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LEDs or Incandescent bulbs for Marantz 2250B: Which do you like better, and why?

Treker

Treker

Super Member
I was going to ask this question in the original thread about my recently acquired Marantz 2250B receiver, but I thought that it maybe deserved its' own.

(For those who would like to read the original thread, here is the link: http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=476350 )

I need to replace some of the lamps in my Marantz 2250B, and was wondering which do people like better; LEDs or the original style incandescent, and why?

Here are some of the advantages and disadvantage of each as I see them.

LED:

Advantages:
1) Long life. Likely will never fail for the life of the unit once installed.
2) Lower operating temperature.
3) Lower power usage.
4) Has a purer "white" light.
5) Brighter than original incandescent bulbs.
^) "Improves" the look of the unit. (This is a matter of personal taste I'm sure.)

Disadvantages:
1) More expensive than original style incandescent bulbs.
2) Changes the color of the display. It no longer has its "original" appearance.


Incandescent:

Advantages:
1) Less expensive than LED replacements.
2) Preserves the "original" appearance of the unit.

Disadvantages:
1) Burn hotter than LED replacements.
2) Less energy efficient than LEDs.
3) Will burn out over time thus making replacement necessary again in the future.

Did I miss any?

If any of you have pics of the Marantz 2250B (or similar) unit with both original style incandescent bulbs as well as LEDs that they could post for a side-by-side comparison, I would really appreciate it. As aesthetics is one of the main reasons I like these old Marantz receivers, it would greatly help me in my decision making process on which ones to choose.

For reference, here is a pic of the unit as it currently sits with its' original incandescent bulbs:

IMG_1797.jpg


Thanks!
 
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I've never put in LED's but I have heard they can be a bit more complicated to install than the incandescents.
 
Especially on Marantz receivers I prefer LEDs, because they will last longer and won't melt the plastic lamp housing.
 
LEDs vs incandescents

I prefer incandescents. I have a 2265b with leds and it looks purple not light blue. It's also not very bright. I think this may depend on the LEDs you use, but I'm not happy with the results. I have a 2270 and it has incandescents. I really want the 2265b to go back to incandescents.
 
I think you summed up the pros/cons completely. For me, having seen dozens of units before and after LED installs, I love the look and it always seems like a huge improvement to me. Cool running and long life appeal too.

I've often wondered if someday there might be a backlash on LED installs in favor of the original look. But for me, I'll take the LED's for the bright clear look they add to vintage Marantz units. It never fails to amaze me when I turn one on.



Marantz 2235b, 2245, 2270, 2325, 1060
 
Your 2250 looks really blue, if the lights and vellum were old it'd have a greenish look to it. How does it look in person, blue or green? Looks to me like it had very little use, or had the vellum paper and bulbs replaced recently. I'd also do LEDS for the function lights as they are a pain in the ass to do. The backlights for dail and meters I'd keep incandescents. On second thought, it may just be that the silver faced models, like my 2265b just don't look good with LEDs.
 
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It looks like your internal plastic lamp housing has been pretty badly distorted by the heat of the existing incandescents - otherwise it wouldn't look like several of your input indicators were lit up at the same time (light leaking past warped plastic). Assuming you can get your hands on a replacement housing, installing LEDs would completely eliminate the chance of similar thermal damage recurring. Moreover, you would most likely never have have to replace another bulb, nor would you have to refresh the diffusion paper, for as long as you owned the receiver.

I'm not sure I particularly care for the LED look vs. the original incandescent look, but I know that heat really ages vintage electronics, so the less heat (and therefore the less maintenance), the better.
 
skibjr said:
It looks like your internal plastic lamp housing has been pretty badly distorted by the heat of the existing incandescents - otherwise it wouldn't look like several of your input indicators were lit up at the same time (light leaking past warped plastic). Assuming you can get your hands on a replacement housing, installing LEDs would completely eliminate the chance of similar thermal damage recurring. Moreover, you would most likely never have have to replace another bulb, nor would you have to refresh the diffusion paper, for as long as you owned the receiver.

I'm not sure I particularly care for the LED look vs. the original incandescent look, but I know that heat really ages vintage electronics, so the less heat (and therefore the less maintenance), the better.
Click to expand...

I have not really dug deeply into this unit yet, but I was wondering why I could see the light bleed on the indicator lamps. I thought that possibly some type of light shield was missing or had come loose due to age. However, I'll bet you're right about the warped plastic housing. The guy that I got the receiver from said that he had had some burnt out lamps replaced years ago, and when I took the cover off for a quick look I could tell that someone had been into it before. (There was a boogered up Philips head screw, for example.) My guess is that I'll find incandescent lamps of too high an output. I'll just have to see what kind of shape the plastic housing is in and see if I can fix the light bleed issue somehow or if I will need to acquire a new plastic housing. I have built quite a few RC airplanes over the years, so I am fairly handy at fabricating things. I'll just have to see how it looks when I get it apart.
 
Well, this evening after I got home from work I decided to dig into the receiver a bit more to see what was up a little better with the indicator lamps. And it turned out, as skibjr suspected, that the plastic lamp housing has indeed been badly melted due to the incandescent lamps that are already in the unit. It looks like it would be a bear to fabricate one, although I'm sure it could be done. However, it would be much easier and faster just to buy one.

Does anyone know if replacement plastic lamp housings are available for these receivers? Or do I just have to keep an eye out on that auction site and hope someone decides to part out a 2250B sometime soon?
 
I have a 2250 apart right now and checked it. Here is what I would do. I would get some thin foam weather strip the kind with the glue on it. I would trim it with something sharp and stick it right to the front of the melted plastic. You have to get in there to work on the velumn.
 
I prefer LED. The color is more pure and removes that faded look. As for brightness the fuse type LED lamps offer two or four LEDs in each lamp. I also find even the two LED type brighter than original incandescent lamps on edge lit dials. Plus, less load on the transformer, but not substancial difference when compared to a power amp section currect draw.
 
I'm a guy who has done restoration work on all kinds of things for my whole professional career.....can't help it but even though "stock" is usually my preference....LED's all the way. For my tastes I would stick to something not overly bright,leave it possible for a future owner to switch back, and purchase original spec'd stuff to be transferred with the unit (if it came up). sony6060 used the best descriptive word I've ever heard for LED....pure. With our gear looking so "rich"...that added oomph just nails the whole concept with this style of lighting so well.

I love customizing things but always want to leave the availability of switching back for the life of the receiver....custom cases with candied
,pinstriped,metallic,pearl,contoured and glossed out,hell....diamond plate, rock too.
 
I'd do high-quality, warm-white LEDs. The result should be fairly similar to stock as long as they're diffused properly.

For kicks, here's a picture of my (cold white) LED-ified Pioneer SX-424. LED to the right, incandescent to the left:

anim.gif
 
I'm a lamp man , none of dgwojo's lamps have ever melted my stuff. It's the lamp housing that is the issue, not the bulbs. The plastic tabs break, the lamp assembly shifts backwards and the bulbs melt the housing. Bet you a wooden nickel that the tabs broke on your housing and when you took it apart the lamp assembly had shifted.
 
Freezer7Pro

Very neat picture! Some of you guys are really talented.

I vote for the left incandescent bulbs as they are sharper and more pleasing to me, not to mention less work to fix short term.

My problems with those fuse type bulbs was short life when moving the receivers around in moving vans. They seam to last just setting in the rack.

Charlie
 
I'm still a bit undecided about the decision to go with LEDs or to stay stock with incandescent lamps. I kind of like the idea of going with LEDs for the harder to replace function indicator lamps, and staying stock with incandescent fuse lamps for the main dial display. Kind of a "Hybrid" solution if you will.

My main issue right now is sourcing a replacement for the melted plastic lamp housing. I have an email out to someone right now who I am told makes reproductions of the originals, but I have not received a reply yet. Once I have that in route, I will decide which way to go with the lamps. LEDs, Incandescents, or "Hybrid." Without a replacement plastic lamp housing, I am kinda stuck.
 
I have done LED's on my 2245, 2252B, and two 2270's and prefer them.

Yes, they do cost more but you do it once and that's it. The heat factor for me is a big plus, my 2270 runs about 30-40 percent cooler with them.

As far as appearance, you be the judge...for me a great look. The blue is very rich, the red stereo indicator pops off the dial and the station indicator looks like a piece of ice
 
I have LED's on both my 2325 and 2270, they look original in color but have more glow to them. I would never go back, in my opinion they really help in the daytime and give the wow factor at night.
 
I've never dealt with a wide variety of work concerning light replacement. I am so new to this that anything I do is "a first" mostly. Are there situations where there is hell to pay when going back in and swapping back to "original" due to work last done? Are there straight forward ways to insure this does not happen? (Your describing "blue" to a blind man....)
I know for a fact I prefer LED on the earlier gen. stuff and Marantz....not so sure with the later Pioneer type effect though. About to have an AK'er fully do up my Sanyo JCX-2900K and Sansui G-9000, and fairly sure I want the Sanyo lighting left stock....the best lighting style of the "Pioneer look" and don't want to mess with it!! Googling LED/stock comparisons with the G-9000 now.....
 
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