What's your tuner?

doug s. · « **Reply #20 on:** 3 Sep 2007, 06:12 am »

a few thoughts...

go here for a lot of tuna info, including where to find bill ammons, & a few other modders & techs as well:
http://www.fmtunerinfo.com/
i would also recommend joseph chow, who adwertises on agon, & mike williams, who goes by "punker-x" on audiokarma.
http://www.componentplususa.com/
http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?misctunr&1193808148
http://radioxtuners.com/

awoid don scott like the plague; he does not use proper test equipment to service & align tunas, & if yours comes back from him sounding better than when you sent it in, it's dumb luck. i know of several folks who had to send their tunas elsewhere to get fixed after he butchered them. i would also awoid ed hanlon - he's a nut job who will werbally or in writing tear you a new orifice if you ever should so much as question anything he might be doing tech-wise, & go into a psychotic rage, accusing you of trying to 'steal his secrets", which is a joke, cuz there's so much info & help awailable from folks more than willing to assist anyone who might be interested in diy. again, i have heard this happen to quite a few other tunaholics... and, besides, he subs all his work out to another shop anyways, so why not deal directly w/the tech, instead of paying additional mark-up to a middleman? ed's antennas are first-rate, fwiw...

using a car stereo can be a good way to go; this topic has come up every so other on the fmtunerinfo site's yahoo tuna forum. the only thing to be aware of is that sometimes you may have what you think is a quality quiet stereo signal, when in fact many car stereo's automatically blend towards mono when signal strength gets weak, so you may not be hearing full stereo w/compromised signals.

as far as money is concerned, while i have a lot of tunas, when money gets tight, it's easy for me to unload a tuna or three, w/o losing any money - prudent used shopping means you will at least break even when you wanna sell something.

re: the da-f10 (in the da-c20 tuner/preamp), while it is not as good a tuna as the da-f20, if you do not like the sound of yours, it likely needs a refurb, or at the wery least an alignment, as it really is a nice sounding tuna in its own right.

re: the m-d tunas - easily the most overhyped/overpriced tunas around, imo - about any tuna i own will be at least as good, & likely better than m-d's former best, (the $6k md108), in sound quality & reception, except where i noted reception issues. i don't have any reliable info on md's latest $9k tuna, so mebbe it's a winner. personally, if it were my money, & i could afford it, i would be more wanting to try the new $4.5k accuphase t1000 - i hear its outstanding, especially when run thru an outboard dac from its digital output. unless i can find one used at a great price, this one is outta reach for me.

re: the sonics of the kt7500 (which does have excellent reception), yust look at one person's take on its sonics: jim rivers, who did "shootouts" of 84 (?!?) tunas, over at the fmtunerinfo site, found it came in at 79th spot, out of the 84 he listened to. even tho it's about his fave tuna after mods. this corresponds w/my experience w/a kt5500 (slightly below the kt7500), & also a kt8300 (slightly above the kt7500). of all the tunas i have owned over the years, only the kt8300 & a refurb'd mcintosh mr77 wouldn't be acceptable as a daily use tuna for me, based on sonics. i would even prefer my old adcom gft1a or a m-d ft101 (which are both yust ok, & quite comparable to each other, in stock form, imo...) yes, i did own a bill ammons modded kt7500, & it was a stellar sonic performer, if not the best tuna i owned in terms of ultimate quieting ability. if you don't wanna diy (there is excellent info on diy'ing the kt7500 on the fmtunerinfo site), bill ammons is wery reasonable - i suspect he'd charge somewhere around $250 for a refurb & mod of this tuna... if you get it modded, & have an excellent radio station in your area, you may surprise yourself at how much time you may spend, enjoying listening to it, even in the sweet spot, doing serious listening. aa

happy fm listening!

David Ellis · « **Reply #21 on:** 3 Sep 2007, 05:09 pm »

Thanks for the further comments Doug.

When investigating this tuner I did come across some of the names you mentioned and your comments seem to mirror what I have previously read. I am very surprised at this comment though:

Quote

i suspect he'd charge somewhere around $250 for a refurb & mod of this tuna...

$250 is really friggin cheap IMO. I really thought that Bill would charge at least $700-$800 for the work. I need to find the contact information for him.

Dave

Wayner · « **Reply #22 on:** 3 Sep 2007, 08:55 pm »

I forgot to mention that I have a Sony ES ST-50 tuner (now discontinued). It has never fadded out on me and has always demonstrated a superior, almost CD like quality sound. For $600 it was a good investment for me. It also has many unque featuers like signal strength (in db), dual antenna inputs and a bunch of presets that can be accessed a number of different ways. I can also deminish the strenght of local stations (this setting can be memorized by station, as well as antenna choise, and serveral other options). I have a Channel Master antenna on top of the house (only one on the street) and enjoy FM a lot. Works great for Hi-Def TV as well. I will watch CSI Miami in high def tonight with 5.1 surround for free off the antenna.

W

avahifi · « **Reply #23 on:** 3 Sep 2007, 09:26 pm »

I would prefer if my fans abstain from making any negative comments about other products or persons at the AVA circle. For the most part, I have not heard or dealt with these and I would not want comments at the AVA circle to be considered as being sanctioned by us.

Regards,

Frank Van Alstine

Tweaker · « **Reply #24 on:** 3 Sep 2007, 09:41 pm »

I have a really nice Sansui TU-717 that I never use anymore. Nothing worth listening to on the airwaves around here.

martyo · « **Reply #25 on:** 3 Sep 2007, 10:01 pm »

Quote

Quote from: Tweaker on 3 Sep 2007, 09:41 pm
I have a really nice Sansui TU-717 that I never use anymore. Nothing worth listening to on the airwaves around here.

I've seen this comment before and always think about posting this but haven't until now.
For jazz lovers, we have a public radio station at one of the local colleges here and it's almost all jazz, real jazz, not just "smooth jazz". www.wdcb.org.

Tweaker · « **Reply #26 on:** 3 Sep 2007, 10:14 pm »

We have a local Jazz/NPR station but it's a pretty bland mix of jazz and fairly repetitive.
I'm listening to wdcb.org online right now. Pretty nice, so far.
The Sansui's for sale, by the way, if anyone is interested.

doug s. · « **Reply #27 on:** 4 Sep 2007, 12:41 am »

Quote from: avahifi on 3 Sep 2007, 09:26 pm

I would prefer if my fans abstain from making any negative comments about other products or persons at the AVA circle. For the most part, I have not heard or dealt with these and I would not want comments at the AVA circle to be considered as being sanctioned by us.

Regards,

Frank Van Alstine

sorry, frank, if my comments are deemed out of place on your circle. to be honest, i don't know why this thread was posted here; it's not about ava products at all. perhaps you could move it to the audio central circle; it seems a more appropriate place for this discussion.

regards,

doug s.

honesthoff · « **Reply #28 on:** 13 Sep 2007, 02:50 pm »

Quote from: TONEPUB on 2 Sep 2007, 07:33 am

the new magnum dynalab 609... high performance XM radio!!

Jeff,

How is that 609 working for you? I've been hooked on XM channels 10,12,13,14 since I got a scrip with my new car. I hated the Polk, though, and must "suffer" with regular radio on my home modded Nikko FAM800 when not in the car.

ricmon · « **Reply #29 on:** 13 Sep 2007, 03:00 pm »

Not much- and I live in what used to be one of the best FM markets in the country (WDC). WPFW plays jazz and a glorious one hour a day of blues but not much of either at times I can listen. 9 til midnite they go "latin" which isn't my cup of tea, no offense. WDCU Jazz/Blues) gave it up years ago and is now C-Span. WAMU has great news and talk programming, but don't really need a great "tuna" for talk radio. No real reason to expect any of this to change for the better anytime soon, so, like one of the earlier posters, I listen a lot to satellite (Sirius)- at least there's something to listen to, although the sound is barely mid-fi at best. But I can turn it on and hear my usual music (jazz & blues) anytime. Terrestrial radio has become every bit as much a wasteland as broadcast TV- maybe more so,
[/quote]

Man I live in DC and LOVE wpfw, I'm a supporting member. However you may want to visit their website to get the music schedule. And just for the record it was UDC's radio station thats now CSPAN. What a lost to the jazz community.

http://wpfw.org/

doug s. · « **Reply #30 on:** 13 Sep 2007, 03:25 pm »

"high performance xm radio"? oxymoron alert! xm is barely listenable, even as background music, on a quality audio rig. absolutely no way you can actually sit down & listen to it. mebe ok in the car w/its high ambient noise levels, i dunno...

as far as "suffering" with "regular radio", w/a first rate tuna broadcsting a quality (read: non-compressed, non-commercial) signal, the sound will easily rival the best analog or digital front ends. easy to sit in the sweet spot, eyes closed, lost in the music...

doug s.

Quote from: honesthoff on 13 Sep 2007, 02:50 pm

Quote from: TONEPUB on 2 Sep 2007, 07:33 am
the new magnum dynalab 609... high performance XM radio!!

Jeff,

How is that 609 working for you? I've been hooked on XM channels 10,12,13,14 since I got a scrip with my new car. I hated the Polk, though, and must "suffer" with regular radio on my home modded Nikko FAM800 when not in the car.

ThomDP · « **Reply #31 on:** 13 Sep 2007, 03:41 pm »

A Harman/Kardon TU9600. Decent nothing special. I picks up a decent amount of stations. The HK is not in the same league as the Marantz ST17 that I previously had and regret selling.

honesthoff · « **Reply #32 on:** 13 Sep 2007, 03:42 pm »

Quality at home is great with the Nikko. It's the content that's killing me. No source here in Philly at all for older Country, Outlaw, Roots, Blugrass that XM offers. I had tried the Polk, and I agree it was mid-fi at best. I was hoping the 3K plus 609 was a big, big improvement.

doug s. · « **Reply #33 on:** 13 Sep 2007, 04:03 pm »

if the m-d 609 is anything at all like its analog predecessors, don't count on much. the $6k md108 is easily bested by at least a couple dozen quality wintage tunas, most awailable for $500 or less... dunno about md's latest $10k tuna, but if i had the bucks for it, i would be looking at the latest accuphase offering, at less than half the price.

really, no good stations in philly? didja check this site?

http://www.radio-locator.com/

you may find, that w/a decent yagi, you may be able to pull in something good, that you didn't even know existed.

ymmv,

doug s.

Quote from: honesthoff on 13 Sep 2007, 03:42 pm

Quality at home is great with the Nikko. It's the content that's killing me. No source here in Philly at all for older Country, Outlaw, Roots, Blugrass that XM offers. I had tried the Polk, and I agree it was mid-fi at best. I was hoping the 3K plus 609 was a big, big improvement.

Toka · « **Reply #34 on:** 13 Sep 2007, 04:09 pm »

The Achilles heel of the component satellite tuners is simply the bitrate...I forget what it is exactly (varies from channel to channel) but I think around 32kbps is about the average (for music, talk is lower). You can massage that any way you want, but there is only so much you can do. Now, Sirius (maybe XM too) has an internet-extra option that gives you around 130kpbs for music channels. That would work much better, and again would benefit from careful planning/building, but I do not know of any set-top method to get that data feed into a high quality 2CH setup.

EDIT: Agreed with doug...on all counts. Regarding Philly radio, there are some good stations in/around the area, but mostly lower power (WXPN, WRTI, WPRB, etc.). Too bad they are buried by mountains of crapola.

Not sure what, if anything, would give you what you want as far as country/roots/bluegrass is concerned, however.

Harmon · « **Reply #35 on:** 13 Sep 2007, 04:21 pm »

I have a Yamaha T-85 tuner. It is considered one of the best reference tuners ever made. I believe it was built around 1986.

Steve64 · « **Reply #36 on:** 22 Jun 2019, 04:03 am »

Mcintosh mr-78uhukwx

Calypte · « **Reply #37 on:** 22 Jun 2019, 09:50 pm »

Being mostly a classical music listener, but also jazz occasionally, there are no worthwhile FM stations within range in my region (so. Calif.). If there were, I might revive my old Dynaco FM-3, which at least lit up the last time I tried it. KUSC in L.A. is too far away for a good signal.

I.Greyhound Fan · « **Reply #38 on:** 23 Jun 2019, 01:15 am »

A vintage 1970's Luxman T-110 and a Hitachi FT-4000

RPM123 · « **Reply #39 on:** 23 Jun 2019, 01:25 am »

Magnum Dynalab - MD 806. I like to be able to listen to stations around the world. Right now, I am listening to a great blues station out of Switzerland. Who knew!