TUNERS..anyone?

As in other threads, I will say that I have owned tens and tens of tuners (just about everything including the Rotel RHT-10 that I later had Don, you know who, modified (this is the tuner you might see being commmented on in several discussion threads on tuners). It was very transparent and yes, had, detailed bass but it was not as involving as my tube guys) and have yet to find one that is more musical and involving than a good tube tuner BUT.....if you do not have it aligned (afterall we are talking about a 33+ year old electronic device and what of anything would you own of that age without getting it some maintenance updates) and as or more important, forget listening to one without getting the best tubes for it such as Mullard Gold Pins and the better Telefunkens. Those commenting on the sonic quality of the better tube tuners without these caveats is sort of like saying that "I drove a Porsche 911 and did not think it performed very well" without telling you or maybe were unaware it was running on 87 octane fuel and the plugs had gone 15K miles beyond their recommended limits.

By the way, unless I have several copies of the Stereophile with errors in it, the Meridian 504 was a Class B tuner. That said, I had the big brother to the 504 the 604. It was a very nice solid state tuner, a little time to get use to on the ergonomics, but none-the-less nice.