In the late 70's I had a Dynaco AF-6 am/fm stereo tuner which boasted a "state of the art" am section. That tuner is long gone but, to this day, I have never heard better am radio. On a strong signal (say, a nearby 50k watter) sound quality nearly equaled fm. This proved that am does not have to be inferior. The problem is most am sections are an atrocious joke. Years ago there was a company called McKay-Dymek (?) which made superb am tuners.