I recently managed to find a Sega Genesis Model 1 for fairly cheap at a flea market... but it was the system alone, no cables or anything.... and later in the market I found another booth that had a very very VERY cheap controller/ac adapter/AV cables to go with it. Thing is.... they're garbage. There was a constant buzzing/humming sound. At first I thought something was wrong with the Genesis, until I looked it up and saw that this was a common issue with poor quality AC adapters.... especially since this one was a 2-in-1 designed to work with both a Model 1 and 2. The controller is utter garbage too, the buttons feel horrible and the D-pad is constantly mis-reading my inputs, making me go right instead of up or down. The AV Cables.... I have no idea. They work, but I have no idea if the image quality is poor or not since it's not going to look good on a modern HD LCD set anyway. So I figured, I can't just stand to use it like this, I'm going to try if I can to get as many official accessories, or at least ones that are as close if not better in quality, as I can. After quite a bit of Googling, I found the model numbers for what I was looking for: (I live in the US, and again, it's a Model 1 Genesis) AC Adapter(s): MK-1602 MK-1602-1 MK-1602-2 MK-1602-3 (US Variant) Controller: MK-1650 (3 button) MK-1653 (6 button) AV Cables: MK-1601 (called the "Video Monitor Cable" officially) So far, the easiest ones to find seem to be official controllers, especially the 3 button version (though I would prefer to get a 6 button instead), and the AV cables are the hardest..... namely with all the clones all over the place that claim they are official or a "replacement" for the official product... many of which are actually mis-wired in some cases (the Model 2 version cables for example have one stereo channel connected to mono, and the other channel connected to the wrong speaker.... sadly, these seem to be the most popular ones). AC Adapters...... are hit and miss, I can see a lot of official used ones, but they are fairly pricey..... and then there are ones like THIS that sound too good to be true, as if they are attempting to sell counterfeit goods as new (though why counterfeit a 30 year old AC adapter I have no idea...): http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-BRAND-NEW-ORIGINAL-SEGA-GENESIS-MK-1602-POWER-SUPPLY-In-plastic-/222437637378?epid=545812971&hash=item33ca50fd02:g:fFUAAOSw32lYn1%7Ez So I want to ask.... which ones would you recommend? Are there any 3rd party ones that are as good or better than what SEGA officially made? Especially in terms of the AC Adapter and AV Cables? I can definitely see others having made better AV cables, so that one is the least of my worries (Especially since I plan to eventually get those HD cables someday). And as for the AC adapter, there are tons of 3rds party ones out there... and I have no idea which ones will go well or better.... and which ones just like the one I have now will just be garbage that produce bad sound.
ebay is the best source. There's more available there than anywhere else. The one you linked to looks official but hard to say for sure. Although, as far as vintage systems go, I have seen more new official AC adapters for Sega Systems than Nintendo and for cheaper. I used to buy an sell 80's and 90's Nintendo and Sega systems and games, both new old stock and used so I've done plenty of searching/research. Prices on ebay can vary significantly for an item, both on auctions and fixed price listings, which is part of the reason I made money at it. Keep searching thoroughly and you should find them at a good enough price.
Price isn't the only issue though, a bigger issue is how I can tell if something is good quality and/or official or not, since I am doing this because the 3rd party accessories that came with my system are complete garbage.
What's the reason for the humming with those "poor quality" AC adapters, anyway? That would be useful knowledge when looking for one that doesn't suck.
Unfortunately, I don't know. The only reason I even suspect it's likely the AC adapter is due to running into this video while trying to look up why my Genesis was humming: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7VR1Va6SwU As well as the fact that the 3rd party controller and AV cables that I got with it were unbelievably shoddy quality... and the AC adapter was the same brand too.
Admitting I have never looked into it, but I have always assumed the poor filtering in the wall wart allowed noise in the signal?
I always avoided 3rd party stuff, most of it seemed bad and I wanted to keep everything official anyway. If you're worried about actual knock-offs that look pretty much like the real thing but aren't, I really haven't come across very many and even the ones I've seen are usually obvious enough (color slightly off, thinner cord, print doesn't look quite the same). After looking at the rest of the photos, I would say the ones you linked to look right. It's unusual for someone to have that many but there are still cases that people find. I got a few cases of 6 of the model 2 Genesis systems at one point. If I needed a new official Genesis AC adapter right now, I would try that one.
I wouldn't use an original PSU - DC power supplies have come a long way over the last 30 years. I suggest looking here - https://retrogamesup...ollections/sega It's a Euro-based site, but the PSUs are both 120/240v compatible, regulated, and come with an outlet plug of your choice. They even do an all-in-one solution for CD/32X addons, too... And you don't have the problem like you do with RetroGameCave with their limited runs.
Holy crap, they even do ones for the Multimega. I've been looking for a Multimega PSU on and off for years, thanks muchly! This makes being haunted in Ashens videos all worth it. =P
I got my all-in-one MD1/MCD/32X and Nomad supply from here, I highly recommend them. One of the issues of the old Sega PSUs is they're unregulated supplies that can waver in voltage pretty dramatically. These regulated ones do a steady 9v (with enough ampage to power all 3 devices in the case of the all-in-one), which puts less of a strain on the internal hardware... There are regulators inside the consoles, but again, this is all nearly 30 year-old hardware at this point, so it's good to use the "cleanest" power possible to get the best audio/video results, especially if you play on a modern LCD which tends to amplify all jailbarring and rainbow banding artifacts to begin with. I DON'T KNOW WHAT ON EARTH YOU MEAN. Also, to Cyber Akuma: On the topic of cables (and a lesser extent, modern TVs), retro_console_accessories on Ebay is by far the best supplier. I know RGB SCART is a rarity Stateside, but if you can, use it (one of the cables from there with boosted sync, preferably). If you don't have an RGB-in on the TV and you have money to burn get the SCART cable and an OSSC to output to HDMI (which you can use for many other consoles, too), or if you're really lucky and your screen is compatible with 240p uninterlaced signals, consider http://www.hdretrovision.com/genesis/ for a component cable.
Are you certain that the hum is from the power supply? If you have the opportunity to stop by a retro game store, you could ask if you could try an official power supply out to see if you still get the same hum. I've repaired several Genesis consoles with sound issues and some have had a noisy hum due to failing or failed capacitors. You can see the list of capacitors for each model at this link. Some sellers on eBay have kits with all the correct capacitors needed, but stick with good quality, Japanese capacitors like Rubycons or Nichicons.
I can confirm that it is most definitely the power supply. I actually have three Model 1 power supplies now (don't ask...) and two Model 1 Genesis units (Pre and post TMSS) and tested all three official power supplies as well as my 3rd party one in both. For the Non-TMSS model, all three official AC Adapters worked fine, but the 3rd party one produced very noticeable and obvious humming. For the TMSS model, all three official AC Adapters worked fine, but so did the 3rd party adapter. Perhaps the PSU or sound chips used are more or less sensitive in different models? I have a V4 Model 2 coming in, I an try testing the 3rd party AC Adapter (since it has both Model 1 and Model 2 connectors on it) on it if anyone here is interested in the results of that. Obviously I can't test the Model 1 AC adapters I have on it though, but I already have one Model 2 AC adapter that came with my 32x, and the Model 2 itself will come with another.
Yes. Sure sounds like the 3rd party adapter is the culprit. Are you comparing with MK-1602 (9v output) or the MK-1602-1 (10v output) model 1 adapters? The only sound difference I can think of between the non-TMSS and the TMSS would be if your non-TMSS was a Model 1 VA2, which will have a little less preamp filtering. This can cause some distortion when the sound is super loud, but wouldn't be the reason for the hum you describe.
