KK - Works with no front panel?

[rowlandhills]

I may have an opportunity to get a KK with a damaged front panel, which has no functioning buttons or screen.

Obviously, I can send this off to get a repair, but given that all of my kit is out of sight in a rack behind the sofa, controlled by RS232, I'm wondering if there's any need to do so initially (having just upgraded to a KRDS/1 from a KRDS/0, funds are a little tight!).

The current owner doesn't use an RS232 connection, so can't tell me if it will work using RS232 to select sources and set volume, if the front panel is non-functional or disconnected.

Can any help confirm whether it should work before I agree to buy this?

I guess that there would probably be an issue in that I couldn't access the setup menu, and as far as I know, things like unity gain, input names etc. cannot be done through Konfig.

[stefan]

I can confirm that RS232 works for setting the volume and selecting the sources from Kinsky. It is a bit awkward though as you can't change the volume if you have playlist selected. You'll have to change from playlist to the input used in KK (the inputs appear in that list). Then back to playlist to operate your DS. If you get the picture?

But... for this to work RS232 must be enabled in KK. If it's disabled, how can you enable it? However, enabled is the default according to the manual so chances are likely good that it is. But how to make sure?

Assume this KK won't react to the remote? There is an RC5 input on the back, as I understand you can connect an external IR receiver.

Edit: Like others here I've found it sounds better with the RS232 cable disconnected so I don't use it (I won't say the difference is huge so it would still likely be a significant upgrade for you). Also, eventually you likely want to get it fixed. I would check the repair costs beforehand.