Setton RS-660 - is this worth it?

Just to set the record straight I checked my setton rs 660 last night, it appears that lense that covers the station settings is made from a rose colored plastic approximately 1/4 inch thick. The clips are made out of anodized silver colored aluminum. I tried to download pictures but I was having problems with my computer. the case is a simulated wood-grain sticky paper I bought my rs660 in the condition that it is, so I have no way of knowing if mine came from the factory in the way it is now,but it certainly looks unaltered

Your pictures are great and I think the questions of what makes up the tuner cover and clips are the real issues. Have you tapped on the cover to ascertain if glass or acrylic, and any evidence of scratches on either? Obviously acrylic would be a lot easier to work with but today, glass might still be easy to drill IF the correct company can handle it, wonder if it even could be drilled or cut with a laser? But both acrylic and glass can then be finished to a high degree to be very clear and classy, its primarily the hole drilling and edge finishing that is the issue.

Question -- would anyone have a good picture of the metal brackets that hold each end of the dial faceplate that is made of plexiglass/acrylic? I'd like to see how these are made and what the connection to the faceplate is? I've googled images of the RS660 but cannot see any that show how these connections are formed. I've also looked at the service manual and it doesn't show. Thanks

The clips could be a metallized plastic, or a cast aluminum part which has been polished or anodized (which is relatively easy to do at home), probably looks like a U shaped piece with two inside the U cylindrical protrusions which are drilled and tapped for attachment. IMO, if you know a machinist friend, might be possible to machine from billet, or create a sand cast mold and make a few rough aluminum ones which then can be finished and anodized. These clips are not holding a huge amount of weight IMO.

Otherwise, consider a 3D printed version if you can get accurate measurements and create the correct CAD image. 3D printing can be done with plastic or with metal depending on the printer. So, IMO, both the glass/acrylic cover and the clips can be remanufactured, just depends on how ingenious you want to be.
 
Also, currently, there are 3 Lafayette LR-9090's up for sale on ebay for $100 or less, some of which are "parts units with some functional issue which would have the needed power switch and maybe even other parts if one was looking for parts units. 2 are located in Brooklyn so shipping might not be too bad. 1 fully functioning unit is here in Garden Grove, about 30 minutes from my house, has a broken glass front cover.

Just a thought for the power switch issue, but I'd prefer to modify the unit with the low power relay like in the AK thread instead of still switching 120V AC with the current switch even at reduced amperage.
 
Congrats.
The burl looks nice, real nice.


Glad to see an AK'er get it and start a restoration.
Where did you get the burl vinyl?
I did the case of one of my MCS 3125's with wood grain vinyl and it looks pretty good, but I like that burl a whole lot better.
goodolpg, picked the burl vinyl up at a local no name dollar type store.
 
Just to add more description to my previous post the lens material is Rose Colored plastic and the aluminum clips are anodized, also on the inside of the clips there is too small studs that penetrate into the plastic to keep the lens from sliding. you have to look really hard to see these so I wouldn't worry too much about duplicating that part of the clip
 
Does it look as good in person as it does in those pictures? You should go get the rest of their inventory and sell it here. :)
The store did have quite a bit of the vinyl rolls but I didn't see much in burl. I went there expecting to pick up some sort of wood grain and spotted the burl and thought why not. The unit looks great and the burl colour ties in with the dial colour which is a sort of light beige. I just finished making a temporary dial cover in glass along with a couple of those brackets which I made using some aluminum sheeting that I had laying around. Looks fine -- will send a photo on my next post.
 
Wow I am totally impressed the way that it turned out it looks really good, how much money do you have invested into this project?
 
tater415, These are Canadian dollars: Paid $120 for the unit, $1.50 for the vinyl wrap and $7.99 for the wood filler. I had the two lamp bulbs and deoxit on hand. Total so far $129.49 Canadian $ ($106.00 US)
 
Did you have a glass shop cut the glass and bevel the edges?
How did the hole for the tuner dial shaft get made, drill?
 
Did you have a glass shop cut the glass and bevel the edges?
How did the hole for the tuner dial shaft get made, drill?
goodolpg, I cut the glass myself and used a 5/16 diamond drill bit to cut the hole for the tuner dial. I've had some experience cutting glass having done some stained glass work in the past. There is a local plexiglass supplier I'm going to check with to see if he can make me a proper plexiglass dial cover and depending on his ability and the price I may go for that option in the future. At this point I can live with what I have. I want it to look good which it does but am more interested in it's ability to reproduce sound which so far it is doing a fine job of - :)

I'm still trying to figure a plan to get the unit into my stack set up. Given it's 22.5 inches wide and 7.5 inches high my current set up never considered having such a large unit. I'm also looking into how to incorporate a switch box so that I can use either my Sansui G-7500 or the Setton with my existing A&B Speakers all the while doing so safely and not blowing something up. I just posted a thread in General Discussion about this looking for advice.
 
You've done a nice job on the Setton, congratulations.
I like some of those big ol' Sansuis but never had one.
Probably a good thing you have the x500 model, the bigger of the x000 models in addition to being large and wide also had the side terminals for interconnects and speaker wires which probably wouldn't work in your rack either.
 
tater415, These are Canadian dollars: Paid $120 for the unit, $1.50 for the vinyl wrap and $7.99 for the wood filler. I had the two lamp bulbs and deoxit on hand. Total so far $129.49 Canadian $ ($106.00 US)
You did good, and again it came out really nice, congratulations on a fine job and welcome to the Setton Club
 
Excellent work on the tuner glass and passes the 3 foot, even the 1 foot viewing test! :thumbsup::thumbsup: Nice work on the unit cover too.
 
a several feet viewing test, interesting :).

For people not knowing about the thing, it might be just inches ;)
 
Care to elaborate a bit on the relay ? Where and what to install ect.
If it's working well, it's worth the money.

There is a power switch issue to address.
The switch can fail so a relay gets added to take the stress off.

Setton sound is the smoothest most buttery I've ever heard.

Ugly girls can sing pretty.
 
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