display driver boards. Kind of awesome.. "Screw these obsolete IC's, we'll just make everything out of base components!"

LOL. Completely defeats the point of an IC in the first place, but in this case, makes a rather compelling case for NOT having an IC.

Pretty much a necessity as well. It's getting harder and harder to maintain the plasma displays, and more expensive too. Would be cool if he came out with a System 6 master display board too.

-Hans
 
Back
Top Bottom