gordonmenninger
Well-known member
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:
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:
