what's a good fm tuner?

I heartily recommend the Carver TX-11 FM tuner like the one that I've been using since I bought it new in the early 1980s. It has worked flawlessly all these years. I play it a few times each week. The fidelity is amazing (this is station-dependent of course). Philadelphia is about 45 miles away and I use an old Radio Shack FM antenna in my attic with no booster. I listen to classical and jazz and the audio is very hi fidelity especially with some of the Philadelphia Orchestra presentations on Sunday afternoons. 

I'm sure one can be found at a reasonable price on Ebay or Audiogon. Mine was around $500 new I believe, expensive at that time. 

A caveat - the tuner has a Carver-designed, switchable noise reduction circuit built in. I don't use it because it degrades the audio quality and the stereo imaging. It would probably work fine for speech. Also, it is FM only, no other bands.


Happy hunting!   Fred

This is the Mcintosh Model to get. They can still be found for a decent price. Forget those other models.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/McIntosh-MR-71-FM-Tube-Tuner-Excellent-Condition-One-Owner/283631123202?epi...

You will hear that "familiar sound" that will take you back more simple times. Nevermind the techie specs others will counter for some other brand. I've heard the Marantz 10B plenty of times, it's a more refined sound, but not THAT much.

Get a decent antennae setup, and sit back with a cold one.

You can find a nice aftermarket case for a reasonable price too. 
http://mcintoshcabinets.com/pages/mcintosh.htm

I found one one here, 4 years ago for $750, almost perfect chrome case, decent tubes, works flawless. 14 tubes of good ol analog sound.Even the DJ's sound good.

Yeah, the MR78 is a honey. I sent mine to Audio Classics for a Modafferi Mod some years ago. Updated, clean, and solid, but not cheap.

I also have an MD Etude. Musical, and I like the meters and digital readout. Very cool.

Unless you live far from the broadcast antennas, your reception antenna will be the more important element for getting signal. Some have built in signal boosters too.

the Magnum Dynalab md90 seems to have good feedback, but at $1400 this is awfully high for an entry level unit........I can get a fmj te2 arc tuner for $400 bucks......im not sure, never heard of this unit?

I have 2 McIntosh tuners, a MR85 digital tuner and a MR88 tuner with FM HD and XM radio. It looks the same as the MR87 but with the HD audio and XM. It looks perfect sitting one shelf above my MC302 amp. I have also owned a Magnum Dynalab Etude, a MD100 and a MD102. My Mac tuners bested all 3 of the Magnum Dynalabs.