SL3 replaced red led with blue led

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gordonmenninger

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Ok guys, I did the project tonight. I sent Jim Power at Martin Logan an email last week and asked him if it is possible to change out the red led on the front bottom panel with the cool blue one... I had asked this quesition on this forum and the responses I got pretty much advised me not to proceed...
Jim said that you can order the blue led from them so I did. 2 blue led's attached to the wire with shipping was $20 total. Package arrived today, and I got right to work.
1.) took rear panel off - use hammer and soft rag and put claw under one of the speaker terminals and gently give the hammer a little knock and panel pops right off.
2.) I disconnected the twisted red, black, blue wire on the top left side (facing the back)
3.) disconnected the red/black light that gets attached to the top of the board.
4.) now the tricky part. There is a big gob of silicone behind the red led. Remove as much as possible and try to pull out the led. It takes a little time. You may tear the wire from the actual red led - no worry - just get a phillips screwdriver and insert it where the red led is and push from the inside of the speaker cabinet until the old led pops out of the front and on the floor!
Now you have a nice clean hole to work with. The first speaker I did I wanted to reinstall the little round plastic trim piece that holds the led in place and I messed around with it for about an hour. Just could not get it to stay in there as I broke off some of its tabs. Don't worry, I ended up not using it anyway
5.) The new led wire that ML ships is a bit on the short side and after messing with it for a while, I ended up using part of the old red led wire and soldered both wires together to make it a bit longer. I added about 8 inches or so. Do this step, you will thank me later!
6.) I placed the new led in the little hole, and I have about 1/2 of the actual led protruding out from the front of the cabinet. I played around with this for a while and found this to be the best solution. Once I had the led where I wanted it, I held the cable to the bottom of the speaker cabinet and carefully attached it to the wood with a staple gun. Be careful not to short out the wires. This way the wire keeps the led in place while the new clear silicone caulk dries! I made sure the led was in the position I wanted it and then applied clear silicone liberally around the hole to make the box airtight again.
7.) IMPORTANT: Jim Powers told me to hook up the new led light in reverse - red to black and black to red. It is actually a multicolor led he said and glows blue when you reverse it.
8.) hook up the twisted black blue red wire
9.) screw in the back panel and you are good to go!

My camera was not with me when I did this project but it is pretty self explanatory... The first speaker took about 1 1/2 hours and the second one 20 minutes! I will take a pic of the speakers when I have my camera back.
This was a pretty easy tweak and I think the SL3's looks better than the red leds! Great tweak for $20 imo!:rocker:
 
7.) IMPORTANT: Jim Powers told me to hook up the new led light in reverse - red to black and black to red. It is actually a multicolor led he said and glows blue when you reverse it.

Just curious - What color does it glow when you hook it up red to red, black to black?
 
7.) IMPORTANT: Jim Powers told me to hook up the new led light in reverse - red to black and black to red. It is actually a multicolor led he said and glows blue when you reverse it.

Just curious - What color does it glow when you hook it up red to red, black to black?

I did not try that out! I should have done that! Dang it....
 
Update

Update: I came down this moring and walked in my home theater to check out how the blue leds look in they daylight... to my shock they had turned back to RED if you can beleive that! I went upstairs in the office ticked off and later walked back down and fed the speakers some music, and they turned blue again! Could there be something where the speaker idles (no music signal) they turn red and when it receives a signal they turn blue?
I sure could not believe my eyes! Any opinions on this?:eek:
 
7.) IMPORTANT: Jim Powers told me to hook up the new led light in reverse - red to black and black to red. It is actually a multicolor led he said and glows blue when you reverse it.

I wonder if you could have just reversed the one that was in there!!

Congratulations on succeeding, and thanks for posting - enjoy!
 
7.) IMPORTANT: Jim Powers told me to hook up the new led light in reverse - red to black and black to red. It is actually a multicolor led he said and glows blue when you reverse it.

Just curious - What color does it glow when you hook it up red to red, black to black?

I did not try that! Dang, I really should have to see what it would do. The actual color of the LED when not lit is clear.
 
Update

When I came down into the theater room the next day to look at my speakers to my surprise the led's were RED again! I thought I must be dreaming - how could this be? I put on a CD and lo and behold they turned blue again! It seems like when the speakers "idles" with no sound input, they are red and when you feed them a signal they turn blue!

Anyone know why this could be???
 
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Wow, that is a cheap price for sure.. thanks for posting..
for peace of mind though, i felt better just going with the ones from Martin Logan not to screw anything up!
They work great so far the only thing I should have maybe done is pushed them in a bit further as they are pretty bright when watching a movie with the lights out!
 
Hi Gord.

I would be interested to know what your led's look like that you got for replacements. I got a new replacement for my Odessey led that burnt out, however it barely lights up blue.
 
Pictures

Ok, I finally took the time to take some pics of the SL3's with the blue led's. I think they look pretty sweet - if almost a little too bright when watching movies though! I should have pushed them in a bit before glueing but oh well!
 

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