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Tuners that do it?

In my 30+ years as an audiophile I have owned a few tuners that had good specs and received good reviews in the audio press. Generally, I was never satisfied with any of them and found they never matched my turntable or other source components for audio quality. I concluded that high-quality sound was just not possible with a tuner as the source.

But recently I bought a Harman Kardon TU910 tuner on ebay and its excellent performance in my reference system has caused me to rethink the whole issue. The sound is well balanced, the midrange is literally marvelous, the focus, imaging, and depth of the soundstage is quite impressive. I was listening to a local jazz station last night and my thought was that I'd never heard sound this authentic from a tuner before. I know that my particular tuner is not the best one out there, nor is it highly rated, but for some reason it sounds way better than other tuners I have tried over the years. My antenna is not anything special, so I know it can't be related to that. It has me wondering how good the sound quality may be using more upscale, highly-rated models.

I welcome any thoughts or comments on this topic.

Happy Thanksgiving to All!
plato
lou_setriodes's avatar
lou_setriodes
673 posts
 
Here's the list of tuners I've owned over the years.  I've had the Creek CAS-3140 for about a dozen years now, don't see getting rid of it anytime soon at all, I like it that much.

Here we go, from 1/14/14:

1. Harman Kardon 330C rec'r
2. Mitsubishi DA-R8 rec'r
3. McIntosh MR-71
4. Sansui TU-717
5. Pioneer TX-9800
6. Dyanco FM-3
7. Luxman T-110
8. Luxman T-400
9. McIntosh 1900 rec'r
10. Yamaha CT-810
11. Quad FM-4 (din outputs)
12. ADS T-2 - fun to use
13. NAD 4020A
14. Pioneer TX-500
15. B&K TS-108
16. Dyna FM-3
17. NEC T-710 - better than B&K 
18. Tandberg 2020 rec'r - nice
19. Creek CAS-3140 (din to rca) - neck and neck w/Tandberg

FAVORITES: 3,4,5,6, 12, 17-19 

Additional tuners since this post:
1.  Pioneer TX-8500II
2.  Sumo Charlie

The fmtunerinfo.com site is a good place to start, not the end all in tuner sound, IMHO.
jafant
18,977 posts
 
As above-
Magnum Dynalab, Yamaha, Tandberg, Carver have made incredible tuners over the years.
alpha_gt
155 posts
 
I bought a Magnum Dynalab FT101 years ago for $350 used, and it is the finest tuner I've ever heard. The bass in particular is tight and well defined. The dials on the front are designed to help fine tune stations and they actually work! And look cool too. The one component that will never leave my stereo! 
fin1bxn
140 posts
 
I own a Yamaha TX-480 in my main rig, a NAD 1600 Tuner/preamp in second system and a NAD 7020 receiver in my bedroom. They all sound good. I'm fortunate I live in North Jersey and have many radio stations of all genere to choose from. WQXR classical is excellent. I have no need to upgrade but when a good deal on a dynalab comes by I'll jump on it.
lou_setriodes's avatar
lou_setriodes
673 posts
 
Right now there are several deals on inexpensive tunas on USAaudiomart.  A Creek CAS-3140, Perreaux TU1, Quad FM4, and Denon TU800.  

I liked my old Quad, although I had an earlier version of it.  Always thought the Perreaux was a very cool looking tuner, especially the TU3. The Denon was always a classic too.
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