Change vellum behind meters

Im working on a Marantz 2225 and recently changed the vellum behind the dial and some bulbs. This unit however also has vellum behind the tuning and signal strength meters. This results in blue glowing dial and green meters as it is now. Not nice.

How do you change that vellum without killing all the brittle plastic in it? whats best practice for this? (I like that the 2270 had metal cases and no vellum behind meters)

Thanks!

It's rare that a 2270 doesn't have vellum behind the meters but I've seen that. I'm with you on liking the metal housings better!

I've not had any issues with the meter lamp housing being brittle. Now getting it to pop out of the chassis slots at the bottom front can be a pain. I usually have the plastic dial off when I do this so it's much easier to use a tool such as a small screwdriver to pop the housing "ears" out. First though, the wires and 33uF electrolytic cap should be desoldered and removed - a bit of a delicate chore. Optionally the wires can be snipped and spliced back together afterwards, placing some small heatshrink tube on a wire first, stripping and resoldering the wires, then shrinking the tubing back on with the soldering iron tip. Good luck!

Ok, thanks rBuckner. Removing the casing from the back of them is not possible? You need to do it from the front?

I have enough vellum to gather Marantzes a couple of lifetimes=)

Yes have searched the forum but didnt find detailed information about the meter change.

Well you may get them out from the back only but it will be way harder. The plastic meter housing has two tabs that stick out on the bottom that rest in slots in the chassis front plate. Those need popped out to get the housing all the way off.

Im just finished with the vellum change and im positive that this cant be done from the front? Not sure if I misunderstod the advice.

Ive attached pictures of me removing the case from the back of the meter housings. All in all I think it took me an hour or two.

A side note, cleaning the black faceplates is not fun. Hard not to leave spots like on a black car.

Edit. Im pretty sure you described the same thing as I did rBuckner.

Yes you are right Jonas. Looks nice! Great job. :thmbsp:

New guy here...I'm in the process of replacing the vellum in a 2270 that I just picked up and realized there isn't vellum behind the meters. Based on previous comments I read, it must be an early model. Since there isn't vellum behind the meters, is there a benefit to me adding it? I'm thinking it might match the dial plate better. Thanks.

I only changed behind the tuner dial on my early 2270 and it looks great that way (didnt have any behind meters). The meters and dial matches in color even better then on this 2225 with vellum behind borth meters and tuner dial.

So I recommend you to test that way first.

Jonas_Skaegg said:

Im just finished with the vellum change and im positive that this cant be done from the front? Not sure if I misunderstod the advice.

Ive attached pictures of me removing the case from the back of the meter housings. All in all I think it took me an hour or two.

A side note, cleaning the black faceplates is not fun. Hard not to leave spots like on a black car.

Edit. Im pretty sure you described the same thing as I did rBuckner.

Click to expand...

Thank you so much for pictures. I am about to do this in a week or so. You say 1-2 hours. What was the biggest part of this. Any additional descriptions would be beneficial.

Thanks!

I think the biggest part was for me figuring out how to do it. Something like this should do it:

Remove 2 screws on the plastic housing.
Remove 2 screws holding the lamp sockets behind the meters.
Remove 2 screws holding the bracket for the tuner string.

Unsolder the cables to the meters to access better. Be careful with this as the plastic starts to melt really quick. You can just cut them as well and solder them on afterwards, maybe thats as good to minimize heat to the meter case.

Now you can remove the white plastic behind the meters, as rBuckner said, they also attaches with 2 tabs down in the chassis. Dont break those. I also removed the lamp panel to clean the housing under water. I think its good for better access as well.

good luck

Thank you, Jonas. I will try that first. I wasn't looking forward to removing the meters to add vellum on the 2270.

I have a 2010 with the color difference between the dial and the meter. When rebuilt I went with the LEDs for the dial, but left the meter as a normal bulb because the LED in the meter I saw on another unit was too bright. I have not bothered to open it back up and either change the bulb or change the paper, which I believe was done during the rebuild.
Just seems there is not enough time to get back to these little things! I'd rather enjoy using it instead of putting one more piece on the bench and not finishing something already in the way. I just need another 8' of bench......