[Minn Mark]

Lots of nice tuner candy photos.  Anyone care to comment on how the tuner section of my Marantz 2250b would compare to a standalone (seperates) tuner of same vintage?

Thanks,

Mark

[avahifi]

If you own one of our Dyna FM-5 Super Tuner or Super Tuner Two models (these have all new AVA circuits replacing everything except the front end assemblies) and they are in good working order, it is possible to make them sound day and night better, and they were very nice in the first place.

All you need to do is replace all of LH0002CN 10-pin current buffers or LM6321 8-pin current buffers with the new National LME49600 current buffers. They spec out at .0003 percent THD and a 2000 volt per microsecond slew rate.

Unfortunately they are only available in a 5-pin surface mount package.  It is doable, but a real bitch of an operation.  We would suggest mounting the 49600s into 8-pin sockets first.  There are only four connections needed per device: input, output, and plus 15V and minus 15V supplies.  In the older Super Tuner units, the audio stage also uses an 8-pin IC run as unity gain.  Each channels IC and current buffer can be replaced by the new current buffer only as gain needs here are redundant.  It is a tricky and difficult job, but possible. We can do it for you, but it will cost $500 parts and labor, lots of hours and careful detailed work.

Don't bother unless your front end assembly is in good working order.  Call us to find out a simple test you can make not requiring any tools to determine this.  651-330-9871.

Sorry, we don't have step by step do it yourself instructions for this conversion.

Regards,

Frank Van Alstine

[doug s.]

Lots of nice tuner candy photos.  Anyone care to comment on how the tuner section of my Marantz 2250b would compare to a standalone (seperates) tuner of same vintage?

Thanks,

Mark

i am not familiar with this receiver.  if you ask this question on the yahoo fmtunerinfo site or on audiokarma, you may get some better responses.  all i know re: marantz receivers, is that the 18 & the 19 receivers have the best tunas inside: the marantz 20 & 20b respectively.  most tuna folks say the 20/20b is the best sounding tuna marantz ever made...  as i said befoer, it is a wery nice sounding tuna indeed...

doug s.

[denny9167]

  Thanks for all the input. I thought I would post a few pics of the FM-3 I just finished for a customer,Cleaned the chassis up,greased the tuning cap,installed new boards. The sound is just amazing with these new boards and components.

[dB Cooper]

WTMD. Wow, that takes me back. I used to live right across Towsontown Blvd from the station- with a good set of binoculars I would probably have been able to make out what Nearly Slim was wearing for the Blues Connection show. (Whatever happened to him and that show?) I still have some of those shows saved on VHS HiFi tapes, made using my AVA Super Tuner Two as a source. Used to listen to WPFW 89.3 and WDCU 90.1 too, although the proximity to WTMD made for some real difficult reception conditions, especially when TMD upped their output from 2.5 to 10KW.

Sadly, WDCU folded and became C-Span. WPFW still plays jazz and blues... sometimes. There isn't enough (station) source material in this metro market to make it worth keeping a tuna going imo, especially a tube one. Didn't know about the WTMD blues show. Am out of their radius but might try to check it out online. Dealing with the big hit in SQ is tough, but I'll take music however I can get it.

denny, did you fab those new boards? (I still have an FM3.) Looks like the IF board is fiberglass, not phenolic like the original. They aren't OEM are they?

[doug s.]

...Sadly, WDCU folded and became C-Span. WPFW still plays jazz and blues... sometimes. There isn't enough (station) source material in this metro market to make it worth keeping a tuna going imo, especially a tube one...

while i wish wpfw would dewote more of its hours to jazz and less to talk, there's still enough jazz on evenings/weekends, that would keep me from selling my tunas, (including >10 tubed tunas) even if jazz were my only musical interest.  presently enjoying african rhythms on wpfw as i type.     and, as mentioned earlier, weta and wypr are also getting airplay chez-sedon.

don't cut off your nose to spite your face, db..   

doug s.

[JLM]

For those who haven't found this, here's the link to a somewhat old, but huge and useful tuner site:

http://www.fmtunerinfo.com/

[jimdgoulding]

I have a Marantz 115B tuner and it is a stellar performer. Not only does it look good, it sounds very musical, especially on our local NPR station.





Wayner

That right there is the definition of classic.  Bet you don't ever part with that.

[dB Cooper]

don't cut off your nose to spite your face, db..   

doug s.

My parents always used to tell me that. Thanks Doug... 

BTW, listening to "G-strings" on PFW right now on my Tivoli Kloss radio at my desk. It actually has a pretty nice sounding tuner in it...

[doug s.]

My parents always used to tell me that. Thanks Doug... 

BTW, listening to "G-strings" on PFW right now on my Tivoli Kloss radio at my desk. It actually has a pretty nice sounding tuner in it...

pfw's sunday broadcast is reason enough to own a good tuna, imo.     and, i am not sure why you think tubed tuna are any more of an issue than s/s.  i have a few that are >50 years old, never serviced at all, and they still sound great...  sure, i have had some that needed work - yust like some of the s/s tunas.  get 'em up to snuff and they'll be good for another 50 years. 

doug s.

[SteveFord]

FM is fun on Harman Kardon, too.
WTMD just played a Led Zeppling medley done by the band Those Darn Accordians off of the album "Lawnball".
Whole Lotta Love/Black Dog done on accordians with a female lead was pretty silly.
Here's a shot of the old bruiser:



As you may have guessed, this thing is built like a tank and weighs about as much as one, too.

[denny9167]

WTMD. Wow, that takes me back. I used to live right across Towsontown Blvd from the station- with a good set of binoculars I would probably have been able to make out what Nearly Slim was wearing for the Blues Connection show. (Whatever happened to him and that show?) I still have some of those shows saved on VHS HiFi tapes, made using my AVA Super Tuner Two as a source. Used to listen to WPFW 89.3 and WDCU 90.1 too, although the proximity to WTMD made for some real difficult reception conditions, especially when TMD upped their output from 2.5 to 10KW.

Sadly, WDCU folded and became C-Span. WPFW still plays jazz and blues... sometimes. There isn't enough (station) source material in this metro market to make it worth keeping a tuna going imo, especially a tube one. Didn't know about the WTMD blues show. Am out of their radius but might try to check it out online. Dealing with the big hit in SQ is tough, but I'll take music however I can get it.

denny, did you fab those new boards? (I still have an FM3.) Looks like the IF board is fiberglass, not phenolic like the original. They aren't OEM are they?

I had them fabricated through ExpressPCB. They do a really nice job.

[dB Cooper]

I had them fabricated through ExpressPCB. They do a really nice job.

Interesting... How did they copy the original unstuffed board? Dyna provided no foil-side artwork. Do they scan an empty board?

The FE and MPXZ boards are fiberglass so those are good but the IF board was phenolic. If I were a real fanatic, with some time on my hands and $$$ burning a hole in my pocket, I would buy the monolithic one-piece motherboard from the FM3 zone ( http://home.comcast.net/~netminer/MOTHERBOARD.html ) and gut the thing. Not only does it replace all the boards, almost all the point to point wiring too.

[dB Cooper]

FM is fun on Harman Kardon, too.
WTMD just played a Led Zeppling medley done by the band Those Darn Accordians off of the album "Lawnball".
Whole Lotta Love/Black Dog done on accordians with a female lead was pretty silly

Off topic but I can't help myself:
I have Lawnball too; it's a riot.
But the greatest Led Zep novelty cover band of all, IMHO, is Dread Zeppelin.
They do reggae covers of Zep songs. And as if that weren't enough, their lead vocalist is an Elvis impersonator.



Check out "Un-Led-Ed" and "Dread Zeppelin 5,000,000".

We now return you to your regularly scheduled topic.

[denny9167]

Interesting... How did they copy the original unstuffed board? Dyna provided no foil-side artwork. Do they scan an empty board?

The FE and MPXZ boards are fiberglass so those are good but the IF board was phenolic. If I were a real fanatic, with some time on my hands and $$$ burning a hole in my pocket, I would buy the monolithic one-piece motherboard from the FM3 zone ( http://home.comcast.net/~netminer/MOTHERBOARD.html ) and gut the thing. Not only does it replace all the boards, almost all the point to point wiring too.

I simply use the software downloaded from their site,re-draw the schematic shown in the FM-3 manual to generate a net list for the board,once the board is layed out,I upload it for manufacturing,really nice process.

[hifigeezer]

Hi Mark and all Audio Circle members.

Who's Frank ?
If I get my MacIntosh MR-71 FM tuner,
I will be looking for someone to calibrate and
bring to perfect working condition my old - new purchase.
Do you have his coordonates?
(Phone, address, e-mail...)

Guy 13

Welcome Guy!

I hope this July finds you in cool Canada with an MR-71!

I had my MR-65B modified by Mr. Stephen Sank in Tucson, AZ:
Talking Dog Transducer Company
 2112 N. Dragoon Street, #13
Tucson, Arizona [ 85745 ]
Phone: (505)  410-4951 day or evening
http://www.thuntek.net/~bk11/home.htm

It sounds excellent.

Closer to you, in New York is Audio Classics.  They can do standard repairs and alignment or you can have a modification done by Mr. Richard Modafferi, designer of the McIntosh MR-78. 
http://audioclassics.com/
Audio Classics, Ltd.
3501 Vestal Road
Vestal, NY 13850
Telephone: 607-766-3501
Hours: M-F 8am-5:30pm Sat 11am-4pm

They did that modification on my MR-77 and improved it, but they work on tube units also.

Have fun!

[hifigeezer]

First, thanks to all who posted cool pics.  Love that Dynaco stack!

I have problems on many conventional tuners with IBOC noise caused by HD Radio interference.     I wouldn't buy any conventional tuner without researching first whether it will have IBOC problems.  It depends on your stations and your tuner.

I had an FM-3 which sounded very nice especially after updating, but IBOC immunity was poor.  I had installed a power supply designed by Sheldon Stokes (www.quadesl.com) which worked well.  The FM-3 got me into tube tuners, an addiction which has now spread to tube preamps.

I can't speak to the perfomance of the FM-5 but Accuphase makes great tuners in Japan.  My T-100 ran for 19 years before it went into the shop for the first time.  The T-1100 is high on my list when I win the lottery.

Have fun!  See http://www.fmtunerinfo.com/index.html for more.

[doug s.]

hi hifigeezer!  welcome to a/c!   

i agree stephen sank does a great yob w/tuna.  he also did a beautiful yob on refurbing and modding an mr65b i once owned.  man, it was beautiful.  alas, good as it sounded, my sherwoods sounded better, so i let it go, to a fellow a/c'er who loves mac gear.  i warned him he could get better sound for less money, but he wanted his mac!   

stephen also did up one of my hk citation 18's; to this day, it is still in the top group of best sounding tuna i have heard...

doug s.

[hifigeezer]

Other alternatives for Guy with his McIntosh are:

Mark Wilson, a/k/a Absolute Sound Labs, in Savage, Minnesota.
(952) 894-5580

Terry DeWick in Knoxville, Tennessee;  (865) 691-2446

I have not done business with either but they have lots of experience and good reputations.

[hifigeezer]

The FCC has established an "Interference Protection and Complaint Remediation" procedure to protect the reception of analog FM signals. It is documented starting at page 10 in http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-10-208A1.pdf .  This procedure is a bit complex, and it requires that you first contact the station that you believe is receiving the interference. The onus is on them to first try to work it out with the station supposedly creating the interference.