Can anyone recommend an FM Receiver that would play into a relatively high end system?
I have gone “all in” on digital streaming, but unfortunately, we are not immune to interruptions in Internet service in our area. Whenever one occurs, I am reminded of simpler days listening to FM radio, and would like to have that capability again. Are there FM receivers that would feed a digital stream into a DAC? Or would they be analogue feeding directly into my amp via XLR cables? Any suggestions would be appreciated.
HD creates self-noise that degrades the frankly better-sounding analog signals.
If stations would put news/talk on the HD side and music on the analog side, I'd be less critical of it.
Many great tuners aren't of the "conspicuous consumption brand name namecheck" Persuasion. By Stereophile's own proclamations, the Pioneer F-93 ("Pulls stations in even after they've signed off") killed all its peers in a very "Britward" biased review. And that included the Day Sequerra.
Of the many tuners I own I will only list the ones I use daily in eight different systems, in a rough order of quality/performance. A few sound slightly better, a very few have significantly better RF front ends.
McIntosh MR78-The variable bandwidth tuner the rest of the industry was forced to emulate. The only downside to this powerhouse is even when modded, the "Very Narrow IF bandwidth filter" is rarely useful owing to distortion.
Pioneer F-28 Series 20 A great sounding and RF-sensitive tuner. Unfortunately handicapped as a DX tuner by its unique Quartz Lock system.
Pioneer F-93/F91/TX-9800/TX-9500 II (you could include any of their well-lauded brethren reviewed in the early years of TAS.)
Sansui TU-919 (uses Pioneer's variable capacitor)
Yamaha T-2 (even better specced than the vaunted CT-7000) A favorite, but no longer easy to find in great condition.
Magnum Dynalab late generation Etude. Great sound, not bad RF, terrific ergonomics-positive user tactile experience.
Kenwood KT-5020- I bought one fully expecting it to be awful, based on very bad experiences with Pioneer's F-9, 90 tuners. I was wrong, the 5020 is a top-tier tuner.
TOTL Pioneer SX-XX50 and XX-80 receivers. None will stand up to a top-level variable IF bandwidth tuner, if the DX stations you're trying to tune aren't adjacent to a local blowtorch, they sound great.
As noted by others the big problem with FM is like politics, everything is local.
If you live in an area where high-quality music is being broadcast things are pretty much as they've always been. But if you're in an area of the country where the entire bandwidth has been consumed in a tsunami of "CLEAR CHANNEL" and "come be 'wif us" religious broadcast formats, then justifying the purchase of TOTL tuners (and maintaining them) can be a "point of diminishing returns" proposition.
After all the back and forth to be found on the tuner groups, in the end, the best one is the one you have if it works as designed and is reliable. Arguing over the placement of filters or the swapping out of minutiae is great fun for armchair engineers, but in the end makes very little difference to 99% of end users. Just my two cents.
What's up with this
unhappiness with HD ? Is there some technical reason that it is not
much better than plain FM ?
As implemented in the US, HD radio uses lo-res lossy compression. So while it can be quiet just like all digital, it sounds much more like an mp3 than a quality FM signal. Note that "HD" does not stand for high definition or anything else. It's just a gag.
Hi, while I am at my computer I have a Pioneer HD CAR ! FM tuner DEH 33HD. $65 if I remember, with $7 car whip antenna. I only listen to HD FM jazz WQXR. In New Jersey near NYC, very very strong signals. For my main system I have and Outlaw HD receiver, thats why I bought it. I love the sound quality, I am near field so hear everything. What's up with this unhappiness with HD ? Is there some technical reason that it is not much better than plain FM ? I am a Physicist/EE. Regards Pat O.
Here’s my take on FM when I rented cars that had digital FM head units and I drive in/out of normal/digital reception the difference is very evident. There’s a huge diff in sound clarity. i don’t know if newer home receivers have the same differences.
i just mounted a 360degree FM antenna in my attic, cost was around $35. connected my Sansui 9090db and now get4.5 out of 5 signal strength with crystal clear reception across the dial. Absolutely nothing lacking about it. by chance connected my smart TVand now getting around 50 hidef channels too.
personally I would not get a stand alone receiver, not when there are so many really good classic receivers available.
FM Tuner Shootout (scroll to bottom to see final rankings): https://www.fmtunerinfo.com/shootouts.html Many would say that the Accuphase T-1100 is the best new FM tuner today.
I have a 6' yagi antenna on my roof with a rotator. It was professionally installed. Pick the antenna first, then get a tuner next. The most expensive tuner in the world cannot make up for an indoor or cheap 'amplified' antenna.
You might want to make sure that you have acceptable reception in your area for the FM stations of interest. Would suggest using the radio in your car to make that determination.
As for FM tuners, Magnum Dynalab FT-101A has satisfied my needs for 28 years without fail. As mentioned, MD offers used tuners with a warranty.
Hi CDC77, One more excellent tuner I'd add to the list is a Linn Kudos. These were $1,800 new when I bought mine, but now see them from time to time on Audiogon at $400-500. I have a very high resolution system and can tell you it sounds great. I'm about 40 miles north of NYC and use a roof antenna and get great sound. Has signal strength info, stereo/mono and wide/narrow band options and remembers them for each preset. Might be worth it to keep an eye out if you see one of these come up. Good Luck!
Aside from my rant in previous post re/importance of antenna and the only antenna that will make a big difference (read astounding difference ) is a rooftop rotatable. That is all true. I think my rant also was due to the fact that I have since moved to rural area which I term FM wasteland so I no longer listen to analog FM (limited listening to a FM community station out of Chico, Ca with a dipole antenna in both systems using Kenwood 600T in one and Mitzu DA-F20 in another) I digress. Im so far out in the boonies that even rooftop would not pick up my preferred stations 150- 170 miles away so my unobtanium APS 13 yagi sits in a box in the garage. I would likely be able to pull in Sacramento stations although I do not see much in the way of eclectic offering there.
So my rant based in part on being p'o'ed on having lost a major source of music satisfaction. The tuners in themselves are a source of satisfaction similar in effect in how we can enjoy with our other system components.
At any rate,, the bottom line here is if you have a station that you are really dedicated to or even better a couple of them in your area and you are using an FM tuner by all means , by whatever means --install a rooftop antenna which will enable the music being broadcast to be at its best possible quality. Again it needs to be rotatable as that dials in the optimal signal strength and with a tuner with multipath meter will help to potentially avoid interference or reflected signal.
For me listening to a station where by there are no commercials and the DJ's come off like genuine souls and do not have to abide by a playlist dictated by a higher power but instead play what they enjoy that becomes a good opportunity to hear music that is not mainstream and lets one decide whether to buy it.
Hello cdc77. Not all receivers are "crap." They sell pretty well. Any upper end Integra (Onkyo's premium brand) receiver will do well and have that "hi-def" or whatever FM capability. We have one station in the LA area that has remarkable - CD quality - sound. It is really astonishing. You may be able to find a used Carver tuner (too old for the fancy FM feature, but good) or the cute little Sony tuner (now discontinued, selling used for more than new, quite good). But the convenience and flexibility of the receivers are hard to beat and available at very low cost as new models are constantly replacing "last year's" versions. Be sure to get the remotes, DSP microphones, and AM antennas with the used units. Used Integra receivers sell here for a few hundred dollars and are great values. I have seven, nine, and eleven channeI versions in various systems and but them, when available, to give to "newbies" to get them started in the hobby. I use some as receivers and some as "front ends" for good power amps and electronic crossovers. They have many surround sound options for 5.1 and up systems. Stereo sources can be synthesized into multi channel sound (the one I use the most gives me 16(!) options for multi channel sound from stereo sources plus mono, all channel mono, and direct - no processing at all). Many of are extremely pleasant. Also great for immersive sound on sporting events. An eleven channel unit offering 100ish watts per channel is not going to be stressed running a 5.1 or 7.1 system. The extra channels can be used for running other program sources in to the bedroom, garage, or patio speakers. Bach and Brubeck in the main room, ball games in the garage, Sesame Street music for the kiddies outdoors or in the playroom or basement? Radio news for the seniors in the granny flat? Enhanced lifestyles available cheap on the used gear market! Think about it! Happy listening.
You can find any Mac tuner at Audio classics. The mr78 is legendary. The downer is fm signals are not from analog sources any more. And converting to digital?..ugh. If you want digital, a magnum dynalab Sirius XM is a very good choice. There is a plan to purchase both a terrestrial feed and a car feed in one plan. I always enjoyed listening to cousin Bruce Morrow and the 60s music. I’ve owned a tandberg 3011, and that was very enjoyable too. good luck.
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
A great value is indeed some of the better Sansui FM tuners. If you are on a budget I agree to seek out one of those. Note: I sold many of them in my early retail days. Really nice sounding, never a problem, should be a solid vintage tuner for todays purchase. Someone above recommended an Accuphase T-101. I wholeheartedly agree with that. Years ago I had an entire stack of Accuphase which included the T-101 tuner. It was stellar! I am still kicking myself for selling that stack to my nephew. If you can find one grab it. Built like a million bucks, beautiful looking, sonically satisfying (given a good antenna connection, of course). It has that quality sound of analogue, almost like that of vinyl. Good luck in your quest for a quality FM tuner.
So you want to go analog FM. first consideration , actually shared by 2 main issues. You are going to be dependent obviously on what stations you have available within 100 mi radius (best case scenario with rooftop antenna) and of course your taste in music and if there are even stations that provide an eclectic choice of music (if thats what you want) or how bad you want to listen to truly non commercial independent stations such as college stations/community stations or other semi non commercial stations such as NPR type. Well, NPR are generally always available although depending on their music formats can well be someones cup of tea.
The other important factor and focusing strictly on analog FM this can not be stressed enough ---Its not how good the tuner is (although of course one wants a decent performing tuner) Its how good your antenna is. . and by good is meant that the only ,, the ONLY type of antenna that is going to enable the best possible sound from ANY given tuner is a rooftop rotatable yagi style FM only antenna. Which have pretty much been discontinued by major brands like Winegard. There are substitutes available that combine uhf ,,etc. (not going into that for purposes of this post) Possibly still available from an obscure vendor or 2 online last I heard.
Antennas for tuners were never stressed back in the heyday for purposes of selling the highest priced tuners. Why would a salesperson sell you a 120 dollar entry level Sansui or Onkyo or Pioneer if they can instead sell you a 600 dollar Mac back in the day telling you that it is built in the best possible way with the best parts.. yada yada.. (Ive had 3 Mac tuners and they are good and they perform most noticeably best using a rooftop antenna as ALL the tuners I have had do.
The point is this. a $150 tuner is going to sound better than a $800 tuner when the lower priced 3 or 4 gang tuner is using a rooftop antenna compared to the 5 or even 7 gang tuner that is just using a dipole or Any other indoor antenna set up.. Its just the way it is. The tuner has to get the best possible signal to be able to perform its best. An obviously being up there on the roof pointed in the direction of the tower is going to get it on. To be clear,, I’m talking about using indoor antenna vs using rooftop antenna . So of course the $800 tuner is most always going to sound better using a rooftop than the $150 using the same rooftop set up.
I had used a simple dipole antenna since the 60’s listening to local FM . It was not until the early 2000’s that I installed my first yagi style fm only antenna --a Winegard. The difference in sound quality (not to mention reception ability) was literally mind boggling and mind blowing and became a source for major music listening for me. But of course, I had lived in an area of the country that has long been just blessed with many good FM stations including multiple independent college stations which are often low power but living within 30 miles and using rooftop antenna would provide very good analog sound. rivaling at times vinyl sound or whatever you want to call good analog sound.
Although the sound is most certainly inferior to my best FM tuners, I still love the jazz station on my Polk Sirius/XM satellite tuner (or my pal's Marantz). Quality programming can supercede a loss in accuracy, and this station does just that, to the point it does not matter. The music is too good to pass up, and begins to sound really good, as your ears adapt to the supposed burn in that audiophiles think exists.. Selection is much better than the algorithms used for streaming mass appeal top forty of each channel genre, not to mention continually going back to songs already played. The knowledge of a long time fan/DJ works much better than having a computer tell you what to hear.
There are a lot of excellent FM tuners. See fmtunerinfo.com Shootouts page. As a project, I bought a few to see if I agreed, or maybe wanted to upgrade to. Despite really trying to contradict the findings, just for fun I tell you, I found that every comparison was spot on, even my beloved Kenwood KT-917 was just a tiny bit less dynamic/softer in the bass than the somewhat higher rated B&K, seriously hard-to-operate TS108 (The only one I kept). The Sansui 707/717 was pretty much their equal, and my KT-815 needs some bass, just as stated in the shootout, but sounds good on classical music. I tried others, and never once found any tuner out of the order it was placed in the shootout.
I have owned several Magnum Dynalab tuners over the years starting with
Magnum Dynalabs Etude then moving up the line to their internet tuners, MD807T on one system and a MD809T on main system. Gives the ability to listen to 40k+ internet station as well as FM. I use a FM antenna on both and reception is every bit as good as my analog FT101A Etude.
I live in Charleston, SC. They call it "The Low Country" for a reason ~ we are at sea level. When I moved here, I hooked up my stereo system with my Magnum Dynalabs Etude. I could pull in some stations, but none that really interested me, so I got Sirius XM that I run through my audio system just like a tuner. This works really well for me and the signal is really good, even those driving rain storms we get here. I mainly listen to jazz and have three great choices. Before you invest in an FM tuner, make sure there are stations in your area that are of interest to you.
@mahler123 I'm not saying there aren't some good streaming options, there are.
However, the vast majority of streaming is 320 kbps MP3 or lower quality. Of course then you'll need a good quality DAC to get the best sound quality.
You can get a nice vintage FM tuner and antenna for under $1K easily.
don’t know much about Sirius but Internet Radio Stations can sound pretty good. I am in Chicago and our favorite Classical Station, WFMT, sounds much better in digital, and no dropouts. We also listen to high quality digital feeds from Venice, Bavaria, Switzerland, and the Netherlands.
I picked it up years ago after reading a columnist in Stereophile rave about how this little thing sounded. I don't read Stereophile anymore (I got wiser), but he wasn't wrong on this little Sony thing...
If you want good sound quality, provided you have good FM stations in your area, a dedicated high quality FM tuner (and a good antenna) can be an excellent source.
I'm almost 50 miles away from the main broadcast towers and the sound quality from my Magnum Dynalabs Etude rivals CD playback. I also have an Onkyo T-9090 II which is another excellent tuner.
Most of the radio broadcast over the internet is compressed. Radio Paradise is an exception. Great sound quality and well curated tunes.
I've only experienced Sirius / XM as far as satellite radio goes. It sounds awful compared to over the air FM broadcast.
I remember seeing an ad for a used FM tuner that could also receive satellite radio (Sirius/XM); but, I can’t remember which brand(s) it was. But, if your goal is to have as many listening options as possible, that could be a potentially good candidate.
Several tuners have offered this option, including McIntosh, but it’s a poor choice. SiriusXM’s online stream is much higher audio quality than its satellite signal.
I remember seeing an ad for a used FM tuner that could also receive satellite radio (Sirius/XM); but, I can't remember which brand(s) it was. But, if your goal is to have as many listening options as possible, that could be a potentially good candidate.
Many companies still make AM/FM dedicated tuners. Yamaha for one, see the link below. $250 new. You seem to already have plenty of amp and other devices, just need the tuner. I think that you can find tuners like this without needing to go some over-the-top complicated setup. https://usa.yamaha.com/products/audio_visual/hifi_components/t-s500/index.html
Well I would certainly consider a Mcintosh MAC7200 as a high end receiver. I thought there were some other pretty decent integrated amps that had FM card options too.
I listen to internet radio a lot and have thought about getting a tuner for potential extended internet outages and to explore local stations. Using the phone on cell service is a great idea too, but that may become compromised as well in an emergency and watch your data usage.
I'd love to get my hands on a Magnum tuner to play around with.
Pick up a cambridge audio t500 used for cheap on ebay, an excellent tuner with a knob for tuning. It is a joy to use and sounds terrific. Alternatively, find a used creek t43, essentially the same as the above t500, but with slightly better performance. I own both, as well as a Marantz st6000, they are all very very good tuners. Connect any of them to an open line input on your integrated.
Magnum Dynalab sells new tuners. They also repair models dating back to the 1980's (flat rate). They have a trade in program so you can purchase a refurbished unit with a one year warranty. I would love to own an MD90T, but my buget is more FT110A (late '80s).
If you can find a used McIntosh MR-88 they can pull HD radio as well as normal FM with the usual phenomenal tuner section from McIntosh. I think they can do XM too if you get a separate interface.
+1 on XDRguy His modified Sony Tuner is very good. For the price it is incredible.
https://www.xdrguy.com/
I listen to the same station, which has 2 broadcasts channels. One on FM and the second on HD radio. I listen to the FM on my Magnum Dynalab MD102 and the HD on the Sony XDR-F1HD. I am shocked at how passable the crappy HD signal sounds on the Sony. The reception on it is amazing for both HD and FM.
I listen almost everyday for about 3 to 4 hours on these 2 tuners.
The MD 102 is both XLR and SE output while the Sony is only SE.
One of you mentioned the McIntosh MR87, another of you the MR78....are these 2 different models or did one of you just transpose the digits? Thanks (too lazy to look it up ;-).
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