So I went ahead and ordered the last big piece of the puzzle: the monitor. The standard setup for a MAME cabinet is the Wells Gardner D9200, but a lot of people are reporting problems with them. Ken Steele of RetroBlast! has recommended the Betson Imperial Multisync monitor as the new D9200. Here's the write up from page 87 of the Betson parts catalog (PDF):
So I ordered the monitor on Monday afternoon, and it arrived in Sacramento Tuesday morning. The folks at Betson really have their act together! Danielle helped me pick it up from the FedEx freight yard, saving me $60 in shipping charges (and costing me $30 in Chinese food charges). David helped me unpack the beast and test it out a bit.
As for first impressions go, it's really big and it's really bright. The colors really just jump right off the screen in a way that is hard to capture with a digital photo. But that didn't stop me from shooting a few pics.
David digs Dig Dug
Some Golden Axe action
No case! It's electronics porn.