[SteveFord]

I'm thinking of upgrading my tuners and I'm wondering if there are any tube FM tuners that would be comprable to the best of the solid state ones?  There are only a few stations around here that are worth listening to down at the bottom end of the dial but I guess that's pretty much the way it is just about everywhere.

[SCooper]

McIntosh MR-67  and   MR-71
Lots of info on many tuners here;
http://www.fmtunerinfo.com/tubetuners.html

[doug s.]

hook yourself up w/a sherwood.  s3000ll or later.  (the earlier ones supposedly have a tad-bit better reception w/a tiny bit of a sonic penalty, but are still supposed to sound awesome.)  in good shape, either w/built-in mpx or modern outboard adapter, the sherwood tubers will sound as good or better than any tuna out there, imo.  while reception is not up w/the better s/s tunas, it's still good, and you won't have a problem unless your reception conditions are extremely poor.  i sold my refurb'd & modded-to-the-gills mcintosh mr65b cuz, tho beautiful and a fine performer in its own right, it yust couldn't hold a candle to my sherwoods.  (and many of my internet tuna addict friends have had the same experience w/the sherwoods.)   my sherwoods sound at least as good as my fave s/s iterations, including modded refurb'd sansui tu-x1, modded refurb'd hk citation 18, modded refurb'd sony st-a6b, stock rotel rht10, stock aiwa at9700u, modded refurb'd heathkit aj1600, to name a few...  and there's a plethora of fine s/s tunas that i no longer own that could be added to this list, like philips ah673, modded accuphase t109, modded kenwood l-07tll, modded mitsubishi da-f20, audiolab 8000t, etc...

(the s/s sherwoods are also no slouches, imo - up there w/what i would consider second-tier excellent tunas like the tandberg 3001a, sansui tu717, nikko gamma 1, rotel rt2100, jvc fx1100bk, hitachi ft8000, etc.)

doug s.

[SteveFord]

Sherwood tube sounds like a plan. 
Hurry up, 2010 tax refund!

[doug s.]

Sherwood tube sounds like a plan. 
Hurry up, 2010 tax refund!

these are not expensive tunas - if you spend $200, it will likely be mint and maybe refurb'd.  mono units can typically be found under $100 in decent shape.  compared to the spendy fishers, scotts, marantz, macs, etc, it really defies logic, as the sherwoods are better performers, imo.  (i have not heard the ultra rare ultra spendy scott 4310; it is supposed to be special; mebbe the sherwood is only as good, not better. )  i know a coupla guys who picked a sherwood up on my recommendation, and they agree they are better than their spendy mac tubers, among others.  and one guy i know now uses his in his main rig; it replaced a modded sansui tu919.

if you want a mono unit and outboard mpx decoder, get in touch w/bob f over on the yahoo fmtuner forum - he sells kits and assembled mpx decoders; these will likely be around $200 (+/-$50?) fully assembled.  excellent decoders, better than the typical wintage decoders awailable.  some folks actually use them w/excellent results w/more modern s/s tunas, to replace the built-in mpx's.  of course, if you want a nice (spendy) wintage mpx decoder, i have a fisher mpx-100 in good shape; i'd be happy to sell it to you.     these, along w//the scott 335 decoders, are purported to be the best wintage mpx decoders.  for them to fetch $200-$350 is not uncommon.

besides the sherwood s3000's, keep a look out for the s2100's, s2100ll's and s2200's - these are like the 3000's but also have am as well as fm.  one weird thing about the sherwood tunas is that there were running changes - some models w/identical model number are in fact a bit different inside.  if/when you get one, you should find a serwice manual (easy to find) that corresponds w/the serial number of your unit.  these really are fine sounding tunas, imo...

doug s.

[SteveFord]

Doug S,
You have an S2?  I'll have to dust off the Purple Nurple and take some photos (my S2 with a really hot S3 motor in it).
I wonder how many Buell owners are on this site?

[doug s.]

Doug S,
You have an S2?  I'll have to dust off the Purple Nurple and take some photos (my S2 with a really hot S3 motor in it).
I wonder how many Buell owners are on this site?

i have owned my '95 s2 since '98; it's the nicest all-around bike i have ridden.  w/the '98-spec motor parts, thunderslide carb mod and factory race exhaust/ecm kit, it's making ~90rwhp/90ft-lbs of torque, not too shabby...     still going strong, w/about 40k on it...

death to h-d; long live erik buell!   

doug s.

[SteveFord]

death to h-d; long live erik buell!   

There's a tattoo in that one!

[doug s.]

ok, now back to regular tube tuna programming!     there are a lot of other fine mono tubed tunas that will compete sonically w/the wery beast when properly working.  a couple that come to mind are paco and pilot.  these usually are under the radar, as they are not well known, so sale low prices are not uncommon.  (the pilot gear has a cult following tho, sometimes nice examples can fetch a fair amount of cash.)  stromberg carlson is another, but the s-c's have mediocre sensitivity - you need to be close to your desired station w/o interference from other stations...  even mono tunas like the realistic and the eico's will amaze w/the sound quality when used w/a good outboard mpx decoder...








doug s.

[orthobiz]

If that's a bunch of tunas in your house, Doug, I gotta remember to show my wife this thread next time I bring home vintage stuff!

Paul

[doug s.]

If that's a bunch of tunas in your house, Doug, I gotta remember to show my wife this thread next time I bring home vintage stuff!

Paul

that is some of my tunas...   

doug s.

[dB Cooper]

Dyna FM3 is a good choice, relatively easy to find, good sound when restored properly. Google the "Keeping the Dyna FM3 Working" article Audio by Van Alstine put out, tells you how to "rejuvenate" the unit.

[doug s.]

Dyna FM3 is a good choice, relatively easy to find, good sound when restored properly. Google the "Keeping the Dyna FM3 Working" article Audio by Van Alstine put out, tells you how to "rejuvenate" the unit.

i owned a refurb'd highly modded example; its reception was too poor for me to use in my present location.  (similar to, if not quite as bad reception as my stromberg-carlson tunas.)  but the guy i sold it to is ecstatic about it - he thinks it might be his best sounding tuna.

doug s.

[SteveFord]

Good recommendation on the Sherwoods! 

[SteveFord]

I guess I'll be finding out how the bass response measures up with a Carver TX-11a as my Sherwood S3000-III was dropped off at the shop this evening to get it going, recapped, aligned and have a better power cord installed.

They really should change the name of that auction site from eBay to D.O.A. - it would rhyme with the old one and be more accurate.

Got it back from the shop, bass response is very good, reception and selectivity is excellent. 

[pelliott321]

Hey Steve
I went for the "cool" factor and got a Scott LT-110 at a hamfest a couple of years ago for a few bucks because the guy was honest and said it was not working. I set it to X-Tuners or something like that and it was fixed, updated and aligned. Came back sounding really good until.....I got a squeezebox Duet and now I listen to my favorite radio station over the internet feed because it sounds so much better.  Not as cool as tuning a dial and watching the pretty lights and meter, but a whole lot better sounding.
My scott will be on ebay soon   

[guest1632]

hook yourself up w/a sherwood.  s3000ll or later.  (the earlier ones supposedly have a tad-bit better reception w/a tiny bit of a sonic penalty, but are still supposed to sound awesome.)  in good shape, either w/built-in mpx or modern outboard adapter, the sherwood tubers will sound as good or better than any tuna out there, imo.  while reception is not up w/the better s/s tunas, it's still good, and you won't have a problem unless your reception conditions are extremely poor.  i sold my refurb'd & modded-to-the-gills mcintosh mr65b cuz, tho beautiful and a fine performer in its own right, it yust couldn't hold a candle to my sherwoods.  (and many of my internet tuna addict friends have had the same experience w/the sherwoods.)   my sherwoods sound at least as good as my fave s/s iterations, including modded refurb'd sansui tu-x1, modded refurb'd hk citation 18, modded refurb'd sony st-a6b, stock rotel rht10, stock aiwa at9700u, modded refurb'd heathkit aj1600, to name a few...  and there's a plethora of fine s/s tunas that i no longer own that could be added to this list, like philips ah673, modded accuphase t109, modded kenwood l-07tll, modded mitsubishi da-f20, audiolab 8000t, etc...

(the s/s sherwoods are also no slouches, imo - up there w/what i would consider second-tier excellent tunas like the tandberg 3001a, sansui tu717, nikko gamma 1, rotel rt2100, jvc fx1100bk, hitachi ft8000, etc.)

doug s.

Hey Doug S, I know this is slightly offtopic but isn't the Mac MR78 supposed to be a copy of a fisher tuner? The major difference is the type of filters that Mac used. If the story is correct, someone was doing there thesis on filters, and macintosh applied the thesis, and the filters worked.

Ray Bronk

[doug s.]

Hey Doug S, I know this is slightly offtopic but isn't the Mac MR78 supposed to be a copy of a fisher tuner? The major difference is the type of filters that Mac used. If the story is correct, someone was doing there thesis on filters, and macintosh applied the thesis, and the filters worked.

Ray Bronk

i sincerely doubt it.  for one thing, the fisher tunas i have tried, (older mono ones), sound good.  i can't say this for the s/s macs.  (tho i never tried a s/s fisher, and i have no idea which one would have been "copied" by the mr78.  the tubed macs sound nice, tho bettered by the much less expensive sherwoods, imo.)  i owned a refurb'd mr77 and a mint mr74 - these are acknowledged to be the best sounding wintage s/s mac tunas.  the mr78 holds the prize for sensitivity, but even its designer richard modafferi says the mr77, for example, sounds better.  and, imo, the mr77 ranks near the bottom sonically, of ~100 tunas i have auditioned chez-sedon, w/the mr74 right behind it, only marginally better.  these are one of the few tunas i've heard that i couldn't live with as an only tuna.  2-d soundstage, not wery detailed, extended, or dynamic either...

ymmv,

doug s.

[hifigeezer]

Hey Doug S, I know this is slightly offtopic but isn't the Mac MR78 supposed to be a copy of a fisher tuner? The major difference is the type of filters that Mac used. If the story is correct, someone was doing there thesis on filters, and macintosh applied the thesis, and the filters worked.

Ray Bronk

Hi, below is a link to an article from Audio Magazine back in the 1970s..

http://www.fmtunerinfo.com/RimoFilter.pdf

Richard Modafferi wrote his thesis at NJIT on filter design and went on to work at McIntosh.  He's still modifying tuners today at Audio Classics.

Urban legend has it that the Marantz 7 was a response to the Fisher FM-1000 but I can't be sure.  Have fun!