Would I not get a "top" echelon Sansui right off of the bat, but rather one of the second tier tuners, like MWilson suggested. Then see if your FM listening patterns require something better. For most of us you may not want or need to proceed further. I know I have no desire to do so. My $7 Sansui T-77 (solidstate) is a knockout on a great uncompressed jazz broadcast, live classical broadcasts, and probably overkill for compressed FM rock/pop/talk. |
you can still get a sansui off ebay at decent prices-i got a t80 a month or so for 9$ -thing is in great shape just a light out on the front pannel-it sounds nice also. |
Michaela - I think we're still watching the same program. You've named a unit not "blessed" by the fmtunerinfo site - I'm also not talking about the top Sansui models, but an echelon of well-built "second-tier" models (not so highly-acclaimed), also around $75-$100 used. It's clear that a "blessing" on fmtunerinfo is worth more than it should be - the buyer's market is in the plentitude of very good "also-rans" of interest that aren't receiving this price attention.
It'd be interesting to know if there's anything at all to get excited about in the "dregs" on Ebay - quartz tuners in the $zero-$50 range. Some look serviceable, maybe even nice, but do any of these sound any good, or draw/hold stations at all well - or is all of this stuff early-generation and of little interest? |
I'm going to disagree just a little from the above post. I've been watching tuner sales on ebay, etc for a while now, and it appears to be a seller's market. I think most people use fmtunerinfo.com as sort of the bible now for which tuners are the best to get and from there, vintage MAC's, Sansui's, Pioneer's etc., are commanding very high prices, much more than just a few years ago. My suggestion is a real sleeper, the Yamaha CT-1010. If you read the review on fmtunerinfo.com, it didn't get high marks, only because the person submitting the review had a bad unit. So this tuner, which was Yamaha's next down in line from what people consider to be the best Yamaha, the CT7000, has much of the CT7000 incorporated in it and will sell for about $75.00. It is a fantastic tuner but because it didn't get the "thumbs up" from fmtunerinfo.com, it's not highly sought after, so at the prices it sells for, it's an absolute steal. Good luck!
Mike. |
I third (or second, or fourth) the Sansui suggestion - it's a buyer's market right now with lots of decent ones available for very little money. fmtunerinfo.com as suggested is a great starting place, but don't be afraid to drag in one they don't list - they don't cover everything that's out there. And above all, as Aball suggests - get an MD ST2 antenna - even if you pay more for it than the tuner itself, this antenna is for real - you won't want to be without it. |
The Yamaha T-1 is the one I have. If you want the best possible tuner buy under $100 this may be the one you should have too. It is not a super-tuner, nor could be at the price, but it is astonishingly musical.
I also like Rich's suggestion, above, that you consider a receiver from the seventies. It is true that some of them had excellent tuners. Luxman, Sherwood, Marantz, Harman Kardon come to mind, but the Sherwood may be the best suggestion for the price you want to pay. Sherwood was renowned for its tube units in the sixties, and the tuner sections were the best part of their later receivers. |
I had harman kardon tu-940. A wonderful tuner. I guess you can buy it easily at very low price.nb |
Get lazy and find a rotel, denon or sony with remote. I got my denon 380 for about $120 and it sounded as good as my MD101 for almost all broadcasts (there is very little high quality radio in my area). There might be the rare occasion where a live broadcast could be a little better, but for 500 less and a nice remote, it's worth having the denon. |
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Sansui T-80 off Ebay, nice sweet tuner for about $40-$50.
Or a Pioneer TX-7800 for $50-$100 (again off Ebay).
Regards, |
I love my cheap Sony 550ES tuner. Also get a Magnum Dynalab ST2 antenna - makes a huge difference. Arthur |
NAD 4300 (I own) or 4155 (check out fmtunerinfo.com ratings). The NAD 4300 originally retailed for $495 in 1988, I paid $125 on ebay and it is much, much better than the $1300 receiver that it replaced. I'm not a big fan of the older analog tuners (who needs extra work) as you can get a good solid state tuner as more and more people abandon the FM world. You can pay alot more and not get something as good. |
Try http://www.fmtunerinfo.com/ they have an extensive list of tuners and reviews. |
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I'd get one of the early ca.1980 solid state tuners off of ebay. Something like my sansui I got off of ebay for $7. On the right jazz broadcast, it betters my redbook front end. If FM is really, really good in your area, you might strong for one of great old tube tuners and either restore it yourself or have it professionally restored.
Many of the new tuners seem to be a notch or two below in sound quality compared to the old ones. And two, the FM broadcast is going to be the limited factor be the SQ of my $7 sansui tuner is. Even for uncompressed stations. Something to think about.
Aaron |
Or ... go back to the time when FM listening was considered as important as listening to vinyl or tapes. Go on ebay or your local Salvation Army (or sometimes even here on Audiogon) and pick up a vintage 70's or 80's receiver and use the receiver as your tuner. You would simply connect the tape out on the receiver (bypasses the receiver's controls) to your NAD's tuner input. Receivers to look for are: vintage Pioneer (something like a 636 or SX3600); Marantz 22XX series (one of the baby Marantz receivers ... 2215; 2216B); and Sherwood 7000 series (7100 had a great tuner). Yamaha, Onkyo, and Kenwood also made some great ones. Because you will not be concerned about the amp portion of the receiver, you will not have to chase some of the more mammoth and pricy receivers. Also, few things look nicer than one of the vintage analog receivers with their cool blue lights and silver faceplates. I have a Marantz 2216B in my main system (I also use a 2240 in my bedoom system, but as a receiver) and it has worked out quite nicely.
regards, Rich |
FM broadcast signals are bandpassed so everything above 15 Khz is clipped out of the audio signal. With this in mind no FM station will reach CD quality so spending as little as you need to (assuming the rest of your gear and your ears are up to the task) may be the best bet.
A $60 tuner and freight should be within your target. There are a few options (http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?misctunr&1107142572) listed at audiogon and at that price point you will get a FM signal through your speakers.
Do not be too upset if the sound is not great but it will be better than what you get from a boom box or your car stereo considering the wind and traffic noise. |
This isn't an answer to your question, exactly, but a suggestion that you might want to consider a couple of alternatives to a tuner. If you live in a city with good FM programming and you live in a place in that city where reception is reasonable, a tuner for your main system may be just what you want.
But if you live in a city like I do, where there's not much on the FM band that's very interesting, you might be happier with one of the satellite radio receivers from Sirius or XM Radio. The sound quality isn't as good as good FM but the program options are very broad.
And if you really do want to just listen to FM casually, one of the stand-alone radios like the one from Cambridge Soundworks or a Tivoli table radio might do the trick in a package that's more versatile than a tuner. |
You might consider the Tivoli audio PAL. Cost $129 new, comes in various colors and can be removed or reinserted in a stereo system in mere seconds and can be used as a portable radio since it has its own speaker, amp, antenna and power supply.
You can buy the RCA mini plug adaptor at Radio Shack for under $10. The tuner is based on Cell Phone technology. Pulls in station like gang busters with a nice clean hiss free analog sound.
I think its perfect for someone like yourself who just wants to listen to a quality radio broadcast for very little money. |
