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What are the best modified FM tuners of 2005?

1. Nikko Gamma Five, simply amazing: great stereo, adjacent-channel reception, very realistic sound.
2. Sony STS730ES, only a hair less refined than above.
3. Luxman T-02, as sensitive as any tuner encountered, great selectivity, and sweet sound, better than a T-9090II.
Tied with Accuphase T-101 -- hard to imagine a better tuner
4. Mac MR-74, just glorious, full-bodied sound although not as selective and sensitive as above.
5. NEC-710, throw away the CD player: it sounds better, very sensitive but a little noisy on weak stereo signals
6. Quad FM3, with an IF filter change, very selective but has poor sensitivity. Very low distortion and stereo separation as good as it gets. For the city dweller.
7. Fisher FM2421, a real sleeper and could very well serve as a FM station's air monitor.
8. Kenwood KT-5500 This cheap tuner with an added IF filter and better audio output caps does not deserve to sound that good for so little.
9. Tube version of MD-90 With IF filter changes and changing two resistors in the tube output stage, this tuner has amazingly good detailed sound -- stock, gritty.
10. Marantz 2120 The bass is deep and tight, and the blue lights are pretty
bdscott
6 responses Add your response
sugarbrie
3,854 posts
 
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My Kenwood KT-8300 now has all the IF filter circuits as sockets, so I can swap in and out any IF filters I want. The tuner IF filtering is now almost infinite depending what IF filters I want to use. It was already a great tuner in stock form.

The op-amp circuits are also now sockets, so I can use any op-amps I want to change the sound character. So the tuner can sound differently to taste.

Other internal parts, output caps, etc, have also been modified, replaced and/or upgraded, so it sounds better than stock. It already was one of the best sounding vintage tuners in stock form, now even better.
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sherod
1,690 posts
 
I have a H/K Citation Eighteen tuner that I like very much stock. I have always wanted to get a minor mod to it to improve it's sonics. Anybody know someone that can tweak this for me for a reasonable price? It was manufactured @1977 and I have a copy of the schematics. Thanks.
jes45
293 posts
 
I stopped by TRL last week, they had the big Accuphase sitting on the break in bench awaiting a thorough mod. Isn't the Accuphase somewhere around $6K? It belongs to a member of Audiogon, but I'm not sure if he wants it known.

I don't know if it is "the best" but I can't help but think that it will be in the running. :)

Best,

Jack
sugarbrie
3,854 posts
 
Actually Sherod, I believe Bdscott above can do some of the things you want.
sherod
1,690 posts
 
Thanks Sugarbrie. Perhaps Mr. Scott can e-mail me privately if he can or wants to help me tweak my tuner. I don't want to spend a lot, but I do have a little Christmas money burning a hole in my pocket.
jax2
3,031 posts
 
I like my HH Scott 350B from around 1962, recently retubed and adjusted by a friend in the biz who owed me a favor. Damn, never heard the radio sound so good! My wife was in the shower when I turned it on recently and was alarmed when she opened the door to find that I'd let company upstairs. I'd just turned on the radio! That early version of Multiplex really locks in hard to local stations. Vocals are superb. I need a better antenna now as the little RatShack T-antenna doesn't pull in much. Not overly expensive either, though not sure what a service/adjustment would run. Retubing is about $60 for mostly obscure NOS stuff. I guess the later Multiplex circuits were a bit of a PITA to work on and adjust. My friend said this early version was much easier to work with, and he really liked the sound of it too when he was done.

Marco
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