no, kjg, sid is wrong; it is also how fantastic the music sounds! ;~)
re: which cheap tuna to try, everyone has their faves. go to fmtunerinfo.com to read about different tuna. jim rivers' shootouts are a fascinating guide, but not the final answer. be aware that this is one man's system, in a small room, & while an excellent system, it is *not* a true full range system. for example, jim himself sez he might prefer one tuna ranked somewhere in the 20's in his list over his fave - if he had his rig in a bigger room. (this also shows how closely ranked his top tunas really are.) also, he still prefers his modded lowly kenwood kt-7500 to *any* of the tunas on his shootout list.
antenna *is* important. rooftop-mounted directional is best, if possible. for cost no object, ed hanlon's aps-13 is regarded as best. (unless, of course, ya wanna pay him more for a custom antenna!) next best, imo, is the winegard hd-6065, at ~1/3 the cost. better than the aps-9, which is about half-way between each, price-wise. i am in a difficult reception area, & went from an earlier iteration of the aps-13 (the aps-14, supposedly even better), to the winegard, & had zero reception or sonic change. if ya must use indoor, i like the now-discontinued archer/rat-shack 15-1833. find 'em on ebay, etc. these are tunable, yust like the tuna itself. some folk like tv-style rabbit ears.
for mods & service, i'd recommend stephen sank (don't expect it back soon, tho), bill ammons, or joseph chow. for service w/o mods, add mike zuccaro to the list. ed hanlon also does a good job, but i wouldn't recommend him if you want feedback as to what he's actually doing. he got all testy w/me on a coupla occasions, accusing me of trying to steal his secrets & then diy. if i wanted to diy, i could get info to learn right from fmtunerinfo. com & its sister yahoo tuner forum. go figure. also, i know a lot of folk like don scott, but i (and others on the fmtunerinfo forum) don't recommend him because he aligns & adjusts filters "by ear", & you really need proper electronics testing gear for tuna.
for the tuna itself, well there are literally dozens! my present #1 is a highly-modded (by stephen sank) harmon-kardon citation 18. but, the next group is so close, i could really be happy w/any of 'em. philips 185, sumo charlie (ya have to get the ones w/rack handles, as these were the only ones adjusted by james bongiorno before they left the factory. unless, of course, ya send it, along w/$500 to james for a refurb & mods!), mitsubishi da-f20, hitachi ft-8000, rotel rt-2100, accuphase t101...
then, there's a whole slew of others that are also really close, but they're either a hair off the pace, (and i *do* mean a microscopic hair), or they're a bit more $$$ and not worth it unless you have an emotional attachment. :>) again, if these are modded, they're gonna get better. and again, i could also be really happy w/any of these. technics st-8600, onix bwd1 w/soap-2, revox b760, revox b261, tandberg 3001a, sansui tu-517/719/9900, bill-ammons-modded heathkit aj1600, stephen-sank-modded mcintosh mr65b (lousy sensitivity, tho), yamaha t2, meridian 204. (and, i have four euro-tuners that i could add to the list, if they were adjusted to the usa-standard 75us de-emphasis, instead of the euro-standard 50us; as it stands now, they are a tad bright in the treble: saba ts-2000, restek d2, philips 186, & b&o beolab 5000.)
one special note about the kenwoods - unless yure gonna spend big money on something like the l-o2t, i'd strongly suggest only a modded iteration. why? well, i had a mint kt-9900, supposedly one of their better iterations. it *was* beautiful, & had excellent reception, w/loads of detail. but, the sound was not at all dimensional. i asked bill ammons about it, thinking mebbe mine was in severe need of alignment or something. he assured me, that based upon my description of its operation & sound, that in fact this is the case w/the kenwoods - a *lot* of sonic potential is left hidden inside. which is likely why the kt-7500, which ranks almost at the bottom of jim rivers' shootout list, vaults to the #1 position after it's modded....
i may have inadvertently forgotten one or two. ;~) but, the point is that there are *lots* of gems out there that won't cost ya a fortune, & for a moderate investment in mods (at minimum, service/alignment is a prerequesite, imo), you will have a fantastic sounding piece of audio gear that will give you free music.
doug s.,
so many tunas, so little time... :>)
