Solving the McIntosh panel lamp LED dilemma

[VintageMac]

We have all seen here the ongoing drama of using LED replacement bulbs for the McIntosh faceplates. The bulbs are too bright…they have a short life…they blink…they are the wrong color…on-an-on…

For the past year we have been working with engineers to develop a legitimate LED bulb that addresses all of these problems – and which replicates the appearance of the faceplate with the original incandescent bulbs (but with a very, very long life of course).

Our first bulb is the most common type for vintage McIntosh pre-amps, tuner/pre-amps, amplifiers, oscilloscopes, tuners, etc. It is the bayonet-mount 1866 bulb. This was the most common bulb used from the MAC1500, C26, MX112, MR73 and MC2505 onward.

You can read about it here: Link

There is a special pricing for AK Sponsor member to be found in the Business and Vendor Classifieds forum.

We are currently working on the 1888, 1847 and 1864 bulb replacements.

Thanks!

Larry

 

[MACKIE1975]

The only issue I have with the site is: Don't accept PayPal.

 

[62caddy]

Not certain of the bulb number but if you come up with something for the meters of the MC2125/2155, put me down for 18 of them.

 

[VintageMac]

That is the 058-059 festoon bulb - 6.3 volts, 200mA. Our 058-032 festoon at 6.3 volt, 250mA is close - but it is incandescent.

Larry

 

[Capt.Willard]

Interesting work, thank you.

 

[c_dk]

All this fussing over the use of LEDs is interesting, OCD maybe, but a upgrade.....maybe.

90 cents cost for a bulb vs. $7.80? Just because it will last 25 years vs 10.....

The Mc2125 and 2155 really do need a done correctly LED conversion because of the small light boxes.

You just have to do the right research, find the correct gel combination to get the meter color correct, Mac turquoise not Marantz blue. Then invest the time to do it correctly.

 

[seacliffe301]

You just have to do the right research, find the correct gel combination to get the meter color correct, Mac turquoise not Marantz blue. Then invest the time to do it correctly.

The funny thing is, even in the Marantz camp those colors are not correct. I have a mid 70's Marantz 2270 with this beautiful teal dial.
Now I'm sure due to age there has been some yellowing which is contributing to this, but the Marantz fan base seems to have been hot on this trend a lot longer than the Mac folks. Every picture I've seen over the last 10 plus years of a 22xx series Marantz with LED's are still too bright & too blue.

 

[c_dk]

I was speaking of the solid state Marantz amps that had meters.

 

[Onebean]

Hi @VintageMac , any progress on this? I have a MC2125, MC7270, and C34V that will need bulbs Some sooner than later.

 

[VintageMac]

The only "progress" that I have on the LED replacement bulbs is that I discontinued them about a year ago. They were a perfect match for the originals in color and brightness, but I couldn't get enough traction with those who wanted bright LED bulbs.

Sorry, I can't help.

Larry

 

[Onebean]

Ok. Thanks for the effort.

 

[jlovda]

That is the 058-059 festoon bulb - 6.3 volts, 200mA. Our 058-032 festoon at 6.3 volt, 250mA is close - but it is incandescent.

Larry

Here's an idea. I just put a new piece of Mcintosh glass on my MA6200 (the glass with the white back). It's much dimmer than than the original. This might be a good application for high intensity LEDs. The unit uses five 6.3v miniature bulbs with pigtail leads. The C33 and C34V use the same bulbs as well.

 

[quartersaw]

The funny thing is, even in the Marantz camp those colors are not correct. I have a mid 70's Marantz 2270 with this beautiful teal dial.
Now I'm sure due to age there has been some yellowing which is contributing to this, but the Marantz fan base seems to have been hot on this trend a lot longer than the Mac folks. Every picture I've seen over the last 10 plus years of a 22xx series Marantz with LED's are still too bright & too blue.

Marantz uses a piece of Vellum paper, behind the display, but in front of the bulbs. It becomes quite yellow, after 40-50 years..