LED bulb upgrade on a Yamaha CR-420

vega2k

Active Member
I thought I would document the LED upgrade on a vintage Yamaha CR-420 receiver in case anyone should be wondering how it can be done. It really was a very easy and straight forward procedure. The hardest part is getting the replacement lamps, but I have two contacts who have been able to provide me with direct replacement lamps as well as LED lamps. For vintage replacement lamps I went here: http://www.dgwojo.com/ . For the LED lamps below, I contacted an individual who makes them. If you are interested, I can forward you the contact information.

I have found the 70's Yamaha gear suffers from very dim displays, compared to other gear. Here's how the original lamps looked on this Yamaha 70's receiver (CR-420). Very dim, I think partly due to the age.
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Here's two pics of the original lamps exposed from their seats.
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Here's how the LEDs look
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First step is to cut the original lamps, making sure you leave yourself enough slack.
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Here you can see the new LED wires (to the left) spliced to the original wires. Notice the shrink wrap ready to be moved over the connection.
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Here's a pic of the connections soldered together. Again notice the shrink wrap ready to be moved into position.
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And here are the shrink wraps in place. I used a hair-dryer set on High to shrink the wraps into place.
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Finally, here are two shots of the finished product. In the dark and in the light. Much brighter and very unique.
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I am thinking about doing the same with my Yamaha Amp and Tuner combo, but I think I will go with the White LEDs. I love the Blue, but I think I want to try the whites simply to keep the original look as much as possible, but much brighter. The project cost me about $10.

Please let me know if you have any questions or comments. :thmbsp:
 
I would have stuck with green or white. :p Nice work though. :banana

Yes, I agree. Although it is cool, it is a bit too radical for my taste. I will be upgrading my Yamaha Amp/Tuner combo to White LEDs. I want to keep the original look as much as possible, but address the horribly dim displays of the Yamahas. :)
 
No mention of polarity?

If there's AC on those leads, the LEDs are going to go poof without a blocking diode in place.

Nice looking, but I'd go with Green for Yamaha. Leave the Blue to Mac and Sui.
 
No mention of polarity?

If there's AC on those leads, the LEDs are going to go poof without a blocking diode in place.

Nice looking, but I'd go with Green for Yamaha. Leave the Blue to Mac and Sui.

Well, in this particular case, the LEDs were made to be plug and play (I purchased them from one of our esteemed AK members whom I believe makes them). The lamps are wired in series and so the polarity is critical, but the way these LEDs are made, all I had to do was orient the LED leads until the light went on. There was no harm done.

I agree about the color. :)
 
Nice LEDs in your yamaha!

I'm gonna be LED'ing my CR-1020 soon, whenever I get the time to put them in.
 
My Yamaha 2040 has green lights, so green led's would be the choice for me. In general, if you want a look that approximates original white lights, use "warm" white leds. They have more of a yellow/green tinge to them. The white leds are the bright blue/white collorization.
 
Very cool. I've got a CR-2020 that could use some new bulbs. Care to put me in contact with the LED guy? Green for me!
 
Here's my 840 with the green led's installed. It looks much better in real life than my poor quality picture shows.
 

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Very impressive......what voltage do the LED's work on ?

Technically, LED's work on a certain current, rather than voltage. Typically, you'ld take the voltage you have, minus the Vf (forward voltage drop) of the LED, divided by the current you want. So, if I wanted 20ma through a 1.6 Vf LED @ 50 volts: (50 - 1.6) / .02 = 2420 So, I'd use around a 2.4k resistor.
 
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