Magnum or Fanfare Tuner. Which Sounds the Best?


Of the Magnum tuners in the less than $1600 range including FT-101A, MD-90, MD-100, how do any of these compare to the comparably prices Fanfare FT-1A FM tuner?

Which tuner simply sounds better, Magnum or Fanfare?
abecollins

Showing 2 responses by abecollins

I'm leaning toward the Fanfare FT-1A for a couple reasons. I listened to the Magnum FT-101A and it sounds very good but I was a bit annoyed by the 100% analog tuning because I channel hop between commercials. I like the fact that the Fanfare has memory presets and a remote. If the Fanfare sounds at least as good as the Magnum, I'll probably get it. From what I gather, both tuners sound great and its more a matter of features, style, and convenience.

I agree completely with Ezmeralda11 (comments above) about the importance of a good antenna. My Fanfare vertical whip antenna in the back yard is sufficient since all of my favorite stations are fairly local. More signal could do more harm than good. Thanks everyone!
Here it is many years later and I learned my lesson. The Fanfare tuner was not for me. It was veiled with rolled off frequency extremes.

I later purchased a used Magnum FT101A which was far superior sounding all around. It was a lot more transparent sounding throughout with good frequency extension in the bass and treble region where the Fanfare was "artificially warm" only because it lacked highs making it seem "warmer" in the mids.

Another very good tuner but much less costly than the Fanfare or Magnum is the Marantz ST6000. It comes with a full function remote and it has excellent dynamics with good frequency extension up and down and especially robust bass (which I kind of like since some FM stations seem to sound a bit "thin" at times).