Since this thread began in 1999, we have flogged this to death. In the 48 years of this hobby have had damn near every tuner through here tube or solid state.
No other component you will add to a system is more dependent on an outside source than a tuner analog or digital. Much of its performance is dependent on signal transmitted.Environment signal is transmitted through. From there it becomes the antenna used. I have never found an inside antenna to have the performance of a good outside antenna. Then comes into play the tuner itself. there is a wealth of good used tuners on the market. But any 20 year plus tuner is going to need some work, just nature of the beast, be it analog or digital.
With the vast majority of radio stations now owned by a handful of corporate enitities such as Pilot and Clear Channel and others of that ilk, this almost becomes a moot point. Signals from FM these days do not have the strength they once had, when many of these stations were independents. Programming is for the most part dreadful.
As for me I have gone to the Polk XRT 12 XM radio tuner and have solved my problem. Great music, no commercials, and the antenna problem no longer exists for me and at the paltry sum of .43 cents a day for the monthly subscriptions I get the music I want to hear as well as a lot of other great music,news and sports, I would otherwise miss with an AM/FM convential tuner. And the good thing is the Polk XRT 12 Tuner looks like a system component and fits right in with the other gear in the rack.
And as of this post date, Crown has released a home XM Radio tuner.
