Anyone here listen to FM radio?

Rob Babcock · « **on:** 17 Dec 2004, 09:37 am »

Okay, anyone except Doug S and his tuna?

It seems to me radio is mostly a wasteland (there's only 2 bearable FM stations I can get where I live). Anyone live in "FM Mecca"?

BeeBop · « **Reply #1 on:** 17 Dec 2004, 10:27 am »

I listen to it all the time. Have some great FM stations here - classical and jazz in addition to all the rock/rap/talk etc. (not my cuppa). Bought myself a used Magnum Dynalab MD102 tuner on audiogon and the listenin' is grrrreat. This is now my primary source.

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #2 on:** 17 Dec 2004, 10:29 am »

Minnesota Public Radio comes in loud and clear here. It's a trememdous all classical station. There's another local station that plays mostly 80's stuff with some 70's and a smidge of 90's. I listen to that one in my car whenever MPR is playing opera.

rosconey · « **Reply #3 on:** 17 Dec 2004, 11:04 am »

lots of good radio still in my area-about 8 stations worth listening too

Dan Banquer · « **Reply #4 on:** 17 Dec 2004, 02:21 pm »

I'm just finishing up a rehabilitation of a Yamaha T-80 tuner, circa 1985, which should be the subject of an upcoming article at www.audioholics.com
About the only thing I want to say at the moment is that I never knew that FM radio could be this good.
There are some good stations in my area such as NPR and some of the college stations are respectable.
d.b.

doug s. · « **Reply #5 on:** 17 Dec 2004, 04:06 pm »

Quote from: Rob Babcock

Okay, anyone except Doug S and his tuna? It seems to me radio is mostly a wasteland (there's only 2 bearable FM stations I can get where I live). Anyone live in "FM Mecca"?

fm radio? wazzat?

i *wish* that i lived in fm mecca. there are actually only a couple stations that are worth listening to in my area. but, fortunately, one of them is good enuff - both programming, *and* signal quality - to keep me happy.

wpfw 89.3 in dc has excellent jazz/blues/latin/caribbean/african/world music. and, i also like its pacifica news; a welcome change from typical corporate media. they're online - wpfw.org, but the sonics are obviously a bit lacking there.

re: tuna itself, i have stumbled across two sleeper tunas that are as good as any i've heard, & they won't cost ya an arm & a leg. no offense bee-bop, but i'd put 'em up against *any* m-d tuna. send yer m-d out for mods to hear what a good tuna *should* sound like; the m-d's are certainly nice to look at!

anyway, for those on a budget, keep yer eyes peeled for a philips 185 or a nikko gamma-1. absolutely killer sonics for cheap. the nikko seems to also be exceptionally quiet & sensitive...

doug s., so many tunas, so little time...

zachslc · « **Reply #6 on:** 17 Dec 2004, 04:24 pm »

In salt lake there is a good classical station that comes out of BYU (listenign to it now) that plays wonderful, obscure christmas music. We have an NPR affiliate that plays good jazz at night. At work I listen to some NPR programming (I like the morning shows but can't stand the afternoon shows, except for Fresh Air) over the net. I wish, as a fiscal conservative, I could be more comfortable with public broadcasting, because commercial radio really is a wasteland. I guess it caters to the lowest common denominator.

My tuner at home is an Onkyo receiver. I would love to restore a vintage tube tuner, but that is a little ways down on my list of upgrades.

doug s. · « **Reply #7 on:** 17 Dec 2004, 05:00 pm »

Quote from: zachslc

In salt lake there is a good classical station that comes out of BYU (listenign to it now) that plays wonderful, obscure christmas music. We have an NPR affiliate that plays good jazz at night. At work I listen to some NPR programming (I like the morning shows but can't stand the afternoon shows, except for Fresh Air) over the net. I wish, as a fiscal conservative, I could be more comfortable with public broadcasting, because commercial radio really is a wasteland. I guess it caters to the lowest common denominator.

My tuner at home is an Onkyo receiver. I would love to restore a vintage tube tuner, but that is a little ways down on my list of upgrades.

i have a fully restored *and* modded mcintosh mr65b. it *is* nice. but, not as nice as, for example, the two i mentioned above. you do *not* need to spend a lot of money to get truly amazing sound from fm, assuming you have broadcasts that put out the goods. there's a *ton* of fantastic sounding vintage tuna out there that can be had for a song. song?

doug s.

zachslc · « **Reply #8 on:** 17 Dec 2004, 05:10 pm »

Could you give some details about the mac? I don't really know anything about vintage tuners (or tuners in general). It seems to me that as most over-the-air stations have converted to digital and *gasp* compressed playback formats that fm is surely on its way out for audiophiles, and with the rise of satellite radio will soon be for the general public as well. Are there any FM stations out there that play vinyl anymore?

On a similar note, does nayone have experience with the sound quality of satellite radio? Is there anyw ay to run those satellite receivers through an external DAC? Just curious. Thanks.

rosconey · « **Reply #9 on:** 17 Dec 2004, 05:15 pm »

i have 3 old sansui tuners and they sound wonderful

but a lack of a remote for any of them made me buy a new tuner a month or so ago(jungson)its on a slow boat

beat · « **Reply #10 on:** 17 Dec 2004, 05:37 pm »

Our stations here are kinda weak. There is a good classical station and an indie that is pretty cool but I can hardly pick em up. I just scored an ampex tubed tuner but it is missing the mpx section..I figured it would be fun to mess around with.

doug s. · « **Reply #11 on:** 17 Dec 2004, 05:38 pm »

Quote from: zachslc

Could you give some details about the mac? I don't really know anything about vintage tuners (or tuners in general). It seems to me that as most over-the-air stations have converted to digital and *gasp* compressed playback formats that fm is surely on its way out for audiophiles, and with the rise of satellite radio will soon be for the general public as well. Are there any FM stations out there that play vinyl anymore?

On a similar note, does nayone have experience with the sound quality of satellit ...

the mac is a cool old (40 years) tubed thing that sounds nice, but is extremely insensitive. i chose this one, cuz of the three mac tubed tunas, (65/67/71), this is usually the cheapest, mac tuna guys fight over which one sounds best, &, after mods, they are all supposedly pretty-much equal. and, i happen to find the 65 the nicest looking, but my opinion is definitely in the minority on this point.

but, seriously, you can do better sonically and *far* better sensitivity/selectivity-wise by getting an older solid state tuner. there are lots of them out there. go to fmtunerinfo.com, & just pick one w/the features and/or looks that ya want, at the price ya wanna pay.

to give you an example of sound quality, there's a "shootout" section where jim rivers has actually attempted to rank over 70 tuners. use this as a guide only - this is one guy in a tiny (11x14) room, w/a nice system, but one that is limited in true low-end response - both by his speakers, & the room size.

to give you a few examples of what i'm talking about: i own a pioneer f-91. fantastic sound; great sensitivity. it's 42nd on jim's list. but, he sez about it: "in a bigger room, i might choose it over the kenwood l-02t..." (which is 1st on his list!?!) you really start having to split hairs here - all these tunas will sound nice in the right system, & mods will make them even better - jim's *fave* tuna is a highly modded (~$300 if ya pay someone) kenwood kt-7500, which usually sells stock for $50-$100. and, jim isn't crazy about the revox b261. well, i own the b261, & sold my revox b760, which jim is crazy about, cuz they sounded *identical* in my rig, & i preferred the ergo's of the b261 (tho the 760 looks nicer, imo...) both the 261 & the 760 are great-sounding tunas, imo...

so, unless ya yust *have* to have a retro tube tuna, forget about 'em. unless, ya go nuts, like me, & wanna have several tunas!

also, don't forget the scott tubed guys - lotsa folk love them, but i have no 1st hand experience here...

doug s,

doug s. · « **Reply #12 on:** 17 Dec 2004, 05:42 pm »

Quote from: beat

Our stations here are kinda weak. There is a good classical station and an indie that is pretty cool but I can hardly pick em up. I just scored an ampex tubed tuner but it is missing the mpx section..I figured it would be fun to mess around with.

most tubed tuna are sensitivity/selectivity-challenged. except mebbe the marantz 10b, which is way-overpriced due to its collectability status. and, it's extremely finicky - doesn't stay in alignment, & it's a bear to work on.

if yer ampex doesn't have mpx, that means it's mono, & ya may get a clean sound w/more marginal signal. if yure having signal issues, a rooftop directional antenna w/rotor will offer *far* better improvement in sound than a more sensitive tuner...

doug s.

beat · « **Reply #13 on:** 17 Dec 2004, 05:52 pm »

You gotta check this out,

http://homestarrunner.com/sbemail120.html

Hopefully this ampex doesnt suck..it was cheap though. thanks doug

doug s. · « **Reply #14 on:** 17 Dec 2004, 07:10 pm »

Quote from: beat

You gotta check this out,

http://homestarrunner.com/sbemail120.html

Hopefully this ampex doesnt suck..it was cheap though. thanks doug

that was a riot, beat!

when ya get yer antennae workin', ya can get an fm multiplex decoder that will let the mono tunas run in stereo. at least some of them - check to see if yours has a multiplex output - that's what they're for.

oh, and re: satellite radio, zach, if yure talking about sirius/xm, my experiencee is that it's completely unlistenable. even as background music, i think it sucks - gives me a headache after a half hour or so. a friend of mine has it, & per my suggestion, he got a tubed buffer stage for it, which now means it's more tolerable for background music... dunno about being able to run it thru a dac; that mite help if it could be done...

doug s.

DVV · « **Reply #15 on:** 17 Dec 2004, 07:15 pm »

Quote from: Dan Banquer

I'm just finishing up a rehabilitation of a Yamaha T-80 tuner, circa 1985, which should be the subject of an upcoming article at www.audioholics.com
About the only thing I want to say at the moment is that I never knew that FM radio could be this good.
There are some good stations in my area such as NPR and some of the college stations are respectable.
d.b.

That's because you never owned a Marantz ST6000 tuner.

But seriously, where I live, and that's far, far away from all of you guys, there must be like 55-60 stations on the air. Most are junk, but 4-5 do stick out, of which two stick out for broadcast quality as well as the music.

I have no hesitation is saying that with a reasonable quality, well orientated outdoor antenna, you can have true CD quality sound with maybe just a touch of compression (if you want to be picky about it).

Since that Marantz ST6000 cost me less than $300 new some years back, and since it has no right to play music like that witha price like that, I think I struck the mother lode with it.

FM stereo is something of a forgotten hero of our days, I think. A pity.

Cheers,
DVV

doug s. · « **Reply #16 on:** 17 Dec 2004, 07:21 pm »

Quote from: DVV

That's because you never owned a Marantz ST6000 tuner.

But seriously, where I live, and that's far, far away from all of you guys, there must be like 55-60 stations on the air. Most are junk, but 4-5 do stick out, of which two stick out for broadcast quality as well as the music.

I have no hesitation is saying that with a reasonable quality, well orientated outdoor antenna, you can have true CD quality sound with maybe just a touch of compression (if you want to be picky about it).

Since that ...

dejan, i couldn't agree w/you more, re: sound quality awailable from good fm. of course, when wpfw plays winyl, it sounds better than cd.

when they play old winyl, you can certainly tell, tho, w/the surface noise, etc.

i've heard that the st6000 is a decent tuna, for a modern tuna; i have no 1st-hand experience w/it. but look for a philips 186 (the euro iteration of the 185). you should be able to nab one for <$50 (likely less than $25), & i'd be surprised if ya dint find it a meaningful improvement over yer marantz.

doug s.

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #17 on:** 17 Dec 2004, 08:58 pm »

Obviously I live in a tiny FM market. There's a lot of stations, but little variety. Some college stations don't play mainstream stuff, but that's the minority. In this part of the nation there's a lot of country/western music on the air, although the majority of that's is really just slick twangy pop. The "Q" is the only rock/pop station I can bear; the other "classic rock" stations are fine if you wanna hear "Free Bird" every hour on the hour. I don't.

My main problem with FM, besides the overall lack of diversity, is the staggering amount of advertising. The same damn ads over and over and over. I realize they exist to make money, but I can't stand the 40 minutes music/20 minutes commercials format.

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #18 on:** 17 Dec 2004, 08:59 pm »

BTW, doesn't Clear Channel own half the stations in the US?

doug s. · « **Reply #19 on:** 17 Dec 2004, 08:59 pm »

dejan, this one's for you!

http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=10627&item=3860496130

doug s.