Radio Purchase question

I agree with most of the post above. I've owned over a hundred various radios and tuners since the late 50s. If you want to pick up clean FM signals from 80 miles away, you will have have to get a nice tuner, a tall antenna mast, an expensive antenna, and a rotor.

When I had a McIntosh MR78 I had trouble picking up stations 80-90 miles away - even with a Finco antenna 20 feet up in the air.

Using a simple radio with a built-in antenna or dipole, I wish you luck. The GE Super Radio, Kloss, Crane by Sangean, Grundig, and the old Advent are all nice sounding radios. They just will not pick up many more stations than a properly functing Proton. At least that's been my experience.

Here's a few sleepers for FM tuner reception if they're properly aligned - Accuphase (mid-70s analogue), Pioneer TX-9100, Onkyo (mid-70s analogue), and the Quad FM4 was a decent digital tuner. I'm sure there are others out there. Then you have the pricey Macs, Marantz 10, etc.. You might be able to find a Pioneer or Onkyo cheap at a flea market, garage sale, or on the internet. Might not cost any more than a table radio.

I second the Grundig recommendation. I have a Grundig Satelit 500, at least 10 years old and it works as well as it ever did. It has great FM reception, excellent sound for a table radio and you can disconnect it and use it as a table radio at the beach. It can receive and play stereo broadcasts with an optional extension speaker and receives AM and various SW bands as well. I would definitely look at the more current versions of this radio. As far as receiving FM stations from 80 miles away without an external antenna, my Marantz 10B cannot do that. I can't see how any tuner can do that. FM signals only travel line-of-sight and are limited to 30-40 miles, with a rooftop antenna maybe 50-60 miles maximum.

I may take a lot of flack for this recommendation, but here it goes. Making the big assumption that you have the room for it, I would look around for a mini system. One from Sony, etc. There is a lot of dreck out there, so you must be judicious. I have friends that have bought some that are quite pleasing. Always less than $500. Sometimes a lot less. They are not the last word in terms of anything, but I have often found myself commenting on the understated styling and good sound to my non-audiophile friends. I much prefer them over the Bose Wave radio. Taken quite by surprise, I ran into the Kloss table radio that Sam Tellig recommended so highly in a store last week. After reading his column, I actually thought it was a good idea, and wondered if it would be a nice addition to my kitchen. It was a lot smaller than I expected. I assumed it was not plugged in, but went about playing with it. I did think the port on the underside was a nice touch. It then came to life as I switched the selector to FM. I tried it on AM and FM. Have to say that I did not like the sound nearly as much as Sam. Didn't think it was rich or full, the way it was described. But, I didn't expect much, as the speaker was only about 3" or so. You can't get blood from a stone. It was better than a clock radio(no doubt), but much below many of the better mini systems I described.

Try the Sangean "CC Radio" from www.ccradio.com. It does best on AM though. But has clock radio and presets and TV, Weather channnels too (about $160).
For $400-$500 the best I can recommend (and I own one) is the big but impressive Grundig 800. Available from many catalogs, like Sharper Image, and on-line Grundig dealers.
For a lot less money (about 50 bucks), there's the GE Super Radio III--excellent FM, 2-way speakers, but analog tuning only. Have fun.