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Thought I would share my latest project. I acquired a nice 3W1 recently and after some tweaking it seems to be working well. The coin mechanism is functional so I decided to keep it which meant I needed to build a separate box for the emulator, transformers and switches. I used Klaatu’s suggestion to build a base with the same footprint as the 3W1. It’s pretty tight but looks like I’ll be able to fit everything in. It’s still a work in progress. I’m thinking about trying to put chrome vinyl on it to match the 3W1.
Now for the bad news…. I received three wallbox2mp3 emulators a few days ago and the first thing I noticed was that one of the power supplies had a European plug on it so I can’t use it. Not a big deal really. I used one of the others and hooked up one of the new emulators to another SC1 I had ready. I got a flashing error message. After checking the SD card and my connections were okay I checked the power supply. It was putting out 10.5 volts instead of 5 volts. Then I connected the third power supply (which was putting out the correct voltage) and the emulator appeared to be playing a song but there was no sound and after about a minute the error light started flashing again. The I tried the other two emulators and while they both appeared to be playing a song there was no sound. So out of the three power supplies and three emulators I only have one power supply that’s usable and no emulators. I contacted Fabien and Gaelle but haven’t heard back from either. 🙁
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Hi Sooner
Nice looking box there pal!
Sorry to hear you have problems with the kit, I guess you have checked the position of the volume potentiometer selection switch on the board, if in the wrong position I think there will be no sound ? Although I don’t think that it would flash the error led.?
I know there was a batch of emulators made that had the optocoupler fitted the wrong way around. (I received a couple of them) But I would have thought that Fabien would have sorted all of those by now but it might be worth taking a look.
In the photo below the pencil is pointing to the optocoupler if you look very closely there is a small circular mark on top of it, this mark should be on the right when viewed as in the photo.
l must say your wooden box does look very professional, you are obviously rather competent in the craft of wood butchery.
Hope you get a quick response from Fabien / Gaëlle and that they are prompt in resolving get your problems.
Cheers Scudie.
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Thanks Scudie.
My optocoupler is okay. The problem seems to be in the audio amplifiers. After more testing I discovered the sound coming from the headphone (line out) jack is working. There’s just no sound at all coming from the speaker output. Plus… the emulator that was connected to the 10.5 volt power supply quits working after a couple of minutes and starts flashing the error light.
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Morning, Sooner
I guess that the higher voltage may have damaged one of the emulators, which is bad news. And very disappointing to hear. Have you heard anything From Fabien or Gaëlle yet regarding the problem?
Have just been out and bought some materials to have a bash at start building a box to fit the conversion parts in. I have a idea and will give it a go if successful will post photos later.
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No word from Fabien or Gaelle. I purchased through eBay so hopefully I’ll at least get a refund although what I really want are replacement emulators. Particularly because I already have the box for the 3W1 already made to fit.
Look forward to seeing what you come up with for yours. Do you plan to included speakers in it?
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Hi Sooner
its a real shame that no one has been in touch about your problems, l had hoped that since Gaëlle had joined Fabien that things were going to get better, initially when the forum was re started (I think just after last Christmas) both Fabien & Gaëlle were seen to be active answering queries on the forum, and replying to emails fairly promptly. But it is sad to say that there does not appear to have been much input from either of them on the forum recently.
And that the time it takes for them to respond to emails has to be said is a bit hit and miss to say the least. I have still had no response from Fabien concerning my friend Andrews findings / suggestions about possible modifications to the emulator to resolve the humming noise from the audio. I did get a response from Gaëlle thanking me & telling me that Fabien would take a look at it & be in touch.
As to the box yes I intend to fit a couple of 50mm speakers I have ordered them along with a couple of AC transformers they should arrive tomorrow.
cheers Scudie
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The two emulators I have that do work properly have a low level buzzing sound on both channels but it’s not that bad. I think they may have fixed the problem with buzzing on the left channel only. have you purchased any recently?
Are you going to use a wallbox2mp3 emulators on your 3W1 or some other? I’m curious what speakers you have ordered. I’m having second thoughts about the box I’m making for my 3W1. I’m thinking now it would look better behind the wallxbox instead of underneath. Also would be good to have speakers in it. I’m sort of on hold for now though, waiting to see if I can get a working wallbox2mp3 or if I have to use some other.
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Good Morning
In answer to your question no I haven’t bought any emulators recently.
Yes I intend to use one with the 3w1 and mount it in the box that I am building with the transformer & the 5 v psu.
I did consider doing the box behind the wallbox myself, but thought I would try that later & try and keep it as slim as possible.
Speakers are from RS components here in the uk. Will post a photo when they arrive.
cheers Scudie
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Hi Sooner
I do realise that they are only a small company & that Fabien has many roles, so he is always very busy& that when his partner left the company he was left to try and run it all on his own. With the jukebox /wallbox expert gone I believe he was dropped in at the deep end in regards to Wallbox’s. The wb2mp3 emulator is not the only thing they market, the Retroelectronik website has many products, I am guessing designed and built by Fabien. Don’t get me wrong it is very good news that you have been refunded, so your not left out of pocket, But I am guessing that if you ordered 3 emulators that is because you wanted 3 emulators & that you would have much more preferred replacement units.
I believe I have said this before else where on the forum, how many potential customers look into the pro’s and cons of a product on line before purchasing? How many look on this forum prior to purchasing ? Surely if the forum was was looked at by Fabien or Gaëlle once a week, they would have been able to pick up on your post & post’s similar to this.
Potential customers I am sure, would be much more confident & more likely to order the emulators if they saw that the after sales back up was there, and they were able to sort out problems with wrong / faulty equipment in an efficient manner.
Anyway transformers, speakers, switches , & lamps arrived today so here is a couple of photos of the speakers, no idea what they will sound like, will have to wait and see.
Cheers Scudie
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The strange thing is I only purchased 2 emulators this time. Gaelle sent me an email explaining that they noticed I had purchased a total of four so they were sending me one free. He also said they give special prices to returning customers.
I sent them another message through ebay asking about getting replacements instead of a refund so we’ll see if they respond to that.
I’m curious how your speakers sounds compared to the SC speakers. I looked on YouTube and found some videos of small speakers. They look like they sound pretty good… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qG9UuDXYT4
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Hi Guys Good to hear that you have had a reply & that it sounds like you may well get the replacement units that you wanted.
Still building my box it’s fair to say it’s work in progress , I did try to figure it out on paper first, but as I am more of a hands on kind a guy I felt that I would be better off just getting on with the job. It is challenging trying to fit everything that I want into the space I have allowed. I do keep thinking of things & have to then modify to be able to acomadate. But still where there’s a will eh.
Cheers Scudie
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My wife asked if I had a drawing of the box I was making and I told her yes, in my head. It is challenging fitting everything into a small space. I just ordered two small speakers that I think will fit in mine. They’re small but I suspect they’ll sound at least as good as the ones in an SC. https://www.parts-express.com/tang-band-w1-2121s-1-3-4-aluminum-full-range-neodymium-driver–264-825
I didn’t hear back again from Fabien so I went ahead and purchased 2 more replacment emulators through eBay. Fingers crossed that these work properly.
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Looks like we are all the same. I figure the idea in my head, I should say many ideas, many.
Then I try to find the better, make a little drawing to see if that looks good. Sometime I use Photoshop to check proportion with real size. But When I start working wood, there is always something you didn’t think of, and you change initial plan. But I like it that way.A router is my best investment for this.
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Good morning Klaatu
I guess it was you who has removed the Russian ? Posts, so thanks. Strange thing is that I was able to post a reply in that section without being required to prove that I can recognise a zebra crossing or that I know what a shop front looks like.
As any one been able to read the post by Anonymous?
Regarding ideas I have them, submit them to the planning authority (wife) from which I normally get a negative response, but this time I received a maybe, so took that as a green light and went ahead anyway!
Cheers Scudie
This all
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Hello Scudie,
Yes I removed the post. I didn’t saw it before. I don’t get notification when a new post is online. And don’t always look everywhere. Remember, I only do this to help, no compensation. And I don’t have all access. Just moderation.
“Anti-spam” used on this board isn’t a perfect solution… They will have to look for a better one. You can’t imagine how many spam there is in the comments on article… -
I guessed that it would be you as I have not seen evidence of Fabien or Gaëlle on here for quite a while now.
It is very good that you offer to do this as a volunteer otherwise the forum would once again get swamped with spam. Often wondered why the call it spam ? when I was a kid we used to have spam sandwiches or spam with a salad, basically it was tinned meat a bit like luncheon meat.
Carry on the good work👍
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Have just seen Sooners photo with the conversion components cleverly hidden out of site. It is all starting to make sense.
No drawing pictures of boxes, no saw dust and glue fumes.
No problems with access when changing sd card, or adjusting the volume.
No problems with components overheating plenty of air to circulate plus the back of the 3w1 will act as a heat sink.
Infact the only negative I can think of is the length of screws required to facilitate fastening it to the wall.
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I had kind of guessed that it wasn’t one of yours , after seeing the quality in the photos of your SC1 and the box you have made for your 3W1.
I grabbed a couple of hours yesterday and managed to get all the components into my box. Connected them all together, haven’t had time to test it yet, will now concentrate on disguising the box & making it easy on the eye.
Cheers Scudie
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Still working on the box when I get a minute, I have most of the parts now cut to size & have started to assemble (loosely) the cover for the box, this will hopefully disguise it.
The page return springs that I had ordered from Jukebox revival in Holland, for the 3w1 have arrived so hope to get those fitted soon.
crazy thing I can buy the springs here in the uk but with VAT and postage it’s cheaper to get them sent from Holland!
Cheers Scudie
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I stained and clear coated my accessory box and while it looked great it just didn’t do well with the wall box. I tried some cheap “chrome” vinyl wrap but it looked more like tin foil than chrome. So I decided to go with the Cheap Trick look to go with the Brian Setzer volume knob. Also added some 1.75″ speakers that I had to retrofit and make some custom grills. So far so good. The edges are a little rough on the checks are a little rough probvably because I used regular masking tape instead of painters tape. Lesson learned. Still need to put the clear coat on and I have some white speaker grill cloth coming which I plan to try and paint black checks on to match the box. I tried painting the black cloth with white checks but that didn’t work too well. Also have replacement emulators on the way. Fingers crossed these work correctly…
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Hi Steve
Black and white checks very 1960’s, That must of took an age masking that lot out. Am not sure if I would have the patience for that, it’s a credit to you.
I guess the dice is the volume knob? How do those speakers perform ? Any better or worse than the 50 year old ones in the SC1?
Hope to get the 3w1 connected to the new box tomorrow night, fingers crossed all is good.
cheers Scudie
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The checks weren’t that hard. Just masked off horizontal and vertical stripes and painted. Then moved the stripes over and painted again. Glad I decided to use 1/2″ stripes instead of 1/4″…
Yes the dice is the volume knob. Hard to tell exactly how these speakers compare to those in SCs since I don’t have an emulator to test them with for now. I hooked them up to my home stereo though and they seem to sound similar. They seem to be less efficient that the SC speakers so not quite as loud. That’s not necessarily a bad thing since the wallbox2mp3 emulator sounds better when it’s near the max volume.
Will you be using an wallbox2mp3 emulator recently purchased? I’m expecting mine to arrive next week. Fingers crossed that they work properly…
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Hi Steve
Have not purchased anything recently I have been holding off buying any further units while Fabien sorted the audio problem, in the box I have been working on I have used the last one I have probably had it a year or so.
Yes fingers crossed that your new ones work with no issues and you get the correct psu with them. After he had the problem with the optocoupler he told me he had bought a couple of wallbox’s so he could test each emulator before being dispatched seems odd that your two got passed as OK when / if they were tested.
Cheers Scudie
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I don’t think they tested these before sending out. Hopefully they tested the replacement emulators and PSUs before sending them out…
Here’s a quick demo of my new mini jukebox for my 3W1. I put separate switches for the wallbox and emulator so I can use the wallbox as a nightlight without running the emulator. The SD card is accessible though the back which makes it easy to change and also saved a bunch of space inside the box. Here it’s using a Bluetooth adapter to power my drive in speakers. The speaker output is defective on this emulator so I’m waiting on the replacement to arrive so I can use the internal speakers.
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The reject button works most of the time without random play. Only problem I notice is if a second selection is made before the first selection starts playing it tends to cancel more than one. With constant random play the reject button is pretty hit and miss (mostly miss). It also substitutes some selected songs with random ones. I haven’t tried it with random play at 30 seconds, or 5 & 15 minutes. My guess is it will work better on those settings, particularly at 15 minutes when it’s not trying to play random songs between selections.
No buzzing between songs with volume at normal levels.
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Yes. Another odd thing I’ve noticed is that the auxiliary output is really more of a headphone level output. It’s much higher than a line output would be. The level is also controled by the volume pot so you can’t turn the speaker volume to zero and use the headphone output with a Bluetooth transmitter without hearing both sets of speakers and the delay effect of the Bluetooth. Would be better IMO if it was a true line output with constant volume level.
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My Pal Andy who has taken a look at the audio circuitry of the emulator said something similar in his email can’t remember exactly what it was that he said.
If I still have his email I could forward to you if you are interested in reading his comments /recommendations ? If I had your email address.
Cheers Scudie
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