Newbie question: what makes the Mac meters blue color when its off?

[striderzombie]

Hi there, I am hoping someone can help me:

I recently had a local dealer replace my faceplate and a couple of blown bulbs on my MC2155 amp. Both the faceplate and bulbs were ordered from McIntosh.

When I picked up the unit, to my great surprise, the windows in front of the meters were clear, which made the meters appear totally white-colored when powered off. uke: To be fair, the meters did light up blue once turned on.

I am really disappointed with the white colored meters when powered off. I recall the replacement faceplate itself had clear meter windows, so I am guessing that a "film" or a blue-colored filter of some sort must be applied to make the clear appear blue. Not sure if its applied to the rear of the faceplate itself, or in front of the meter housing? Am I correct?

To make a long story short, I left my amp at the dealer, and they told me they will try to make the window blue. I have to admit, I am concerned as I am not sure what they're going to do. I have worries that they would return the unit back to me with a non-blue colored meter windows in the first place, and not think there was anything wrong.

I want to thank you in advance for taking your time to read this, and look forward to any insights....

Regards,

 

[skippy_ps]

Back to the Dealer!

There's a blue plastic lens between the glass face and the meters. Well, there was, anyway.

Yours is probably sitting on a workbench or on the floor.

Murray

 

[EchoWars]

Nice to get quality work done, eh?

 

[Rich Andrews]

Hi there, I am hoping someone can help me:

I recently had a local dealer replace my faceplate and a couple of blown bulbs on my MC2155 amp. Both the faceplate and bulbs were ordered from McIntosh.

When I picked up the unit, to my great surprise, the windows in front of the meters were clear, which made the meters appear totally white-colored when powered off. uke: To be fair, the meters did light up blue once turned on.

I am really disappointed with the white colored meters when powered off. I recall the replacement faceplate itself had clear meter windows, so I am guessing that a "film" or a blue-colored filter of some sort must be applied to make the clear appear blue. Not sure if its applied to the rear of the faceplate itself, or in front of the meter housing? Am I correct?

To make a long story short, I left my amp at the dealer, and they told me they will try to make the window blue. I have to admit, I am concerned as I am not sure what they're going to do. I have worries that they would return the unit back to me with a non-blue colored meter windows in the first place, and not think there was anything wrong.

I want to thank you in advance for taking your time to read this, and look forward to any insights....

Regards,

This local dealer is not a McIntosh authorized dealer right?

r

 

[striderzombie]

Thanks for your feedback everyone. At least I am not outside of the boundaries in asking the question.

This local dealer is not a McIntosh authorized dealer right?

r

Without causing too much troubles for the said dealer, I will say that they are in fact "authorized" per McIntosh, as I got their contact info through Gail@McIntosh.

There's a blue plastic lens between the glass face and the meters. Well, there was, anyway.

Yours is probably sitting on a workbench or on the floor.

Murray

Thanks Murray... there definately is something that needs to be applied (referred to as "gel" or aka a film) between the faceplate and the meters. Apparently, on the older Macs, it needs to be applied to the back of the faceplate covering the clear windows from behind, as they do not come pre- coated from Mac.

Nice to get quality work done, eh?

No comment I will be happy to comment once I receive my amp back haha

Thanks again guys, and I will be sure to post some pics of my gear.

I really appreciate your help

 

[grumpy]

McIntosh sells the the Blue Lexan that needs to be applied to new face plate. Its not a "coating". Just a piece of plastic that applies with double sided tape.

I would have to say even though Gail gave you their info somethings ain't right. Its common knowledge that new faceplate's do NOT come with the lexan and needs to be either removed from the old one or ordered for a few bucks straight from Mc.

 

[dewickt]

Things like the blue sheet and other small parts have to be transfered carefully to the new glass, plus on some glass you need to put on new foam strips that are used as light blockers, this is why changing glass is not a 10 minute job.

 

[opt80]

Pardon my ignorance but other than the quality,isn't the blue light part ofthe charm of a McIntosh product?I'd be disappointed too.
Alan

 

[striderzombie]

Update:

The dealer attempted to apply an aftermarket "film" behind the meter windows. To be honest, it looked awful. It was "crinkly" looking, and just plain looked bad.

I spoke to Chuck, and will be ordering the blue sheet/lexan to properly fix this. the saga continues...... thanks for putting up with me.


While we're at it, can I ask 2 more questions?

1) what makes the faceplates bubble? When I received my faceplate from McIntosh 2 weeks ago, it was perfect. However, after the said dealer has been trying to get my amp right, I noticed 2 rather large bubbles on the faceplate. Not to be an a$$, I just inquired as to whether its a common thing for the bubbles to appear, and they weren't sure. Is it possible for it to bubble so quickly? Can it bubble some more?

2) When did McIntosh change the color of the see-thru text on the MC2155 faceplates to gold? My dealer brought to my attention that although all the lightbulbs were replaced, there are cold spots where parts of the text aren't completely lit. For example, "headphones" Phones is lit, head is dark. Looking at my MX113, the text appears totally white/clear, and is well lit, and I recall my original faceplate really lit up the text well, but this newer faceplate appears dim in spots. This is no biggie for me, but am curious.

I just want my amp back in reasonable condition. At the end of the day, I can live with the dimly lit text, the bubbles bother me, but can live with it, but I really would like the meters to look right. Thanks for your feedback everyone.

 

[skippy_ps]

Yikes!

My suggestion: Immediately go to the "dealer" and retreive your amp. Without delay. If you have it at home, don't take it back to these guys.

Under the assumption that the glass on your amp is the glass that you bought (which may be a bad assumption), it is likely that they damaged the the ink on the back of the glass while they were "fixing" it. The ink is easily pulled loose (resulting in bubbles) when trying to remove tape or whatever is on the back of it.

These bozos obviously have no idea what they're doing and you're just asking for more trouble if you let them do any more work on it.

The dealer should buy you another glass face plate to replace the one they damaged. Sheesh!

 

[grumpy]

Skippy is giving very good advice. Whoever this "dealer" is needs to be reported to someone as imposter's !