You’ll have to make your own choice on the ebay buy, but it is my expectation that the “kit” will arrive with some decent quality parts and some that you will not want to use, you will need to vet the kit part-by-part for which are appropriate for use in the particular position in your Mc. This is what you expect for a seller who offers LED “upgrade” kits for the MC452, ... an amplifier that is equipped at the factory with LEDs and a much lower-current rated power switch for the MC2255 than original and one far less current than McIntosh recommends as “fine”. Searching hifiaudio or his former name captainfantastic here and on the web is enough to give one doubts.
The problem with “recap kits” in general however is that you need to trust that the seller actually knows and understands electronic/audio at an Engineer’s level so he will be able to tell you whether the several variables in a capacitor choice are best for that application or at least as good as the original, and for the most part they’re only able to read a part list or schematic enough to see the basic values (voltage and capacitance), and presume that every “audio-grade” electrolytic is adequate or a film-cap will be better. There are also changes in the circuits / schematics and most of these sellers don’t know that. Finally as a “reformed” Engineer I know that many times we designed a circuit that worked well on paper, but when pushed with manufacturing-tolerance parts would have problems, and that is one reason you revise the design (pre-production). Out here in the consumer world, unless you have McIntosh knowledge and OE parts, and all of the Service Bulletins etc. you will be presuming that everything is fine and that you can use slightly different parts. Not always true, it is best to trust someone with actual design knowledge, specific model knowledge, Technician experience, or any combination of these. These people exist here on AK but it is unlikely you’ll find one on ebay hawking “recap kits” for dozens of different models and manufacturers.
I’m in agreement that in general, LED conversions on McIntosh equipment don’t look as even nor does it retain the original color/hue. LEDs do not have the light in the same position and aren’t as omnidirectional as a filament bulb and therefore the optics/prisms/light-pipes designed for filaments aren’t going to distribute the light in the same way. Many people here and elsewhere have spent a fair amount of time experimenting and in some cases modifying to retain an original look with LEDs, some successful and some not as successful. The other problem is the color of light, white LEDs are either blue LEDs with phosphor (like a fluorescent bulb would have) which have a spike in its color and very little warm light, plus the phosphor burns off and the light output becomes increasingly dimmer and bluer over time, ... or it has both a blue and amber LED inside which is better and can be warmer, but still doesn’t have the same color palette as an incandescent. Reds are typically too pure and don’t show up as well either through the red filters. New McIntosh gear often has the bi-color LED or RGB LEDs in them with pots on the board to trim/adjust the color.
There are a couple of vendors, one who frequents AK who sell the long-life bulbs correct for McIntosh, if it doesn’t have a heat problem (a couple of models apparently can) to the meters then I would always replace with good long-life incandescents and just plan on changing them in another 5 years or so. A matter of preference entirely.
