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Xtension Alpha 3/4 mini-cabinet


Zoyous

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The Xtension Alpha 3/4 cabinet kit was brought up in the discussion of the Arcade1Up series of dedicated mini-cabinets. I recently received and assembled it, and I wanted to share my impressions without derailing that thread.

 

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The kit includes the cabinet, fastener hardware, and a pre-assembled control panel that has a USB cord output. The manufacturers (Rec Room Masters) recommend a particular model of television to mount inside as a monitor, with the television's built-in speakers serving as cabinet speakers. I went with their recommended model but instead of using the TV speakers I have a line going from the headphone jack to a Klipsh ProMedia 2.1 set with the subwoofer in the base of the cabinet and the two satellite speakers set on top behind the marquee. On top of the subwoofer, I set my laptop which is running MAME. Later on I'd like to get a Raspberry Pi to put in there.

 

The quality of the cabinet is very good overall. Every piece is 3/4" particle board with a black satin laminate finish, both inside and out. The kit came in three boxes and everything was packed very safely and securely, with lots of bubble wrap as well as foam cushioning around every corner of every piece, and everything bundled in multiple layers of plastic wrap. Unpacking actually took about a half hour because everything was packed so extensively.

 

Prepping the cabinet just consisted of inserting 20 metal cross dowels in the various panels. Assembly consisted of then fitting the panels together with their included wooden dowel pegs that are already in place. The television is mounted onto a board with four bolts and then you just have to be mindful of feeding the cables through the cabinet correctly before fitting the rest together. Assembly took about 90 minutes and was mostly very easy. The final step of attaching the last side panel was the most time-consuming because instead of lining up two or three pegs as you have on the previous panels, you are lining up all of the remaining pegs and tamping everything down. Then the cabinet is further held together with 16 allen wrench screws.

 

The cabinet does come with decals for the artwork shown, but I opted to leave those off as I want to have custom artwork made later on (I'm thinking probably Joust!). The manufacturer doesn't yet offer this but they say they will soon; they already offer the option for their full-size cabs.

 

One thing about the assembly that I don't like is that the monitor/TV is really closed up in there and it would require disassembling a lot of the cabinet to swap it out or even really access it comfortably. It's worth noting because, although I got the 19" display they recommend, I was surprised to see that there's enough extra space in there for a slightly larger screen, so that would have been good to know in advance. Also, if any dust or splinters from the particle board get on the inside of the bezel, there's no way to really get at it once it's all bolted together to clean it.

 

The control panel feels great. The buttons are slightly louder than the leaf switch buttons I installed in my modded iCade cabinet, but not very loud. The joystick feels great, with quiet microswitches, although personally I would have preferred a ball-top stick, but I must admit the bat top is quite comfortable.

 

These are the dimensions:

Dimensions: 23.15" D x 23.75" W x 46" H
Weight: 60 lbs
Controller Platforms Sits 26 3/4" Off The Floor
Inside Cabinet Storage Dimensions: 17.75" D x 21" W x 25.5" H

 

I must admit it takes up a bit more space than I was envisioning. It's comfortable to sit at in my office chair and my 7-year-old daughter is comfortable sitting or standing.

 

Some of the pluses for this cabinet over the Arcade1Up in my mind are: the control panel is 4 inches wider. Two people can play together without bumping into each other's hands. There's more room for a larger screen, although only in horizontal orientation. The overall build quality of the cabinet seems better, as every piece is 3/4" and finished on all sides. Some minuses: you don't have the beautiful licensed cabinet artwork (unless you shell out extra to have the manufacturer make unlicensed vinyl decals). And you have to provide a lot of your own hardware (display, optional speakers, PC or Pi or Jamma). Also, the design of the cabinet is definitely for a widescreen display. You can put a CRT in there but you'll have empty space on the sides. So you have to be cool with the tradeoff. I spent some time gathering and modifying bezel overlays for MAME so I think it still looks fairly good using a widescreen display.

 

Overall my first impressions are really positive. I spent a lot of time researching MAME cabinets and then was kind of thrown for a loop by the announcement of the Arcade1Up series. I really liked the idea of a small cabinet but still wanted the versatility of MAME. I think this is a good option for people who want a small cabinet, people who are already familiar and comfortable with MAME but maybe don't have woodworking or soldering skills. It sounds great with the subwoofer booming in there! The price point is decent and assembly is pretty quick and easy. I do wish it was easier to access the monitor if need be. And it would be cool if the lower front panel could open on hinges. I can probably modify that later on down the road. It's probably fairly easy to modify the marquee if you want to have one that lights up. I haven't opened up the control panel yet, but it looks like there's probably room if you want to install a spinner in the middle. Anyhow, those are my impressions. If anyone has any questions I'll see if I can answer them.

Edited by Zoyous
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Not that I've seen. They do have a couple of control panels for full size cabinets that have two sets of joysticks and a trackball. But yeah... I spent a long time thinking about and agonizing over trackballs and spinners and eventually I was willing to settle for a setup without them. Personally I had to have two joysticks for Robotron. But if you feel comfortable with modding the control panel there's probably room to remove the second joystick and put a trackball there. So far the only modding I've ever done is replacing buttons, so do some research. The company knows that some people are into modding so it might be worth chatting with them about it.

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Thanks for writing up your review, I wasn't aware of this product and it does seem a more compelling than the 1up toys. If I were to get a home cabinet (and I'm not certain I really want one), I think I'd prefer a vertical screen since all my computer monitors and laptops and televisions are horizontal widescreens. I wonder if there's one of those out there?

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Thanks for writing up your review, I wasn't aware of this product and it does seem a more compelling than the 1up toys. If I were to get a home cabinet (and I'm not certain I really want one), I think I'd prefer a vertical screen since all my computer monitors and laptops and televisions are horizontal widescreens. I wonder if there's one of those out there?

There's literally unlimited amounts of DIY cabs like this out there.

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Thanks for writing up your review, I wasn't aware of this product and it does seem a more compelling than the 1up toys. If I were to get a home cabinet (and I'm not certain I really want one), I think I'd prefer a vertical screen since all my computer monitors and laptops and televisions are horizontal widescreens. I wonder if there's one of those out there?

 

This same company has a product that's not exactly a cabinet. It's a full size platform for a control panel and monitor, and the monitor mount is designed so you can quickly and easily change the orientation of your display between horizontal and vertical. It uses strong magnets to hold the monitor in place. But because of that, the monitor isn't really enclosed like in a classic cabinet design. Still, it's pretty neat.

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