Millercarbon's ridiculous assertion regarding receiver quality aside, if you are looking just for FM there's no reason to pick a receiver over a tuner, even though TOTL receivers often have excellent tuner sections. Tuners are designed to do one thing so why not put all your $ into the function that you care about?
The type of tuner to look for depends in part on your physical environment. In a dense urban setting with lots of buildings and stations, you'll be better off with a tuner that has good selectivity (the ability to parse signals that are right next to either other) as well as multipath ability - handling multiple reflections of the same signal (from buildings, etc.). If you're in the boondocks, then sensitivity (the ability to capture weaker signals) is more important.
Then there is sound quality. For example, the aforementioned Sony XDR-f1HD has amazing sensitivity. I had one that was modded by XDR guy - I recommend the mods - but I sold it because the sound quality was just not there. But there are many, many others tuners with great sound quality. If you get something vintage consider that you may have to sink in money to get it recapped and aligned. I have found that to be a good investment.
As someone else mentioned, a good antenna is a key component of the FM stream. It makes no sense to spend a bundle on a great tuner and then attach it to a crappy antenna. A great antenna and decent tuner will often give better results.
I have never seen a tuner with XLR but that's not to say they don't exist. Most use RCA.
Here's a list of tuners I own or have owned and found to have great sound quality:
Tube:
Scott 350B
Scott 310E
Fisher KM-60
Fisher FM-1000
Analog:
Sansui TU-9900
Mcintosh MR74
Sansui TU-717
Sony ST-5000FW
Tandberg 3001A
Digital:
Denon TU-800
Sony ST-J75
Tuners that were ok: Marantz 2130 (but amazing eye candy!!), Sony ST-555ES, Sony TA-A6B.
Tuners I did not like, even though they are highly rated: Kenwood KT-8300 and 600T.
The type of tuner to look for depends in part on your physical environment. In a dense urban setting with lots of buildings and stations, you'll be better off with a tuner that has good selectivity (the ability to parse signals that are right next to either other) as well as multipath ability - handling multiple reflections of the same signal (from buildings, etc.). If you're in the boondocks, then sensitivity (the ability to capture weaker signals) is more important.
Then there is sound quality. For example, the aforementioned Sony XDR-f1HD has amazing sensitivity. I had one that was modded by XDR guy - I recommend the mods - but I sold it because the sound quality was just not there. But there are many, many others tuners with great sound quality. If you get something vintage consider that you may have to sink in money to get it recapped and aligned. I have found that to be a good investment.
As someone else mentioned, a good antenna is a key component of the FM stream. It makes no sense to spend a bundle on a great tuner and then attach it to a crappy antenna. A great antenna and decent tuner will often give better results.
I have never seen a tuner with XLR but that's not to say they don't exist. Most use RCA.
Here's a list of tuners I own or have owned and found to have great sound quality:
Tube:
Scott 350B
Scott 310E
Fisher KM-60
Fisher FM-1000
Analog:
Sansui TU-9900
Mcintosh MR74
Sansui TU-717
Sony ST-5000FW
Tandberg 3001A
Digital:
Denon TU-800
Sony ST-J75
Tuners that were ok: Marantz 2130 (but amazing eye candy!!), Sony ST-555ES, Sony TA-A6B.
Tuners I did not like, even though they are highly rated: Kenwood KT-8300 and 600T.