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2325 LED conversion complete

BossRadio4VR

BossRadio4VR

Active Member
Well, I ordered the LED's from the gent in Colorado off the auction site, and they arrived today. All but one of the lamps is working, and I suspect a deeper problem than just the LED replacement, because the stereo light on this unit wasn't working when I bought it, either. So I'm a little disappointed right there, because I'd been wanting to see the stereo indicator lit up.

I had a very stupid mishap when one of the powered pins on the function lamp board accidentally grounded to the chassis while I had the board out to replace the bulbs and turned it on to test them out. It was just for a couple of seconds, but this let some of the smoke out from somewhere in the front lower end of the unit, and imagine my surprise when I connected the speakers and it fired right up and it still sounds good. You gotta love Marantz... Nonetheless, I'll be shipping this thing off for a good once over and repair of whatever I fried with my carelessness.

Two things. I absolutely LOVE the dial and meter lights. But I equally dislike the bright white function lights. I liked that warm, parchment paper white look from the stock lamps. I think I can get used to the new look, but I'm going to try and neutralize the antiseptic look of those function LED's with some sort of filter. I think the seller should work on a next gen version of those dual pin bulbs to get a closer to stock appearance. It's funny how such a minor detail can color ones perception.

DSCF6356Medium.jpg


The color of the dial lights in this pic below appear more turqoise than they really are. The above picture is closer to accurate. I did no color correction, these were just straight off the camera. The actual color is more of what I would call a royal blue.

DSCF6367Medium.jpg


:beerchug:
 
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Damn dude that looks awesome!!!

Can you send me the info for what you ordered? I have several Marantz I'd like to do that to....
 
Do a search for "Custom Fuse Lamp" on eBay. whsh94a is the seller. Ordering was a little tricky and weird. You basically have to order as many fuse lamps as you will need, and then an additional fuse lamp for every two bi-pin lamps that you will require, and then just tell him how you want things broken down when you pay for them. So for example, my order was for 12 fuse lamps. 8 for the actual fuse lamps, and 4 more for the 8 bi-pin lamps I needed. I also needed to specify that two of the bi-pins needed to be red for the Dolby and Stereo indicators.

I'm sitting here rocking out to Cinnamon Girl by Neil Young, Time by Pink Floyd, Vertigo by U2 and I Don't Wanna Stop by Ozzy Osbourne, scratching my head wondering what in the hell I fried when I smoked the thing. I sure can't tell by listening, though my ears are feeling a little more fatigued than usual, so maybe that's a clue. :D
 
Just a quick follow up to note that when I brought up my discomfort with the bright white function LED's, the seller said that he offers a warmer version with a yellower LED that more closely resembles the OEM bulbs, but that most people prefer the bright whites. He offered to send me the replacements today, in exchange for the bright whites, which I thought was a very nice thing for him to do. So... that's what I'm going to do... Day two of this display and I am totally digging the LED fuse lamps.

DSCF6383.jpg


I'm going to buy another set for my 2245.
:beerchug:
 
I converted my Model 4230 and Model 5200 to the LED bulbs. However, I left the original incandescents for the function and stereo lights. I was not aware of the LED option for the those. I will have to contact wsh93a for them.

I had a guy come in off of CL to buy my Sansui 7070. He took a look at the LED modded Marantz set up and said that it was "the bluest dial he had ever seen..." I explained the LED factor and showed him the difference between a standard set with my 2245 against the modded 4230/5220 set. He said that he preferred the modded set better.

I am definitely digging the LED mod myself.

I will have to post some photos soon.
 
What are the voltage / amprage ratings on those indicator lamps?
When I first got my 4270 & 4300 the Stereo indicator lights were out. They had the wrong value bulbs installed and they were blown.
I also could not get the FM indicator light to work on the 4270 even though I tried replacing it twice.
Also the FM tuning Meter was not working on the 4300.
Long story short, after replacing the Stereo indicator lamps with the correct voltage / amprage indicated by Marantz all my problems went away.
Just something you may consider before you make the swap of the indicator lamps.
BTW - I have some of the LED dial lamps I am going to try in one of my receivers later. I would like a little more info on the indicator lamps before I take a chance with those.
Jim
 
Turns out, it was just a polarity issue with the new stereo LED. :banana: I removed the bulb, turned it over and resoldered it in place. :thmbsp:

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Now that the stereo light is functioning, it adds a nice counterbalance to the white function LED, which I found a little too stark, before. I still may want to swap them out for the warmer version, but I'll live with this for a week or two and see how I feel about it later.

It's really nice having the dial and meter lights all match up in color now.
:beerchug:
 
Thanks! They are all white LED's with the exception of the LED's for the Dolby and Stereo indicators. Those light up in red. The colors from my camera are pretty, but they just don't do the colors justice. The red is RED and the blue is deep royal BLUE. Picture Superman's boots for the red and his tights for the blue. Then, you'll pretty much have it.
 
Hmm.. The white balance must be significantly off for the effect I see in the pictures... not royal blue at all in them. Try using a custom white balance- i see you use auto in it. You should be able to do that, either go manual if you can or just change the WB to a few and try till you get the color that looks most realistic. All of the LED replacements I have seen have been tooo dark blue, but your pictures are great! I would love to see what you think they actually look like. Thanks
 
If you don't want to swap out the LEDs, try brushing on a light coat of thinned nail polish. Don't like the way the turned out upon testing? Just clean'em up with some acetone and try again.
 
Not a bad idea at all, but I don't mind swapping them out. I've actually gotten pretty good at it! I've been in discussions with the seller and he mentioned that he had already dialed down the brightness of the function LEDs, and when he sends me the warmer versions, I'm going to request that he drop the brightness on those another 30-40%, if he is willing to accomodate that request. I think they'll look perfect with just a bit more warmth and a less brightness.
 
I am a cheap SOB. And I am think I can do this myself with some LED's from Rat Shack. What kind of Led's should I look for? Ma and Voltages ect??? I have a few other recievers I'd like to do this to as well....
 
I have no idea. You may be a cheap SOB, but I'm a lazy SOB, so I just bought the ready made parts.

I took another picture a few minutes ago that shows a pretty stark comparison between OEM lamps and the LEDs. The 2245 with new stock fuse and function lamps is in the foreground, with the 2325 and the LED's in the background.

The colors still aren't spot on -- the 2245's meters don't look that green, more turqoise, and the 2325's dial and meter lights aren't violet, but deep blue, but this was as close as I could get things.

DSCF6580.jpg


Some may consider the LED's to be too deep, too dark, etc., but I think they look outstanding, plus for the first time, the dial and meter lamps match in color perfectly. I've ordered another set of LED fuse lamps for the 2245.

The picture below comes as close as I was able to in reproducing the color I see.

DSCF6556.jpg


Now don't beat me up, please. I know that it looks markedly different than the photos at the beginning of this thread, but those were taken with the camera in auto mode, and clearly, the white balance was off. I'm doing my best to accurately describe and picture what I see for others who may be on the fence. Plus, there will always be some variance expected between monitors, etc.

:beerchug:
 
Does the bleed through of the white or brighter selector lights happen in person? Seeing the light show up in the adjacent selector light screen. Does that happen with the stock bulbs? Thanks.

Bo
 
Yes, and yes. Not an issue for me. I wondered the same thing and noticed that one of my completely stock 2325's does the same thing, only it may not be as easily noticed because the intensity of the OEM lights is not as great.

By the way, as an addendum to this thread, I did try, and did not care for, the warmer LED function lamps and decided to stay with the white LED's on my 2325. There is another thread on this forum somewhere with a lot more comparison pics, including two 2325's I had stacked for comparison. One with OEM lamps and the other with LED replacements. I wound up selling the 2325 with the OEM lamps on eBay, but performed the LED swap for the new owner because it was included in the deal if my "buy it now" price was met. And he was thrilled with it, too.
 
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