Stern Inc from the late 70's was the original incarnation of Stern owned and run by Gary Stern's old man, Sam Stern. Here's a write up ;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stern_%28game_company%29

Early Stern machines we basically Bally copied of the same era in terms of electronics. Generally speaking, parts are interchangeable. The power supplys were mounted in the lower cabinet and the flipper mechanisms were different. Early SS Sterns with chimes were slow plodders, but were designed more like Williams or Gottleib rather than Bally. Bally had massive success because they had great licences to work with - KISS, Rolling Stones, Space Invaders etc. Stern were more basic, but their designs were really interesting - Dracula and Nugent. The artwork on Bally is far better. Stern released a series of widebodies that were really "out there" as compared with Bally. Bally had Space Invaders, Paragon, Future Spa, Hot doggin and Embryon. Nothing "out of the ordinary". Stern had Flight 2000, Freefall, Split Second, Viper, Iron Maiden, Big Game. These machines has a unique aspect to them which attracted the player.

The "playable" sterns - Meteor (fastest SS machine on the planet), Galaxy and Flight 2000. These machines serioiusly kick butt !

The "Collectible" sterns - Nugent, Flight2000, Freefall, Viper, Iron Maiden

As much as I love Ballys, Stern made some awesome pinballs. I wish I still had my Meteor ! Luckily I have a Flight 2000 and Freefall which I've always wanted.