Top Ten Tuners of all Time??

to me Pioneer SX1280. I know it's receiver, but still the ultimate of all times.

Accuphase McIntosh Denon are three of my favorite tuner makes that I have owned and listened to for long periods. The Denons I have in mind are digital (equal to 4 and 5 gang)and the others are analog. Ive had many in between ones, spoken highly of or not. Another one I really like is a Nikko. Dynaco made some nice beautiful sounding tuners so did Sansui and Pioneer (sx models). The shootouts started to become meaningless to me some dont even get mentioned in the top 50 and they are synonymous with doing everything a ’top tuner" should do well and maybe even more.

I had a Macintosh MR80 in my system for thirty years and truly enjoyed   it, a wonderful turner. However, almost a year ago I replaced it ( I still own it ) with a Magnum Dynalab MD109 SE. It is simply spectacular. Much more musical. 

I've owned many tuners and receivers and the ones I didn't move along because they killed (these are usually multiples owned, but in the case of the Mac only one) the competition in both RF and Audio are:

Pioneer Elite F-93 (The American underground press damned it with faint praise, which was the FIRST thing that made it stand out to me.)
Pioneer TX-9800 (Not quite as well built as Number three on this list, but otherwise top of the mark.)
Pioneer TX-9500 II (Tied for number 2, really)
Pioneer F-28 Series 20 (its audio resembles the F-93, more than the F-91 Elite does, though the house sound remains throughout the line.)
McIntosh MR78 (The audio is spectacular.  The RF is less spectacular because the competition that it inspired has since raised the bar.)
Pioneer SX receivers (from 1975-1981 or thereabouts)

The main grievance against Pioneer is that it's a victim of its own success in terms of both accessibility and post War animus that's only recently been reignited for the same questionable reasons it prevailed (particularly in the Underground press) "back in the day".  Just because it's not arcane or Scandinavian unobtanium doesn't mean it's not the top of the mark.  But people get to like what they like...

Thanks! for sharing - ricktptHappy Listening!

Sansui TU-9900

Naim NAT01 

I’ve been lucky try some good ones. After lots of listening with Quad electrostatic speakers I choose a Toshiba Ft 920 (over top Marantz- which I found had a too “blooming” bad. I’ve been lucky? to choose reference level MIT Oracle cables,p,i,s; and Spectral Ref gear. That 920 still amazes friends who come over to listen. 

NO ONE'S done a more systematic comparison of tuner performance than these guys at Tuner Info Center including mod/upgrades:

http://www.fmtunerinfo.com/

I have a Mitsubishi DA- 20 tuner that I have had for manu years.
several years ago I sent it to Bill Ammons for check-up and alignment. I think that it is a beautifully musical sounding tuner, especially on classical music. 
 I live some eighty air miles from a classical music station and the reception with this tuner is exceptional.
 I am surprised that no one has mentioned this tuner in the previous posts.
Violin

I haven’t owned a tuner in years. But in the late 60’s-70’s, when FM was as important as air or water, I never heard anything better than Sherwood.

Could never quite take them seriously as Sherwood is one of the worst names for a hifi brand ever.

Always made me think of a Montgomery Ward Signature or Sears Silvertone, decidedly lo fi mass market brands. But the Sherwood’s I heard sounded terrific. 

Does someone tried the new Accuphase T1200 ? 

Mitsubishi DA-F10 (1977). MIJ by Diatone. Top notch performance as measured by Audio magazine. Am using it now to listen to WFSU 89.7 FM Tampa college radio! Commercial-free! Yeah! Great jazz programming every night from 9 PM to 5 AM (6 AM Sat and Sun mornings).

+1 violin! Excellent tuner! Same circuit as my DA-F10. A bargain on the used market!

I'm using a  Rotel RT 2100 FM tuner.  This tuner was made in the late 70s. Its nicely built and has the analog tuning knob and the digital display which i like.  The tuner sounds great.
Other great tuners i'v heard over the years.
Mitsubishi DAF-20
Sherwood micro CPU 100 tuner.
This Sherwood Tuner was made in 1977 and was really good.
It also had the analog tuning knob and digital display. 
It weighed like 36 pounds.  Google it
Aiwa 9700 tuner from the 70s.
Kenwood L-02T tuner.
Yamaha TX 2000 Tuner from the 80s.
Sony ST-A7 tuner.  This Sony tuner was amazing.  Its from 1976 and really built and sounded great.

I've owned many good tuners and I wish I still had all of these. Here are my favorites:
- McIntosh MR67 - tube tuner with a beautiful sound and soundstage. It was not a sensitive      tuner 
- McIntosh MR 500 - excellent sensitivity and selectivity delivering a very quiet, clean listening experience
- Mitsubishi DAF20 - very quiet tuner with excellent reception and a detailed but clean sound that is extended with no harshness
- Heathkit AJ-1600 - excellent sound and reception, built like a tank
- Marantz 150 - very cool tuner with built in scope. Mine sounded quite good but wasn't super quiet. Weak station reception was good but not excellent.

I’ll chime in on this very old thread. My current tuners are a McIntosh MR78 and a Marantz Model 20. I’ve also owned an Onkyo T9090II, Dynaco FM-3, and Magnum MD105, and I briefly had a McIntosh MR71 for audition (it needed a lot of work). 
For me, the MR78 is the best I have owned. The 20 has its charms and is as enjoyable as the MR78, but I still put the 78 as tops 

Hi, why don't have a look at tunerinformationcenter or Vintageknob  Pretty informative with different biases. Most audio manufactures made a good tuner but some really stand out. The best i have heard: Accuphase 109v, Pioneer f-26, Sony j88B, Sony st-a7, Revox b760, Luxman TU-117, Tandberg 3011, Yamaha ct700, Kenwood 917, Sansui TU-919/717. All analog tuners even from same manufacturer sound different to each other, same does apply for early digital ones but to a lesser extent. I ended up with ST-J88B, an inspired design, easy to upgrade parts and service, if needed- most importantly beats most in sound quality and beauty.

Back in the day the tuner was on the majority of the time , no time to flip records are you kidding,...My place was a drop in centre with a lot going on and with the tuner on more then the TV and turntable combined the convenience of this component was tremendous.

The 1970s were bit of a blur though I do remember a couple of large Sansui receivers I owned until I discovered the Absolute Sound Magazine around 1980 .
Some how I ended up buying a Sansui TU-X1 which I recently sold a few years ago . I had a notion that bigger had to be better and my memories of the large Sansui receivers influenced me.

I never had it modified however I did have it aligned though I was always amazed of the sound quality of a good FM broadcast even using receivers back in the day it took a lot to better it .

I’ve had good Yamaha & McIntosh tuners.
I’ve had three Magnum Dynalab FT-101A. They are really good.

It wasn’t until I used a reference quality interconnect with it that I realized how very good that model really is.

I wanted to take it up a notch so I skipped over the Etude & MD-90 and got an MD-102.

I am extremely happy with the MD-102. It is a significant upgrade from the FT-101A. It has the upgraded audio section with big caps.
This is my forever tuner.

I like my Technics ST-9600 a lot. Sounds great and pulls stations like jack the bear.

I'm surprised the excellent Musical Fidelity A5 tuner hasn't been mention yet.  Mine gets daily use, classical music with the tube output stage sounds superb.  I'll get it re-capped later this year rather then follow the trend and stream internet radio

I am currently using Magnum Dynalab 106, 102, 90 and an Accuphase t100.
my favourite sounding is the Magnum Dynalab 106 then the 102 then the Accuphase t100 ending with the 90.   Magnum Dynalab just sounds better than the Accuphase.  The Accuphase is excellent and locks in great.  But Magnum sounds more musical.  Could be the tubes. 

The Sony XDR-F1HD is very good in stock form. When modified by the XDR Guy, it is ridiculously good. Sensitivity and selectivity are unbelievable. The sound quality is top notch as well. I have a Philips tuner that is out for modifications/rebuild. It will be very interesting to compare the finished Philips to the XDR. The Philips has an unbelievable, sound quality wise, AM section. Never before has AM sounded so good, to these ears. 

@wturkey My XDRGuy modded Sony XDR-F1HD is great for the price. It is not as good as my Magnum Dynalab MD 102 but comes close at 1/5th the cost. The Sony is better at reception of weaker signals.

I should probably add a Yamaha T-2 and an honorable mention for the M-D Etude to my above list.  I forgot about the T-2 because once restoration work was finished I put it away for a rainy day and recently brought it back out. Very difficult to work on and align, but once done, the RF is great and the audio is spectacular.  The Etude sounds GREAT, and the RF is no slouch, but not as selective as classic analog variable capacitor designs, at least in my experience.  A case can be made (and is made on the FM Tuner group page) that they're overpriced for what's contained in their internal parts, but if user interface/tactile positive feedback (a plus for the MR78 also, I confess, those two probably TOP that very competitive category for vintage tuners) are worth anything, those two are way up there.  Mass loaded flywheel tuning knobs are a thing of true beauty!