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Best use of lights on a receiver (1 Viewer)

North

Auditioning
Joined
Nov 24, 2004
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11
I remember being fascinated by the lighted dials of my uncles receiver when I was a kid and I still am.

So anyway, let's hear your favs, from sublimely elegant to Christmas like. Past & present.
 

Jason GT

Second Unit
Joined
Dec 12, 2002
Messages
452
[party pooper mode]

Any Prepro or AVR in which the front panel is 100% dimmable.

[/party pooper mode]
 

Shane Martin

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Sep 26, 1999
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6,017
I'll be the first to mention the blue light on Sony gear(especially the ES gear). It's mezmorizing :)

Then again the rest of my ES display is dimmed.
 

Adam*M

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Feb 9, 2004
Messages
105
I always liked the spectrum analyzer they used to have on receivers and equalizers. Back in the 80's, I took an cheap equalizer and hid it in a closet, with a small camera pointed at it. Then I connected the output of the camera to a leftover 9 inch green-screen monitor from my Apple //c, which I placed in my stereo rack. People loved that giant spectrum analyzer.

Of course, these days, I run my receiver with the lights dimmed/off. If I want to watch funky graphics while I listen to music, I can always run iTunes...
 

John Garcia

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I like the new H/K blue lighting behind the volume knob. Onkyo seems to have adopted a similar concept on it's most recent receivers too.

With my Marantz I have the option of display only when something changes (key press, etc...) or no display at all. I prefer fewer lights, and the ability to completely dim is a must. My DVD player and CD player also have the ability to have no display at all.

Blue Circle has some nice looking stuff.

Sony ES has changed to a purple light, AFAIK.

Racklight LED lighting from Panamax :D
 

Rob Silver

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Oct 23, 2004
Messages
78
Don't like lights on the receiver unit at all, rather have it on a backlite remote. Not into all the flashy LEDs and disco balls, I like it low key.
 

ChrisWiggles

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Aug 19, 2002
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I've covered all the lights with tape or other materials.

I hate electronics that have bright displays that you cant turn off. They wash out my screen. :angry:
 

Wayne Ernst

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Joined
Feb 24, 2002
Messages
2,588

Actually, I saw a new McIntosh receiver on the shelf the other day - and it still looked plenty like a Christmas tree.
 

Nathan Stohler

Second Unit
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Jan 17, 2004
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329
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Nathan Stohler
My Pioneer receiver (VSX-D912) has a blue light behind the volume knob as well. Does anyone know the purpose of it? Is it just so you can find the volume knob in extreme darkness?

My old Sony had a blue light that came on when decoding a DD/dts source (I think). It was disabled when you completely dimmed the display, but my Pioneer doesn't have that feature, unfortunately...

Sorry to be a wet blanket, since this thread was supposed to celebrate lights on the receiver :)
 

John Kotches

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Joined
Mar 14, 2000
Messages
2,635
If you want a Christmas tree display, I think the Sunfire Processors do the job quite well :D

OTOH, the new Meridian G Series has a very faint blue backlighting behind the buttons that adds a neat touch of elegance. I wish I could take a picture of it, but I need to find someplace that does picture hosting that allows external links so that I can include with the IMG tags.

Cheers,
 

John Garcia

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If you have a Yahoo e-mail addy, you should also be able to host your own pics with a public album on Yahoo photos.
 

GetGray

Grip
Joined
Sep 28, 2004
Messages
17
My old Sansui equalizer with real time led graph was pretty spiffy I thought. Too bad you can't dim it or I might still use it...
 

Ben LG

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Jun 30, 2003
Messages
225
I like the blue leds on the Rotel gear, some of the best looking components imo.
 

Boaty McBoatface

Second Unit
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May 15, 2001
Messages
258
Real Name
Billy Posey
I inherited my fascination for audio components from my father who use to do a lot dee jaying back in the seventies. When I was three I use to draw pictures of his equipment and how they were connected. In the late seventies he purchased one to those Technics by Panasonic receivers, models Sa-800 to the behemoth sa-1000( the 300 watt per channel model). I remember the next morning after connected everything, being mesmerized the the green lights that blinked to the music. Then a few days later after seeing how I continuously stared at the lights, he amused me even more by showing how they changed to yellow and red as the volume had in turned louder. When I became a teenager that receiver became my first until a few years later I got rid of it to get into more modern gear. Recently I found two more of the same model on ebay and now I use them as power amps. Still to day I like they receivers are lit up almost as much as I like their quality or features. I never dim them as I don't find it distracting. I like looking at my equipment nearly as much as I like messing around with them.
 

John Kotches

Senior HTF Member
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Mar 14, 2000
Messages
2,635
John,

Then I would have to take a good photograph. My photography skills could stand quite a bit of improvement :)

Cheers,
 

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