I miss this guy!!! REL 646B

[WhiteSE]

Boy, I wish I kept this..

Does anyone here have one?

 

[radioactive]

That's one piece of gear out of all the gear you've been through that I regret not buying when you sold it.

 

[nedseg]

Nope. But verry neat...I've been looking for some knobs like that big one for a project, though.
Esp ones with vernier knobs - any idea on where to look?
(Of course, I tossed my collection of 'em just before I came up with a great use for one.)

 

[KentTeffeteller]

Very uncommon due to being extremely expensive when new, and REL manufacturing very few of them. REL tuners were more broadcast station air monitor gear than consumer FM tuner, and with prices to match. Then 1/2-1/3 the price of a new basic Ford, Chevrolet, or Plymouth sedan. The Precedent was REL (Radio Engineering Laboratories) last FM tuner. The company lost money on every tuner they built. And inspired the infamous Marantz Model 10 and 10b FM tuners, the models which forced Saul Marantz to sell the Marantz Company to SuperScope, Inc in 1964 due to losing money on the 10 and 10b FM tuners.

 

[WhiteSE]

I saw one of these when I visited a submarine museum in Hackensack, NJ..

 

[Tubologic]

I have one, exactly the same rackmount version model. I'm looking for the table top metal cased version since many years to no avail. The 646C predates the "Precedent" and when designed was the best (and most expensive) tuner available on the market. Not many were produced and they are very scarce today. This is amongst the few pieces I would never sell (along with my Scott 4310 and REL Precedent). I also have a very rare REL 670L, which was the (crystal controlled) fixed frequency version used as a relay (re)broadcast receiver. Identical circuits but without tunable front-end and no power amp (replaced by a 600 ohms balanced line output amp).