Question from a pcb novice

[Sycada]

Hi everyone,

I'm a long time Cave shooter fan who loves Danmaku shooters more than any other game type, so much so that I've decided I want to get into the PCB arcade cab scene in a month or so when I don't have to put it all on a credit card .
I've done some researching and decided I wanna pick up Mushihimesama Futari 1.5 and a cheaper cab, was looking at the sega astro city but just wanted to run that by you guys who seem to collect a lot of arcade boards and see whether I missed anything...
Is there anything else I would need besides this? anything I should know about these things or keep in mind seeing as I've never owned a cab before, etc?

Thanks for your time,

Sycada

[Sperrfeuer]

right,you only need a JAMMA Cab and the PCB (maybe you need a 230V to 110V stepdown converter depending on your location)

i would buy an Egret 2 not an astro....i know the astro is cheaper, but it's older (older monitor) and it has no easy rotation mechanism....and maybe in some months you buy Death smiles or progear or an other hori shmup and believe me..... rotating the monitor is pain and the risk of damaging something is high

[Sycada]

Thanks for the advice. I checked the prices on the Egret 2 and it's listed as almost 3 times the price of the Astro,is that right? if so I'll need to think about it a little but I'll definately take what you said on board. I'm in Australia so I don't think I'll need the step down from Japanese voltage since we're on 220-240 voltage.

Thanks again for the help, Now I just gotta go hunting for a futari pcb

[SuperPang]

Japan is 100V so unless the PSU has been altered you'll need a stepdown transformer (pref 300W)

I've had maybe 10 cabs and the Astro is my cab of choice for cave. If you can only fit one in your life and want to play hori regularly, the Egret 2 may be a wise investment however as it takes 1 person 2 minutes whereas the Astro is a 10 minute job for two..

[Sperrfeuer]

The astro is a great cab, but as said it's older and has a Nanao MS8, and i prefer the MS9 (because of the controls)  
But if you really think you will only need it for tate shmups an astro is a fine cab

the rot mech is so important for me because i always remember when i started with arcade...i had 1 cab (no rot mech) and some hori and vert PCB's.... on the 2nd or 3rd rotation i almost killed my cab...after this i bought a 2nd one...now i have 6 cab's...(and my girlfriend is almost killing me.. )

[Sycada]

Ah, stepdown transformer it is! Thanks for that.

I'm only getting this cab to play Cave, I think it's likely that an Astro will be what I end up with, because the likely hood of me playing hori in it is lower at the moment, I can't imagine owning Death Smiles for at least a year since there are other games I want before hand and I won't be buying pcbs that often.
If I ever do decide to buy hori, I may consider upgrading or getting a second cab at that time.
Two would be the maximum though. I think I'd be killed if I got anymore

[jonny5]

i wouldnt be too worried about rotating the monitor in an astro.....i have one and unless you cant lift more than 150 lbs. its a easy to do by yourself......

step 1...unhook monitor from cab...

step 2...undo mounting bolts....

step 3...grab monitor by the HANDHOLDS in the mounting struts and lift it out of the cab....put it down.....rotate it....

step 4...pick it up and put it back in the cab and re-do everything up....

5 mins.....when i got my new monitor i was lifing it in and out like 10 times a day for like 3 days working out kinks.....its not that bad

but if you are worried about heavy lifting it might be worth the extra money for the egret 2

my 2 cents

and arent new astro's the same age as e2"s?

[toki]

With my Astro, I find rotating *much* easier if I lay the cab on its back first.
Undo the nuts, stand over the monitor, lift and turn, tighten nuts, raise cab back to standing.

Mind your back when lifting, though!

[drboom]

Totally agreed with everything said about Astros and the ease of moving the monitor. Plus, the price is crazy good (Matsu has New Astro's for $650, while Egret II's are $1200+). They also seem like they are easier to get parts for in general, but I'm really not sure if this is the case.

[gsl]

Stupid question:  If one were to import a Japanese cabinet to the US, would one still have to get some sort of transformer for the 100V<->110V discrepancy between the two voltages, or is it like most consumer electronics where that extra 10V won't pose much of a problem?

[SuperPang]

The second one