In my location getting a signal takes precedent over the sonics. In that respect my modded 78 does very well and and the sound is not bad either. My modded 717 has a nice sound, but from a sensitivity standpoint it can't match the 78. At some point I would like to hear what a modified 919 sounds like. But for now I'm happy with the two units and they serve their purpose very well.
yup, the mr78 is known for reception abilities. keep your eyes peeled for a rotel rht-10 or rt990bx, which is basically the same thing w/o the frills. when properly refurb'd, (mods are even better), the sound of my rht-10 is as good as my modded refurb'd sansui tu-x1, and reception is better than any tuna i have ever used, w/the exception of the ubiquitous sony xdr-f1h. and its reception is wery close to the xdr's. (if used w/a tube buffer, even the li'l sony sounds better than the s/s macs, imo; and while i have never tried a modded xdr, mods are also supposed to make these much more sonically friendly.)
i owned a mint mr74 and a refurb'd mr77, which even richard modaferri says has better sonics than the mr78. out of over 100 tunas i have owned over the past 25 years, there is a small list of tuna that i can count on one hand that i would not be able to live with due to mediocre sonics. the mr74 & mr77 both qualify for that list...
but, you must understand - i am an fm junkie and 90% of my listening is to fm...
ymmv,
doug s.,
presently listening to the excellent sonics of a never serviced nikko gamma 1. fabulous tuna, usually cheap...
