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SX-636 LED fuse lamp ????'s

made in china

made in china

Active Member
I have my 636 apart right now for refurb, and I'd like to use LED fuse lamps for the dial/meters as I feel the stock fuse lamps are just a touch too dim.

Looking on the auction site, I can find the appropriate LED fuse lamps in warm white, blue and emerald green.

In my mind, I would prefer a cool white LED to go with the 636's blue panels, however I am pretty sure I would find the blue LED too monochromatic blue for such a classic receiver. The warm white LED's, well I am not sure about those either, as usually warm white LEDs have poor CRI and may possibly look funny behind color filtering, esp. blue.

I do like the incandescent blue filtered light of the 636. It's like comparing an incan blue christmas light bulb to a blue LED christmas light bulb. The incan has a warmer, fuller color. The LED blue is just a stark, pure blue spike of light. Not my taste.

So, my questions are:

Does anyone have a cool white LED fuse lamp source/vendor?

-or-

Does anyone have any pics of a 636 (or similar Pioneer receiver) with the "warm white" fuse lamps installed?
 
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Walmart carries LED lamps like this in their auto parts. Might be worth a shot since you could return them if you aren't happy.
 
Re: auto parts LED lamps...

Car systems are 13v and higher

Receivers etc are 7.5vac

the leds are very sensitive to voltage variations, from barely not operating, through too high of a current.

I have tried them, to my disappointment. I eventually used them in my car..

I ALSO looked into converting them to run on the lower voltage, as well as developing the higher voltage to run them.

Most of the leds are really three leds in the SMD package and that voltage drop across them is rather high PLUS it is very difficult to "unwire" or "rewire" the pcb pattern which puts them in series.

Reluctant to say it, but get the ones that are MADE for the application. Higher prices because they aren't being churned out in huge volumes.
 
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My intent is to buy the ones that are specifically made for stereo equipment. The 3 LED (looks like 5050 LEDs) 8V fuse lamps being sold on the auction site.

I have experience with other LED projects, but LED light quality is all over the place. I have some warm whites that are too greenish, and I have some neutral whites that are perfect. Because the 8V fuse lamps only seem to be offered in warm white, I am worried that they may be of low quality CRI and look funny behind the blue filter of the 636.

I may just try to retrofit my neutral white LEDs into the 636. I am very confident of their color. The auction site ones, I won't know unless I buy them/try them, or get experienced feedback regarding blue faced pioneers
 
I'd love to know your opinion on the neutral white LEDs as seen through the SX's dial. Please post if you do that experiment. :thmbsp:
 
So I got a chance to try out some neutral white high CRI LED's and some basic warm white LEDs and compare them to the incan backlighting:

incan


warm white LED


high CRI neutral white


To be fair, the warm white LED looks pretty good too. The neutral white LEDs are about 50% brighter, so disregard the brightness difference. I do prefer the look of the neutral CRI LEDs.

I'm thinking about buying the 3 LED fuse lamps and possibly removing the LEDs they come with and using the neutral high CRI LEDs. I want to use LED fuse lamps to preserve the integrity of the 636, so I won't be modding in these demo LEDs.
 
Thanks much for taking the pix and posting. I find that my digital cameras have a heck of a time capturing blue and turquoise colors accurately. That includes a small Sony I used to use and my current Nikon big SLR and point and shoot.

I designed some boards that use a larger surface mount warm white LED that is a "medium" powered part. It can do 150mA and they are running at just under 7mA in the Marantz 22xx series. At that low of an operating current, the light is extra yellow so does the best job I've seen yet of approximating the old color. At least it's not that shocking Christmas light color but is lacking that bit of grren that makes a Marantz turquoise-ish. It is a nice baby blue though. I need to assemble a thread on these. I do NOT plan on selling them as they include a bridge rectifier and cap for filtered DC operation = no flicker. They'd be too expensive and wouldn't sell very well on eBay or for enough to even make minimum wage!
 
So I went with the "warm white" style fuse lamps with the 3 5050 LEDs. Overall, I am very satisfied with results, the dials are much brighter now, and although the camera doesn't show it so well, the blue of the dials still seems "warm" to me. Not at all harsh or monochromatic as blue LEDs would have been.

 
Hi - wondered if anyone could give me a bit of advice on how to get to the meter lamps on my SX-636? I switched out my dial lamps with no problem but didn't have new LED's for the meters so I didn't look around too much. Is it difficult to get the meters out to put in new LED's?

BTW, I used the Cool Blue LED lamps from Parts Express and they light the dial evenly and in a beautiful deep rich blue - not harsh or overly bright at all. Exactly what I was hoping for.
 
heem6 said:
Hi - wondered if anyone could give me a bit of advice on how to get to the meter lamps on my SX-636? I switched out my dial lamps with no problem but didn't have new LED's for the meters so I didn't look around too much. Is it difficult to get the meters out to put in new LED's?

BTW, I used the Cool Blue LED lamps from Parts Express and they light the dial evenly and in a beautiful deep rich blue - not harsh or overly bright at all. Exactly what I was hoping for.
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Been awhile since I replaced lamps in the 626 but I think there's just a couple of screws on the top holding the meter enclosures. It's a bit tricky maneuvering them out to where you can get to the lamps. You'll have to move a few wires out of the way so a little TLC is in order. FYI the fuse lamps are the same as on the dial compartment. Hope this helps. Good luck!
 
Great - this is exactly what I was hoping to find out AND what I was hoping to hear. Thanks, gbroot!
 
Here's some pics from replacing the meter lamps on my SX-636.

Undo screws marked 1 and 2. Then gently lift the capacitor (3) and the black wire (4) out of the way.
Slide out the brown construction paper piece and set aside.
Lift up metal lamp housing.

tJqIpe1.jpg


Fuse lamps are hiding underneath. From this angle, LED's should be installed face down.

gUtxML2.jpg
 
When putting white LED's in the 636, is it BLUE or the TEAL its has with the factory bulbs? im not a fan of the teal so i need to know if i can get white LED's or blue LED's. but then i worry that blue LED's will be so bright i cant read the dial.
 
Bassblaster said:
When putting white LED's in the 636, is it BLUE or the TEAL its has with the factory bulbs? im not a fan of the teal so i need to know if i can get white LED's or blue LED's. but then i worry that blue LED's will be so bright i cant read the dial.
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I've tried the white and blue LED's on the blue dialed SX's. They both work well. To me the white stay more with the original dial coloration but with that extra za za the LED's provide.The blue just add in extra blue ex"hue"berance but take nothing away from the dynamic of those marvelous blue dialed SX's of the early to mid 70's. I'd suggest you order in both and experiment.
 
Cool Blue LED's from Parts Express are gorgeous and all blue (not teal) and just right (not too bright).
 
heem6 said:
Cool Blue LED's from Parts Express are gorgeous and all blue (not teal) and just right (not too bright).
Click to expand...
Are you able to provide the link to this product? I just bought a pioneer sx636 and a few of the dial lights are out, if like to replace with led ones you used. Thank you!
 
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