Pac-Fan
New member
Williams High Speed LED mod of matrix lamps lowered+lost sound volume in attract mode
I just finished replacing all ~62 matrix controlled lamps from under the playfield plastics on my High Speed. I left all flashers and then GI on the playfield and most GI in the backbox as incandescent #44 (PF GI) and #47 (BB GI) due to color temp and beam throw issues.
As I was swapping out the LEDs in sets from the matrix, I noted that the next time I turned it on the attract mode sounds were lower than before. Replaced another batch of ten, turned it on, and even lower. Swapped a few back to incandescent lamps and the sound came back a bit louder, so it wasn't permanent damage, just a direct correlation to amp draw.
The sounds I'm referring to is both the constant "thumping" back and forth sound, as well as especially the "sweeping" sounds that occur when the lights are controlled to come on in sweeping motions and turn off the same way.
The levels of volume have gone WAY down now after the change. However, coin up and play, everything else is fully normal. Only these two types of attract mode sounds, that seemed to be directly keyed off how many lights were on or off at the time, got much lower. Turning up the volume control just makes it slightly louder while making the actual game too loud (for home use)
So, can I assume there is some sort of analog feedback based upon the amp draw to the matrix that was used as a frequency / volume generator in the audio board? I haven't traced the schematics yet, and I'm not as good about analog as I am digital, and only an enthusiast at that and not a professional, but I was wondering if anyone else has seen this on Williams System 11 games or High Speed in particular when swapping out for LEDs.
If so, is there a way to adjust it, without, obviously, placing a dummy load on the matrix which only adds heat and damage to connectors that I was wanting to avoid with the LED mod to begin with.
Edit: 2 days later, there is absolutely NO attract sound at all when I turn the game on. NOTHING plays in the attract mode. As soon as I start up a game, all the normal sounds work fine, and stepping through things in test mode plays fine, but none of the background sounds are there in attract mode.
I cranked up the volume pot and could just barely hear the thumping of the background sound (but no sweeping sound) during attract, yet the volume level of the actual sounds in the game was ear shattering, so there is nothing wrong with the volume pot at all.
So what blew on the sound board (or CPU board)?
I just finished replacing all ~62 matrix controlled lamps from under the playfield plastics on my High Speed. I left all flashers and then GI on the playfield and most GI in the backbox as incandescent #44 (PF GI) and #47 (BB GI) due to color temp and beam throw issues.
As I was swapping out the LEDs in sets from the matrix, I noted that the next time I turned it on the attract mode sounds were lower than before. Replaced another batch of ten, turned it on, and even lower. Swapped a few back to incandescent lamps and the sound came back a bit louder, so it wasn't permanent damage, just a direct correlation to amp draw.
The sounds I'm referring to is both the constant "thumping" back and forth sound, as well as especially the "sweeping" sounds that occur when the lights are controlled to come on in sweeping motions and turn off the same way.
The levels of volume have gone WAY down now after the change. However, coin up and play, everything else is fully normal. Only these two types of attract mode sounds, that seemed to be directly keyed off how many lights were on or off at the time, got much lower. Turning up the volume control just makes it slightly louder while making the actual game too loud (for home use)
So, can I assume there is some sort of analog feedback based upon the amp draw to the matrix that was used as a frequency / volume generator in the audio board? I haven't traced the schematics yet, and I'm not as good about analog as I am digital, and only an enthusiast at that and not a professional, but I was wondering if anyone else has seen this on Williams System 11 games or High Speed in particular when swapping out for LEDs.
If so, is there a way to adjust it, without, obviously, placing a dummy load on the matrix which only adds heat and damage to connectors that I was wanting to avoid with the LED mod to begin with.
Edit: 2 days later, there is absolutely NO attract sound at all when I turn the game on. NOTHING plays in the attract mode. As soon as I start up a game, all the normal sounds work fine, and stepping through things in test mode plays fine, but none of the background sounds are there in attract mode.
I cranked up the volume pot and could just barely hear the thumping of the background sound (but no sweeping sound) during attract, yet the volume level of the actual sounds in the game was ear shattering, so there is nothing wrong with the volume pot at all.
So what blew on the sound board (or CPU board)?
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