Humor me here, I don't own any of these as my one Marantz Reciever is the later dial (2252b). The blue color, does it come from blue sleaves over the bulbs or blue plastic on the dial. In either case where does the blue/green tint come from? If its yellowed velum then why would putting in white LEDs make it more blue? If its because incandecent bulbs emit a yellowish light naturally then wouldn't the color have been blue/green even when they were new?
I do like the blue vs the blue/green but do the leds "restore" the color or just "change" the color.
Steve
The blue comes from the dial scale and meter plastic itself. No sleeves over the bulbs or anything like that. When these receivers were manufactured, white vellum paper was placed behind the plastic of the dial and sometimes the meters, to diffuse the light emitted from the bulbs. Over time, the heat generated from the stock bulbs bake the vellum and it begins to turn brown. This is what causes the display, over time, to fade into that turqoise or greenish color. On some of the receivers, 2325's in particular, apparently, there is also a good chance that the heat of of the stock fuse lamps can warp and even melt the plastic housing that surrounds the bulb holders. Some of these cases can be attributed perhaps to the wrong spec fuse lamps being substituted.
Sure, you can replace the vellum paper and start the cycle over again, with incandescent lamps, but you've done nothing to correct the problem.
The beauty of the LED conversion, is that you completely eliminate the need to replace the vellum, you eliminate the heat build up, preserving the internal plastic housing, and the intense white light they emit produce the beautiful, deep, rich blue color you see in my photos. Some people are sticklers for originality, and that's fine. But it's inefficient, outdated technology. As for why it appears blue, even through baked vellum? I can't really answer that. It may have something to do with the frequency of the light being emitted from the LED's, or perhaps their intensity simply overcomes the lightly browned vellum. Take a look at some vintage print ads for Marantz receivers. Their displays do not look green. It stands to reason that if Marantz had intended for the displays to be turqoise or green, then that's the color they would have chosen for the plastic that the light is shining through.
I assume these same folks would never dream of lighting their homes with high efficiency, energy saving, flourescent bulbs, or choosing a halogen or HID headlight conversion for their classic cars, opting to stick with original style sealed beam headlamps, for the same reasons.
While I would certainly agree that in some instances there is no substitute for good, halogen spotlights or floodlights to illuminate that Picasso painting on the wall in your home, this LED conversion noticably
improves the quality of the display on these receivers -- with the attractive benefit of probably a lifetime of operation with no need to ever change them out again. For me, the benefits far outweigh any disadvantage. If anything, retaining the stock bulbs that can actually do irreparable damage your receiver should be the real concern. Oh, and by the way, I just sold the 2325 pictured on the bottom of that comparison photo, for $889. So claims of diminished value can be put to rest there, as well. The new owner requested a full LED conversion for the receiver, so it will look exactly like the 2325 on the top of that photo.
Now that I've beaten up on the purists, I can say that I do understand how the intensity of the LED's might seem a bit austere or cold to some. Bottom line: It's your receiver. Do what you want to do with it without any fear of damaging your "investment".
Hope that answers your question.
