this thread popped up at the right time.
a few weeks ago, I was given a beautiful vintage Onkyo TX-3000 am/fm stereo 50 watt (very conservatively rated) receiver.
the poor thing was in terrible shape as the big 12k mfd capacitors leaked white gunk all over the board, the protection circuit took about a minute to kick in, and the FM center meter off the discriminator was well off center at dead air.
after a complete replacement of every electrolytic capacitor in the entire unit, it came to life, just beautifully. after a complete am/fm precise alignment, it is superb on the receiving end as well.
this unit took five of the solder style fuse lamps, a wheat light in the dial pointer, and three larger wheat lights for "stereo", "tuned", and "locked".
I replaced the dial pointer wheat light with a 6 volt one I had here in series with a 22 ohm resistor to take the edge off the voltage. I replaced the "stereo", "tuned", and "locked" lamps with the appropriate colored LEDs and a 330 ohm series resistor so they see about 2.5 volts.
I was not going to pay for the tubular fuse lamps with leads so I decided to order the 6-8 volt LED retrofits from Parts Express.
https://www.parts-express.com/green-3-l ... k--070-146after just finishing the project with the new LED lamps, I must say that I am impressed.
although a slight edge is taken off from the vintage glow of the original filament lamps, this turned out much better, nicer, and further original looking than I anticipated.
I would post pics, but that would be a moot point and effort.
now the big question some may be wondering: would I do this to some of my bigger high-end top line $$$ vintage receivers ?
ABSOLUTELY NOT,
but for a nice vintage receiver that does not warrant paying the price of original style leaded tubular lamps, I absolutely would do LEDs again in a heartbeat.
this receiver's LED replacement total cost was about 7 bucks with the new LEDs and the singles I had here.
compared to 30-some for original replacements, the was a great deal, but I would never LED my Sansui G-8000
edit: as I can easily see and be extremely annoyed by the "shimmer" and "pulsing" of cheap Christmas light LEDs, I do not see any shimmer on these LED replacements. they see 6 volts AC from the transformer.
steve