Lighting:
Marantz dial lighting, using the original incandescent type bulbs, is a bluish turquoise color. Behind the dial is a heavy vellum paper, used to disperse the light. Over years of use and the heat from the bulbs it gets a tan to it, sometimes light and sometimes a pretty dark brown. The dial then becomes greener looking and likely darker. Another issue with the original incandescent bulbs is had in the models that have plastic lamp housings. The lamp heat can warp and melt the housing, sometimes severely. Sometimes if it’s not bad enough I can recover them with sanding and adding plastic strips to block light from shining where it shouldn’t. Some of the models that have this issue are: 2235B, 2250, 2250B, 2275, 2325, 4240, 4270 and 4400. There are more. Thankfully, there are 3D printed ones and I know which are the best ones out there. They run $45-50 depending on model.
I change out the vellum paper for an art grade acid free paper to restore the color and opacity. I had the occasion recently to open a unit I did with this paper 9 years ago and it was just as white as when it was installed. Also, the tuning meters get their paper replaced if it was originally installed.
I also offer my own designed and made warm white LED fuse lamps. They offer a longer lasting life and run much cooler. I have included an AC to DC voltage conversion with filtering on the back of the lamp for flicker free light. They snap in like the original lamps so can be changed out if they are not liked. Using these on models with plastic lamp housings is a good idea. They will add about $20 extra to the parts cost. The one downside is that the color of the dial will lose the turquoise component and just be a light royal blue. It is not the sickly stark purplish blue of using blue LED lighting. I have not yet had anyone decide to go back to incandescent once they see it in person – at least that I know of!
All other lights I use LEDs as they’re a bit more of a challenge to replace with soldering required. This would include the function, “stereo” and dial pointer lamp bulbs. I use warm white LEDs and true red for any normally red indicators like the “stereo” one, plus Dolby for a few models. They’re rewired to a DC voltage supply because LEDs must not get AC voltage more than 5 volts or so.
Silver dial models, like the 2285B and 2330B always seem dark to me. If my LED fuse lamps are used I can set the brightness to match the level of the original incandescent bulbs or made several times brighter even. I had one customer that only used his in the day and wanted the lighting to be 3 times brighter. It was a bit much in the dark but he was delighted! A very common boost is 34%. Honestly I bet it wouldn’t be noticed during the day! A close second is 47%. The values for which I have the resistors on hand are: 11%, 21%, 34%, 47%, 64% and 98%. I do have the correct 8 volt 200mA incandescent lamps on hand as well.
A second item for silver dialed units is the function LEDs. Never all that bright and light output decaying over the years I like to replace them. That size and package is no longer available so I take larger LEDs (5mm) and cut the diameter down in my small lathe. They were all red from the factory but with using new LEDs other color choices can now be used or red can be used to keep it stock. The dial pointer needle is dyed red inside the pointer housing so a red LED must be used. A common switch is to use green just to break up the all blue and red look. I can use the common yellowish green ones but like to use ones that are a bit truer of a green and they’re not the stark dark green like you see on LED Christmas lights. This size LED comes in yellow, orange, whites, blue and even more! Personally I wouldn’t use blue though as it’s such a common power on indicator color. Ask if there’s a color you may want used.
Capacitors:
I use Nichicon brand whenever I can for electrolytic cap replacement. I also replace tantalum caps using Nichicon UKL low leakage series. I always try to go up a voltage rank or two if possible for longevity and slightly lower ESR (Equivalent Series Resistance). I stock audio grade caps for use where they make sense and a lot of low ESR / 105 degrees C rated parts otherwise. I like to replace standard film caps in tone control circuits with polypropylene types which have less side effects. The top choice is German made Wima brand parts with a close second being trusted brand Kemet for the values Wima does not offer. In general I’m not into “boutique” type parts but can put them in if they aren’t too large to do a quality installation, just let me know what you’d like and we can discuss it.