MX110, MR71, MR67: when brand new was dial illumination blue or green?

monkboughtlunch

Super Member
For folks that saw first hand brand new McIntosh units (MX110, MR71, MR67) back in the 1960s, was the dial illumination color blue or green?

I've heard multiple things and am not sure which color is correct. I'm looking to get some LEDs to restore the original MX110 color when new.

I've heard from some that the original color was blue. Or that the original units had both a blue and green gel on each side. My unrestored MX110 has a green color. Not sure if that is a faded blue gel or if that's the way it always was supposed to look. Anyone know for sure?
 
Thanks. So is there a source for gels? Did McIntosh use blue or green gels? I assume a bulb would give off a yellowish cast and when combined with a blue gel might look green. Or did Mac use green gels with the festoon bulbs?

Alternatively, has anyone tried a green LED for festoon bulb replacement. If so, how did it look vs original? And did you remove gels if using a colored LED?
 
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Among the many "for McIntosh" LED replacements I've seen on the auction site, I've never seen any colored LEDs offered for the MX110.
 
Blue gel with an incandescent lamp produces a fairly green light. If you use a warm white LED with stock gels it should come out pretty close.

Thats not Mac experience, its actually Lincoln experience. Thats how they got green dashboard lights.
 
Some folks have said the original color is blue. Just to confirm, are you 100% sure that the original lit dial color is green? Did you see the units brand new back in the 1960s? Thank you!
Back in the 60's I was into riding my tricycle thank you. I have and original C22 and MR71 sitting 15 feet away from me right this moment and they are absolutely green and have always been. Every single C20,C22, MR65,67,71 that I have ever seen has also been green as has all of the MX110's. The first blue that I'm aware of was the MC2505 amp meters. Hell I could be wrong, I admit that. There are certainly those more in the know than myself. Call the folks at AUDIOCLASSICS, they ought to know. :dunno:
 
Ryan at Audio Classics looked at the blue and green gels I brought with the MX110Z, and IIRC, indicated that they were the right ones for that unit (#117 Steel Blue & #213 White Flame Green). The effect with the LEDs they installed is green with a blueish tint.
 
Ryan at Audio Classics looked at the blue and green gels I brought with the MX110Z, and IIRC, indicated that they were the right ones for that unit (#117 Steel Blue & #213 White Flame Green). The effect with the LEDs they installed is green with a blueish tint.

What color LEDs did Audio Classics install? Were they warm white, cool white or colored LEDs?
 
Monk,

No idea. The service report doesn't say, and they discourage/prevent discussions with the techs they contract with.

Mike
 
Monk,

No idea. The service report doesn't say, and they discourage/prevent discussions with the techs they contract with.

Mike

Thanks if you look at the dial of your MX110 from an extreme side angle, you can see the edge of the festoon led. Can you tell the color? Thanks!
 
I should probably know better than to get involved (much less, twice) in a Mac thread -- but I do recall, vividly, that the color of the illumination of the early/mid 1970s McIntosh "nomenclature" was referred to as teal in those glossy white cover McIntosh brochures.
 
Thanks for feedback folks. This will help source an LED-based solution that mimics the original illumination color.

Here's a summary:
  • Original bulbs by themselves gave off an off-white yellowish cast
  • McIntosh used two gels combined per side (described as #117 Steel Blue & #213 White Flame Green)
  • The original effect is said to be a teal or green
I'm going to try some warm white LEDs (which mimic the color temperature of the original bulbs) in combination with new gel sheets and see how this performs.
 
By the way, some threads have reported folks used green LEDs with good effect. Here's an example of green LEDs from smartin53.

Check out his picture below. The MX110 has green LEDs and he says it looks close to the stock bulbs in the MX113 in the background. Not clear which brand green LEDs smartin53 used...

LEDs are nice because they definitely lower the heat issue, but also sometimes bring you closer to the stock value without worrying about color gels or so on. On my MAC1700 and more recently my MX110 tho, green LEDs along with the faded gel filters got me to exactly what I wanted. The backlighting was bright but uniform without overpowering. When viewed alongside a stock lighted MX113 the MX110 looks almost the same.
mx110greenled.jpg
 
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Blue gel with an incandescent lamp produces a fairly green light. If you use a warm white LED with stock gels it should come out pretty close.

Thats not Mac experience, its actually Lincoln experience. Thats how they got green dashboard lights.

That's a great point. I've seen auto instrument clusters that appear green but the actual gels on the instrument cluster are blue and the yellowish bulbs make the perceived color green to the eye.
 
I find it difficult to believe the lighting in that MX110 is completely stock. It appears to be blue LED- which looks good nonetheless.
 
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