Tube Tuners

I second the Mcintosh MR71. I have gone through lots of vintage and modern hi-end tuners and the MR71 is the best sounding of 'em all. They are pretty darn good in terms of selectivity and sensitivity but not the last word. If sonics is your key, definitely go for the '71.

Just got a Scott 310E, freshly aligned and put in tip top shape by my tech. I just am extremely impressed.

I've also a McIntosh MR71, Sherwood S3000V, Fisher KM60, Sony ST-5000FW, Sony ST-730ES, and a couple of the new Sony HD tuners. A number of other SS tuners have come and gone. Still have a new-to-me Marantz 125 coming from the shop some day that I haven't heard yet.

My love of tuners, and especially TUBE tuners, stems from my local all analog, non-commercial FM station, KKUP. They have an all analog signal path and often do live studio music.

The live stuff is the absolute highest quality sound I can hear in my home, short of my 13 y/o daughter practicing her oboe/flute/violin. Of course, as a papa, I might be prejudiced on the latter source.

I picked up a Fisher KM60 off E-Bay locally about 6 months ago that was basically never used. Apparently the original owner who assembled it did not solder one wire, and gave up on it not working. Original tubes and looks brand new, it replaced a Fanfare FT1-A. Makes the Fanfare sound digital in comparison.

Modified Fisher 100b (IEC 3-wire power input, HEXFREDs in PS, film bypassed Jensen PIO coupling caps).

Marantz 10B and Magnum Dynalab 108