I live in Los Angeles & enjoy listening to two FM public radio stations: KCRW 89.9 and KLON Jazz 88.1. The tuners I currently use are the Grundig Fine Arts T-903 and Parasound Ztuner V.2. They are both hooked up via coaxial cable split to a mini digital television antenna that I installed in my basement and the signal is perfect. They’re both great tuners and can be purchased at a low price in the used gear market. Hope this info helps.
Tuner - FM over the air - suggestions
OK, so I kinda miss being able to just tune in my local over the air classical music station and let it run all day long... So...
I'm looking for suggestions for a good new over the air tuner, with remote. I don't want nor need to go super expensive, so let's keep it at under $500, and preferably more like 300 or less but I'm willing to consider. This is not for a super-critical application, just background music mainly when I want to set and forget and go about my day.
I know there are loads of vintage tuners out there too... but I'm trying to keep it simple. Perhaps if there's a decent vintage with remote for not too much money, ok... but I'm leaning towards new, based on my recent success with new stuff. It'll be hooked into my Marantz Ruby amp via RCA in.
Sangean? Rotel? Rolls? DST? Teac, perhaps...?
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@phish_tacos What do you think of the quality of the KCRW on air signal? I love it. Have you compared it to the KCRW stream, I dislike it. The KCRW HD stream is awful. Mind you I am getting the signal from a re-transmitter from Santa Barbara and we have the ocean on 1 side and mountains on the other. Not too many LEDs in these parts.
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@yyzsantabarbara In 2019, KCRW moved into their new $38 million state-of-the-art radio broadcast and media headquarters. So their broadcasting signal is very impressive (noticable improvement) & the sound engineers are top notch. I tried streaming KCRW HD and I prefer listening to KCRW via my FM tuner...sounds 'natural'. Hope this answers your question. |
@mahler123 Thank you for helping me prove my point. WFMT is a perfect example of comparing OTA real world FM tuner reception audio reproduction vs a station's webstream audio feed. In this equation are two different audio processors, and audio processor settings; in addition to FM reception electrical interference, the listener's FM tuner performance, and FM transmitter audio performance (just like all audio gear, an FM transmitter's exciter also has audio performance specifications, which also factors into what goes out over the air). Let's also not forget how a radio station's STL (Studio Transmitter Link - the method by which a radio station gets its audio to a remote transmitter site) can also affect OTA audio performance, as it relies on many pieces of digital equipment, and an internet connection, to get that signal to the Willis Tower transmitter site. My only beef with WFMT's webstream audio is that (IMO) it is rather dense (or thick), and bass heavy, with some limiting and compression, compared to the original source audio. This is easily noticeable for those of us with discerning ears. |
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