Bulb to LED conversion - Yamaha CA-610 II

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PhysGraf

New Member
I recently had the good fortune of finding a very nice Yamaha CA-610 in the attic of a house I bought four years ago. Should have cleaned out the attic sooner. At any rate, it sounds great, very clean, but the lights for the output panel meters were burned out. I did a quick conversion to blue LED's, using only the LED's and two 560 ohm 1/4 watt resistors (stuff that most people have around the house).

Also, the vinyl covering on the wood was shrunk and bubbled in places, so I gently peeled it off, and gave the wooden case a light sand and a coat of Minwax polyurethane varnish. Looks great.

Below are pics of the wiring diagram and the final result. Simply clip out the two dead bulbs. Replace one with a 560 ohm resistor. Replace the other with the two LEDs and the resistor, wired in series with the proper polarity. Current through each should be about 17mA, under the LED's rated 20mA. Be sure to properly shrink wrap and/or tape everything so as not to short against the faceplate.

A nice touch, the standard 5mm LED fits right into the original green silicone rubber grommets.
 

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Uh, oh. Looks like trouble (for me and my CR-1020).

Welcome to AK! Don't be such a stranger!
 
I think the original lamps were rated 14V 80mA 4.12mm Stanley brand, which draw 70mA at 12V. Other people have used these lamps as replacements in this amp. I only have the wiring diagram from the Yamaha website pdf, which is actually the manual for the CA-610 and not the CA-610 II.

On the CA-610 diagram, there is a set of 14V rails coming off of transformer taps, and rectified by some diodes.

I measured 5Vdc 17mA across the LED's as diagrammed, installed in my CA-610 II.

I have only had them on for a few hours so far, but they haven't dimmed or been damaged visibly damaged. I don't know if there is any potential for spurs or surge damage. There is probably a simple way to further protect the LED's using a flyback diode, but they are cheap and available. I had them in the house, and I didn't want to wait for lamps in the mail.

The paint on the meter needles fluoresces bright orange really well in the blue light, and has a nice contrast against the blue.

These LED's are centered at 470nm output, 5500 millicandelas output. They probably put off less heat than the original bulbs, and more light. The green rubber scatters and evenly diffuses the light, and the acrylic insert spreads it across the panel face.
 
Welcome to AK!

Nice job on the Yammy...and like pmsummer said, "don't be a stranger". You obviously know your way around the inside of an amplifier.

:thmbsp:
 
Quick update - after several days of use and several on-off cycles, the measured light output from the LED's is still at 100% (5500 millicandelas each - almost too bright to look at without the diffusers in place, and very nice looking in full room light or darkness installed) - I think that the circuit configuration is probably fine as described, and no further components are needed to protect the LED's from damage. They will probably outlast other parts of the amp.

LED's still aren't as warm as lamps, but LED's are available in an incredible variety of colors, form factors, and light output ratings, and they are electronically quiet, thermally cool, and amazingly long-lasting. Replacing indicators and illumination lamps with LED's allows the user to make various components have a different "look" or cosmetically match components of different brands and vintages. In addition to being low-cost and versatile, they are available and long-lived, and so I don't feel like LED for lamp substitution compromises the integrity of the component. I think LED's are generally better, but I am sure there are certain examples where they just wouldn't look as cool as original incandescent lamps, sort of like transistors compared to tubes.

I knew that this amp was a pretty solidly-built component when I lifted it out of the attic... but I am still amazed at just how good it sounds, given that it is 30 years old and spent perhaps 10 or 15 years in a hot attic in the southern United States. I am about the same age as the amp.

I've never been a big stereo guy, but I bought a base-model Pioneer in the mid to late 1990's, and this Yamaha (base model, but at an inflation adjusted price of about $1000) blows it away.

I don't think I've ever owned a better sounding, cleaner amp. I guess audio equipment is like cars, sometimes newer stuff has more sophisticated design, more convenient controls, or other more superficial features, but the new stuff might be built around a lower-quality chassis using cheaper materials. One thing is for sure, I will never walk by an older audio component in a pawn shop without wanting to listento it and look up the specs.
 
PhysGraf said:
I've never been a big stereo guy, but I bought a base-model Pioneer in the mid to late 1990's, and this Yamaha (base model, but at an inflation adjusted price of about $1000) blows it away.

I don't think I've ever owned a better sounding, cleaner amp. I guess audio equipment is like cars, sometimes newer stuff has more sophisticated design, more convenient controls, or other more superficial features, but the new stuff might be built around a lower-quality chassis using cheaper materials.
Click to expand...

The Yamaha stuff was remarkably well made and designed. I have a CA-2010, CT-1000, CR-1000, and a CR-1020. I love 'em all.
 
I have a Yamaha 610 II the lights does no work, I tried replacing with LEDs and resistors but no results. How can I trouble shoot the system?
 
carlm4,
You probably have the LEDs backwards. Try reversing them and see if that works. They are, after all, diodes so they are polarized.
Rick
 
Thanks gridleakrick,
When I first removed the cover to access the lights, I noticed that both bulbs were blown, I just discovered that I don't have voltage present for the lights. I'm very new at this (my first vintage system) I don't want to put this in the shop. can some tell me how to troubleshoot the lights in my Yamaha?
 
I believe this model has an internal fuse for the lamps. If you're lucky, a new fuse will be all you need. Whatever you do, do NOT install a higher rated fuse. I have personal experience with the kind of damage that results.
 
The fuses are good; thanks. I removed the blown bulbs and checked for voltage and there is no voltage getting to the bulbs. Where should I check next. thanks in advance for your help

Yamaha CA 610 II
Yamaha CT 610 II
Nakamichi 680zx
Marantz 2252B
Marantz 4270
Marantz 4300
Pioneer SX-3800
 
Last edited:
PhysGraf said:
I recently had the good fortune of finding a very nice Yamaha CA-610 in the attic of a house I bought four years ago. Should have cleaned out the attic sooner. At any rate, it sounds great, very clean, but the lights for the output panel meters were burned out. I did a quick conversion to blue LED's, using only the LED's and two 560 ohm 1/4 watt resistors (stuff that most people have around the house).

Also, the vinyl covering on the wood was shrunk and bubbled in places, so I gently peeled it off, and gave the wooden case a light sand and a coat of Minwax polyurethane varnish. Looks great.

Below are pics of the wiring diagram and the final result. Simply clip out the two dead bulbs. Replace one with a 560 ohm resistor. Replace the other with the two LEDs and the resistor, wired in series with the proper polarity. Current through each should be about 17mA, under the LED's rated 20mA. Be sure to properly shrink wrap and/or tape everything so as not to short against the faceplate.

A nice touch, the standard 5mm LED fits right into the original green silicone rubber grommets.
Click to expand...
I want to upgrade the lights in my Yamaha CA 610 II but i'm not getting the required voltage to the bulbs- How would I trouble shoot the problem? Thanks in advance.
 
I re-capped my CA-610II this weekend and seem to have broken a bulb filiment. I found this article and decided to give LED's a try.

Across the lamps, I measure about 26vAC, not DC. I bought the service manual a few years ago and there is a 27vAC portion of the transformer that feeds this and the protection circuit. In a hurry I put some resistors and two LED's using PhysGraf's example in the first post and got light, but I believe my resistors are too high, barely lights the meters.

I'm torn between buying new lamps for $10 off of ebay, or investing the time and research to get LED's working.
 
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