affordable? Creek tuners,and of course Magnum Dynalab. This company makes only tuners. The 108 is a benchmark,102 about 90% performance at 1/2 price ,Etude 85% of performance for 1/3 price of 108. |
It's not just for the car. You might start with Stereophile's recommended components. Then you might try the various mail order highend dealers, to see if you can audition any contendors. I use an ADCOM GTP-350 as the tuner, and it sounds pretty good. My Sennheiser HD-600's with my 10 year old AM/FM Walkman are unmistakably highend and high-rez. The classical station waylays me for long periods of time with these, and the inside of my skull becomes 300 feet in diameter... |
Why bother? FM is for the car..... |
Accuphase T109 is hard to beat on any count. |
After having searched wide for some sort of decent tuner, I am certain that the Mcintosh mr78, circa 1970s is one of the best tuner's out there. The question of selectivity, narrow, wide, distant etc . . . It gives a excellent reception even with poor signals. Nothing beats its styling and also its aftermarket value. |
Without a doubt, the Marantz 10B from the 60's had the lowest distortion, superior quieting, fabulous separation and(too bad!) a need for alignments far too frequently. Not being a big FM fan here in Mpls/St Paul, I never really listened to it very often. The stations here just don't have great audio quality or variety. I sold mine to Audio Classics last year for @ $1100. |
my experienceis....... a harmaon kardon citation 15. it sounded like the studio feed. it wasnt that reliable, perhaps the repairer was below standard. when i switched in mono after a repair, left and right channels were out of phase! next...the tuner in the marantz mokdel 19 receiver was excellent. then lately, my friend purhcased a magnum dynalab ft101. he is a dyed in the wool radio afficianado who has worked at a couple of stations (kppc+kpfk), and also instantly hears the copression/limiting schemes used by the different stations. of course he has an fm beam AND a rotator. he has yet to stop raving about the mag-dyn. oh yes, i bought the hk form him. |
A second to Gasman's review above. I also have the Fanfare FT-1 using the balanced outputs and am extremely happy. You will think a CD is playing when the reception is strong. This is worth the cost! |
I own both a Yamaha T-2 FM tuner circa 1978 (bought new for $800.) and a Denon TU-800 AM/FM tuner circa 1989 bought used for 200.(originally sold for 500.-600.). Both these tuners are very sensitive and are available on the used market for reasonable money. The Yamaha is the better of the two. They both have the tube like sound. In fact, I bought the Denon to replace a McIntosh MR-67 tube tuner. The Denon was an A Class tuner according to Stereophile in the late 80s.It is a good tuner but it is not the McIntosh. It doesn't even come close. I have never heard a better sounding tuner than the MR-67. |
I AM PUTTING MY VOTE IN FOR THE OLDER YAMAHA TUNERS, T85, T80, THEY REALLY LIVE UP TO WHAT THEY SAY ON THE FRONT, "NATURAL SOUND" I NEVER LISTENED TO FM BEFORE MY T85 TUNER BECAUSE IT WAS "JUST RADIO" NOW I CAN TELL WHERE THE DRUMMER HITS THE HIGH HAT AND HOW HARD BY THE DECAY OF THE SOUND. AN OUTSIDE FM ANTENNA REALLYYYYYYYY HELPS. |
My vote is also for the Fanfare FT-1, as it is (relatively) sanely priced for the CD quality performance it is capable of, with a high quality signal source. I am amazed every day by the music it makes in my home. It has balanced (XLR) out- puts as well, and if you can take advantage of these in your system, the silent background gives an even greater impress- ion of "live". As noted, the depth,soundstaging, etc. are all first rate. |
I own a Fanfare Ft-1. The presentation, soundstaging & tonal balance is near or the same as most of high end cd reproductions sytems given the right signal. With poor signal or crap quality broadcasts it fares no better than less expensive tuners. It is worth spending the money if you listen to a classical or jazz station with quality broadcast signal. Save your money if you only listen to commercial rock & rap stations. |
Find yourself a Marantz, from the late 60's to early or mid 70's, and you will be extremely satisfied - if you are concerned with sound quality. If it's new features that you want, obviously this wouldn't do. Good luck and enjoy whatever that you end up with! |
The onkyo T9090II was the gold standard for a long time, and for long distance reception especially, but it is now an older design. If you want the newer gizmos, such as RDS and accuclock, to name a few features, you should hunt for the latest quality design form Onkyo, the T4711. It seems to have been dropped from their current USA lineup, but some dealers still have new in the box supplies. I is a terrific buy for the money. I get clean, usable reception from transmitters 60 miles away. |
