here are a few pics of my setton rig:

my collection--


in the dark--(the bottom BS--5500 has a leaky PS cap i am fixing tonight, so it's not on in the pic)


tuner pics--








cab that I am building to fit 5 settons plus the front-loading turntable on the top shelf--I stained(pic is before staining) it but unfortunately it looks like CRAP because my sanding was inferior, so i have to resand al the stain off and start over again! 




Setton amp--






the rig set up before i got my settons-the pioneer has been sold, but the concept 16.5 is still my daily driver until i buy the preamp for my setton set--

I've never seen Setton before. Looks like I've missed out. That's some class looking equipment!

sweet lookin settons there henry!

Nice, Henry!

itlldue:
Besides the RS-220,RS-440,RS-660 receivers, setton equipment is extremely rare. even the receiver are very hard to find though.

there are believed to be less than 300 of each of the setton separates ever produced--and most were sold in europe. so, most people have not heard of them. I had the tuner shipped all the way from Germany, and I believe i will have to have the preamp shipped from england, if a certain deal I am trying to work goes through.

also, each of the amps are rated at 120wpc into 8ohms. and they are truly, ENTIRELY SEPARATE--a thick metal bar cuts right through the middle of the amps, with a single hole for the AC line cable, the only thing connecting the two. as you can see in the pics, they also have separate power switches.

Those Settons look really great, Henry. You are the second ST member to bring us an unknow ( to most of us ) brand . Bolly is the other one with his lovely Electrohomes. Let me be the first one to thank you for that.

Your sanding abilities might leave something to be desired, but your woodworking skills certainly dont. Awesomw rack, IMO.

I hope you don´t mind, but I´m moving this thread to "Members Systems" lest it gets lost. I´ll leave a lint in the original forum.

Jorge

thanks, Jorge!

actually, on all my audio purchases in my entire life, I have not spent more than $1500. no one knows about setton, so they sell very cheaply compared to other separates of the time, such as sui's, pioneer spec, marantz 300DC/3650/2130, kenwood 700M/C/T, etc.

and the receivers are an absolute STEAL! the 75wpc RS-440's dont even sell for $100.

IMO, they are the best looking equipment ever made, and the proformance and quality is not cut at all either.

here is a link to the RAREST and COOLEST and LUSTIEST and OMGest setton of them all--a TRUE holy grail!
http://www.thevintageknob.org/THEVAULT/RCS...0/RCSX1000.html

I would do, like, ANYTHING to have the RCS-X-1000 pre-tuner. it has a huge red scope, too in the back right, but it's hard to see in the pic.
these sold for $3500 when new, and only <75 were EVER made though, so my "quest for the holy grail" will NOT be easy!!!!!

Incredible good looking pix of "audio devices". There is something of Pierre Cardin in their design...
Tanx for sharing.

Very cool looking units i have never heard of making them double cool in my book. Nice.

Aha!

A Setton is among us!

I too am a proud owner of a RS -440 Receiver. Some time ago I fell in love with its striking good looks and had to own one. Albeit, it not nearly in the wonderful conditon of your splendid pieces. I bought it DOA and sent it up to Ken Bernacky of StereoSurgeons.com to give it his TLC.
Alas as my luck would have it and on almost every "nice to have" toy from Ebay, it required parts no longer available. The On-Off power/speaker selector switch was fried and not available for replacement.

Ken suggested he could add a much more sturdy power supply on/off switch by replacing the "High Filter" switch with a rugged high current On/Off switch and kill the high filter function. I agreed and the unit was thus modified.

During my wait, I found out the Setton products came from the same plant that Manufactured LAFAYETTE receivers. I have attached a photo on them side by side, Figure out which is which!

I am using My Setton as a Garage unit and it more than meets those needs. But it really needs a better home than that. I just don't have any space in my racks for another receiver amongst the numerous tuners, components and now, a Denon 4806CI 7.1 Ht receiver back from the Denon Service to upgrade it to the CI version.

Any takers out there for the Setton , I accept p.m.

definitely beautiful gear.

Setton on the left.

Awesome looking matching setup. Have heard of Setton but never saw a setup like yours before.

cool setup .whats the model # of the tuner(had to ask being a tuner nut)? and how does it sound.?

nevermind about the tuner model but im still curious how it sounds

chris

I knew the gentleman who handled the U.S. distribution of the Setton line throughout the late 70's. Frankly, there wasn't anything especially unique about the products, except for the "security panel" most of them had. Like many other products of the day, the "rack handles" were cosmetic applications only.

The Setton separates were decent products, as were the receivers, but a not-too-well-kept secret "leaked" out one day: one Setton retailer in Connecticut was repairing a Setton receiver, and noticed a startling similarity between it and the Lafayette LR-9090 receiver (the retailer was a Lafayette "associate" store). Guess what? They were identical!

The LR-9090 was one of the last receivers ever sold by Lafayette (the chain went bust only a year or two later), and was a fine unit. I don't know the corresponding Setton unit, but aside from the "security panel," there was no difference - other than a huge price difference - between the two. Not surprisingly, that retailer immediately dropped the Setton line.

It was the distributor's intention to position Setton as a direct competitor to Luxman, but the Luxman products were better, and bore no resemblance to a Lafayette-branded product. The distribution collapsed after only a few years. French-designed cosmetics alone don't a superior product make.

emaidel:
I will post pics of the nudies of the BS-5500 power amp. I think you will change your mind about the setton build quality---they are top notch! and sound awesome too!!
they have a true dual-mono design, with the ONLY thing in common being the power cord. even the power switches are separate. besides the protection circuit boards, I believe there was no lafayette similarities. I think Luxman had a hand in making it them. Each has two transformers the size of the one in a similarly powered Setton RS-660(the equivalent to the LR-9090), and two 10,000 caps per side, and 4 output transistors per channel.


as for the TUS-600 tuner--it doesnt have quite the quality of the BS but still holds it's own. 4-gang tuner, variable muting, and lights, lights, lights. although I consider the sensitivity and selectivity to be excellent, I think there could be less noise. My Concept 16.5 has a 5-gang tuner, which has overall lightly better SQ and less noise than the TUS-600, but the setton picks up many stations that the concept doesn't. I guarantee a sui TU-919 would blow it away, but hey, I still like it and Im happy with it.



regards,
Henry