Well it started a long time ago with me buying two speaker cabinets from the 50's to take on as a restoration and modification project.  Very cool walnut cabs with swivel bases and flip up lids. I had a vision. The Setchell Carlson AM receiver and turntable were removed from the one cabinet and the other speaker's top was for record storage.  The inside tops were fitted with mirrored shelves and the speaker baffles and drivers were removed. A custom baffle was made to fit  JBL L100 Century woofers and Cerwin Vega mid range horns, which were mounted inside the tops. A rear firing tweeter was mounted to the back along with the 3 way crossover network put inside.  The tweeter, horn, and crossover networks came from Cerwin Vega R-24s, which were designed with a rear firing tweeter.  The horns were painted copper and given custom mounts to hold them in place.

The cabinets were refinished in a Mahogany stain with a semi gloss poly finish.  The original cane grills were put back on and a one of a kind retro classic was born.  They now reside with a great, local guy playing on a Marantz 2285B.  He and his wife have retro parties and spin vinyl with the speakers singing away.  Very cool wife!
The Setchell Carlson Stereo Marque 800 and the turntable were boxed up with no idea what may come of them.  Then one day Steve Hall, who I trust with my vintage tube repairs, came by for a visit.  I pulled the old Setchell Stereo out of the box and asked if  anything could be done with it.  Being an electronicc guru and very creative, he came up with the idea to make it an integrated amp.

All parts associated with the AM radio were removed.  Then, the mods began.  Two sets of RCA inputs were added to the side as were two sets of binding posts.  Some rewiring and tweeks on the bass, treble, and volume controls and a working integrated tube amp came alive.

Now, came the cosmetics.  My work was cut out for me.  I started with the face.  All the lettering was removed.  Then I had a piece of glass cut to replace the old AM tuning glass.  I found a suitable base made out of an old cutting board and had some extra Mahogany trim boards from an old TV and figured out how to mount it.  An extra piece of aluminum was cut to extend the main front panel.  Holes were drilled to mount the face to the inside panel.  A second piece of Aluminum was cut to cover the input wiring on the side. A blue background was added to the back panel for the window.  A plastic, diamond-grid box was installed to cover the exposed wiring.  Now, what to do with the glass and face plate.

I contacted Minnesota Trophy and Gifts here in my home town.  I emailed them pictures of the original vertical aligned face with its painted scribe.  They said bring it in and we will see what we can do.  I removed the painted lettering down to a bare, aluminum faceplate. Now that the amp sits horizontal, they engraved the faceplate based on the original lettering design. Then, the window was engraved with "Manz Audio". They did a fantastic job and it looks better than the old face.  They also engraved the side panel for the RCA inputs and speaker jacks. 

Then, the tricky part came with the lighting.  Because the amp hung down into the one speaker cab it was blacked out and there was no where for the light to escape.  The old AM tuning dial shaft hole became a pilot light and was filled with a jewel. The bulb housing was angled down and over to light the window but light was going everywhere.  I found some self stick foam and cut to size it, was installed surrounding the window to hold all the light in. 

A few cosmetic tweaks here and there and I had a custom tube amp. One of the best tweaks to complete the project was adding an Audiocubics R-cube (www.audiocubics.com), which allows me to control the volume on a vintage amp. It's a fantastic product that comes with a hand-carved remote and is a great addition to any vintage piece of gear.  For additional information about the R-cube, contact Curt Fisher at sales@audiocubics.com.

Now what do you put a 4 watt tube amp on?  Just about everything.  It has been on a variety of speakers including some $60,000 Reference Granite Speakers with dual 15" woofers and it sounded great.  It now has a home in my basement system on some restored Canton Karat 200's.

The Setchell Carlson Stereo High Fidelity Marque 800:4 watts/ Channel 8OHM
Tubes:6EU7-Pre amp6EU7- two, phase inverter6GK6-four, output tubes (similar to EL86)
There are two 6BA6 tubes from the radio that are inactive but filament pins were left connected so they light up for effect.

If you have an old console  amp and want to customize it to be your own contact me and see what we can do.