John's Arcade Forum - Classic Arcade and Pinball Collecting and Restoring Discussion Forum - RETRO MAME - Nintendo Vs Forum

The first part of a new system for me. I have never owned one of these until now. It had to be shipped in two boxes due to weight, so hopefully I can get the rest tomorrow and start playing around  ;D
The power cable is in the other box

(http://www.wizardsarcade.com/Media/Images/Hauls/2015-12-15/ZXSpectrumPlus-01.jpg)

(http://www.wizardsarcade.com/Media/Images/Hauls/2015-12-15/ZXSpectrumPlus-05.jpg)

(http://www.wizardsarcade.com/Media/Images/Hauls/2015-12-15/ZXSpectrumPlus-06.jpg)

That thing is sweet! Is it better than a normal speccy?

It's the same motherboard, has a reset button and an "improved" keyboard. Personally I prefer the rubber one for the nostalgia, but love all types, the model above is sweet as...

Essentially the same machine in a new party dress.

Purists prefer the type you had off me John (Rubber). Which reminds me....when you setting that up?

Watch the power cable.......seriously polarity is reversed , make sure you have an original one  otherwise make sure you look up the polarity, ground is the centre of the plug.

Tuning may be an issue depending on where you are in the world, however modding it for composite signal is childs play.

If you have trouble, let me know, I know these machines.....very....very...well.

I really need to do the speccy this year. Winter project! :)

I got the second box in the mail on dec19th, still haven't tested the system yet. I have a generic travel adapter I use with my v64 cdrom drive on the n64.

(http://wizardsarcade.com/Media/Images/Hauls/2015-12-19/2015-12-19.jpg)

The seller did the composite av mod and redid all the caps for me. The main thing keeping me from using the system is looking for a tape drive locally.

Don't worry about tape drives if you want to test it, you can at very high volume play a tape wav of a game that can be easily downloaded from a mp3 player or a PC from a headphone jack to the input in the spectrum.

You need a loud one though, some bog standard mp3's don't have enough oomph.

If you get it going and are serious about playing more and more games on the spectrum then think long and hard about getting a Smart Card from Retroleum.

You can read games from SD and they play in seconds.

Here's a link, http://www.retroleum.co.uk/smart-card-for-zx-spectrum/ (http://www.retroleum.co.uk/smart-card-for-zx-spectrum/)
and the store here.
http://store.retroleum.co.uk/spectrum-peripherals (http://store.retroleum.co.uk/spectrum-peripherals)

I really can't recommend it highly enough, it can also diagnose faults, it's amazing for the money.

Feel free to PM me with any questions on spectrums.

That plus is looking for 240 V which is the UK Std.

Your other option should an adaptor not step up the voltage is to buy a simple switcher multi plug, but again remember to reverse the polarity. Speccy is looking for 9v, the standard power supply is unregulated and is about 12.5v without a load tested, and the spectrum has a voltage regulator.  Buy why put it through the pain, just give it 9v :-)


A very simple test to see if your spectrum is working, before you hook it up to a TV/Monitor etc etc, once you have the right power adapter, plug it in and after 2-3 seconds, hold down one of the letter keys, if it goes t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t from the internal speaker it's working.

I plan to buy a SD card reader for it to I can have access to quicker loading of software but I want my first experience with the speccy to be exactly how it would have been back in the day. I know I'm picky.

This is the type of adapter I have
http://www.target.com/p/travel-smart-all-in-one-adapter/-/A-16346751?ci_src=17588969&ci_sku=16346751&ref=tgt_adv_XS000000&AFID=google_pla_df&CPNG=PLA_Luggage%2BShopping&adgroup=SC_Luggage&LID=700000001170770pgs&network=g&device=c&location=9017283&gclid=COH7ht21ncoCFQ2QaQodqasOCA&gclsrc=aw.ds

I use it with my UK power cable on the V64 addon for n64 system.

eek the one you linked says....." CAUTION: This product does not convert electrical voltage. you will require a converter for your single-voltage appliances."


Maybe you have this below, then this  OK....seems some convert voltages some don't.

http://www.target.com/p/travel-smart-compact-converter-adapter-combo/-/A-16346755#prodSlot=medium_1_1&term=voltage+converter (http://www.target.com/p/travel-smart-compact-converter-adapter-combo/-/A-16346755#prodSlot=medium_1_1&term=voltage+converter)

This is the power supply of my v64 and I have used the adapter on this. So I think it should be fine but at same time I think I would prefer to have a 110v variant :)

(http://gamedoctorhk.com/bmz_cache/4/4b764e317d6a9707ea71f57e4ef766f1.image.750x450.jpg)

(http://gamedoctorhk.com/bmz_cache/5/5fe7704d17e25d22d9a50f1571dd23db.image.750x450.jpg)