[3moons]

Greetings Free Music lovers. The latest FM Tuner review is up on the Tuner Information Center. This is the first tuner reviewed for 2005 and the 77th one so far. This time we throw a Mitsubishi DA-F 20 in the ring. Enjoy. jim...

http://www.fmtunerinfo.com/shootouts.html#DA-F20

[warnerwh]

Jim: Thank you, it's appreciated.

[3moons]

Hi Warner, You are welcome. How are things up there? Are you still listening to the Kenwood tuner? Also, unless my memory fails, didn't you post about a good classical station you listen too? I remember someone posting of a one that can be accessed from the web. Thanks jim...

[woodsyi]

Hello gentlemen,

I seem to be going retro with all the tubed gears and now a tuner.  I just bought a KT8300 in "mint" condition on E-bay.  The final price is a little higher then average per TIC but seemed fair for a really mint unit.  Should I send this unit to APS to be modded? Does anybody at AC mod tuners? I heard good things about the stock unit, but I am concerned about the state of caps after ~30 years.  I can do some macro DIY stuff but I am not good with tiny things.  Washington DC has some good classical stations and I want to get in on free, quality music!

[3moons]

You could email Ed at APS and see if he is doing mods at this time. Also highly recommended is Bill Ammons. The KT-8300 has odd 4 legged ceramic filters and you have to "build" new ones from good three legged ones. The 8300 is a little more tedious than many others I've modified. There are two op-amps that require changing also. I don't want to do another one. There are two sitting in my garage that I have been avoiding 8:-) Good luck with your tuner and your Free Music. jim...

[woodsyi]

Jim,

Thanks for the information.  I have e-mailed Ed.

[warnerwh]

Jim: Actually it's a local jazz station that I listen to, quality is truly excellent from them.  And yes I still listen to the modded 7500, it doesn't get any better than this.  I recently bought a Denon TU 800 for 50 bucks just to sell. Anyway after trying it in my system to see how it compared to the Kenwood you modded for me I couldn't get it out fast enough.  About that tube output stage.....

[woodsyi]

Jim,

I have communicated with Ed and he is still doing the mod on kt8300.  I am shipping it to him to have his mod package plus the IEC and RCA upgrade.  Thanks again for the information.

Warner,

I hope my modded kt8300 sounds as good as your kt7500.  If radio sounds as good as my TT, I can stop buying records.

[warnerwh]

woodsyi:  I am often surprised at the sound quality. I can here the little clicks and pops on albums and dynamics are great. This is listening to a public broadcast jazz station that doesn't mess with the signal. There's also a classical station here that broadcasts high quality and although I rarely listen to it often times I can easily hear someone coughing in the background.  Be sure to get yourself a decent antenna, preferably outdoor and you may end up like me listening to FM as your most often used source.  Quality that rivals many cd's is possible although not the higher quality cd's. And a record sounds like a record.  I had no idea FM could be so good.  
On a sidenote I once asked Jim how my modded Kt7500 compared to the super duper Accuphase in the shootouts which currently ranks above number 1.  He said the Accuphase is good but it's not that good.  

[doug s.]

Jim,

I have communicated with Ed and he is still doing the mod on kt8300.  I am shipping it to him to have his mod package plus the IEC and RCA upgrade.  Thanks again for the information.

Warner,

I hope my modded kt8300 sounds as good as your kt7500.  If radio sounds as good as my TT, I can stop buying records.

this is a great tuna to get modded.  i had a kt-9900 (bronze-faced iteration of the kt-8300), & its sound stock was really quite mediocre.  but, it will respond well to mods.  i recently purchased a bill ammons modded kt-7550 (bronze-faced iteration of the kt-7500), which isn't as good stock as the 8300,  & it's a fantastic sounding tuna after mods.

if you haven't sent yer tuna out yet, i strongly recommend sending it to bill ammons instead of ed.  not that ed won't do a good yob, but you will get much more thorough info from bill about what he's doing, you will get day-to-day updates w/measurements, etc, & you will also likely save at least $100 or so.

regards,

doug s.

ps - wait 'til ya hear wpfw on that tuna, after it's modded!  

[doug s.]

Greetings Free Music lovers. The latest FM Tuner review is up on the Tuner Information Center. This is the first tuner reviewed for 2005 and the 77th one so far. This time we throw a Mitsubishi DA-F 20 in the ring. Enjoy. jim...

http://www.fmtunerinfo.com/shootouts.html#DA-F20

thanks jim, for your shootouts!  

and, i can vouch for the sonics of this one - i own a stock da-f20, & it *is* a fantastic sounding tuna, as well as wery quiet & snesitive.  i am seriously considering sending mine out to bill ammons for mods.

doug s.

[woodsyi]

Doug,

Thanks for your strong recommendation on Bill.  After communicating with Bill, I think I will go with Bill and send my regrets to Ed at APS, who was very cordial and informative.  Bill, however, knows the DC area and more importantly, he is familiar with local stations.  From my musical preference and his knowledge of the area, he knew how to configure the narrow LF for optimal setting.  It also helps that he charges considerably less.  

[doug s.]

Doug,

Thanks for your strong recommendation on Bill.  After communicating with Bill, I think I will go with Bill and send my regrets to Ed at APS, who was very cordial and informative.  Bill, however, knows the DC area and more importantly, he is familiar with local stations.  From my musical preference and his knowledge of the area, he knew how to configure the narrow LF for optimal setting.  It also helps that he charges considerably less.  

hi woodsyi,

yes, bill knows dc - we have spoken about a coupla the stations in this area.  ed & i have unfortunately had a few tussles over at the yahoo fmtuner forum.  i had one of his aps-14 antennae that was unfortunately damaged.  (the aps-14 was a more-expensive-to-mfr wersion of his present aps-13 offering.)   at the time it happened, i was in kinda a financial bind, so i asked ed if he could cut me a price break on another antenna, as i was a repeat customer.  when he said "no", i was not at all surprised or upset, as i know he runs a small specialty biz, but i still had to go elsewhere, due to price.  when i found that the 1/3-the-price winegard hd6065 offered the same performance in my fringe-reception, blocked-by-catoctin-ridge location, he started to get on my case when i started recommending this antenna on the yahoo forum.  for the longest time, i tried to keep things civil, even sending him a broken mitsu da-f20 for him to fix & mod.  (three months later, he sent it back, saying he couldn't repair it; & the subsequent buyer was able to get it repaired, fwiw.)  but, re: my experiences w/the mitsu, and conwersations w/him about an accuphase t101 i was considering getting modded, he was so secretive about what he was gonna do to the tunas, i was kinda put-off about it.  he even accused me of trying to get info from him so i could rip off his knowledge & diy!?!  

it became clear that i was dealing w/someone w/serious issues, & i yust stopped bothering.  if i did wanna diy, i could easily get support from any number of rf professionals & serious amatuers on the yahoo forum - bill ammons included.  i certainly was not looking to rip ed off, i was yust trying to compare what stuff he did that may or may not have been different from some of the other modders.  and, i was specifically interested in the accuphase t101, cuz , w/this tuna ed does not replace any caps/resistors, etc, that he typically replaces in his other tuna mods.  i yust wanted to know what was special or different about the accuphase.  the responses i got were kinda psychotic....

in any event, i am sure bill ammons will provide you w/stellar service & workmanship!  

regards,

doug s.

oh yeah, saving a few dollars will also be nice, eh?  

[randog]

Doug, he did this to you *after* my run-in with him?

When I was looking for a vintage tuner for the first time, Doug told me about Ed. I went to his website and asked about one of his modded tuners for sale. I asked what mods he did to it. I was expecting a fairly basic answer as I'm a greenhorn WRT modding anyway (never done it, prolly never will). What I didn't expect to get is a cc from him of a copy of my email to a group of people (not the Yahoo group 'cause I was on it) with a paragraph from him asking the others what he should do with a guy pretending to be interested in one of his tuners and wanting instead to steal his proprietary mod information. To be fair, I don't know whether he truly sent this email to others or if he was trying to bait me with it. Either way, it worked...

I blew a fuse but kept it cordial and had a handful of emails with him insisting he got it wrong, but he never conceded. I finally gave up, told Doug what happened and Doug emailed him to set him straight. He STILL never conceded insisting I was trying to rip him off!

The whole time he was extremely rude and called me all sorts of cute little insults. If it was a face to face, the other half of me couldn't have stopped the italian half of me from being right back in his face. Fortunately, I've learned a lot of netiquette in the last 12 years and try not to get sucked into anything too deep over a wire. To this day I can't believe that exchange and I will never buy anything from him... ever.

On the other hand I kind of chuckle about it because he sounds like an old italian codger himself and I envision him to be like my grandfather was: relentless in the passionate pursuit of misguided righteousness.  That's a fancy way to say stubborn old bastard.

So Doug, how did you let the same damn thing happen to you after it happened to me???

Randog

[doug s.]

Doug, he did this to you *after* my run-in with him?

When I was looking for a vintage tuner for the first time, Doug told me about Ed. I went to his website and asked about one of his modded tuners for sale. I asked what mods he did to it. I was expecting a fairly basic answer as I'm a greenhorn WRT modding anyway (never done it, prolly never will). What I didn't expect to get is a cc from him of a copy of my email to a group of people (not the Yahoo group 'cause I was on it) with a paragraph from him as ...

randy, iirc, you had your issues w/ed right about the same time *i* did.    i remember this incident, & the fact that i emailed ed to try to set him straight as to your intentions.  this was my first inkling that ed has "issues"...  my issues w/him started about the same time.  as you can see from this thread, i would never steer anyone to him now.  

regards,

doug s.

[woodsyi]

Hey doug,

I guess I was an unwitting beneficiary of your trevails.  I some times "waste" my time on this board, but this certainly makes a strong case for continuing to"lurk" around here.  I will post how it goes with Bill and thanks again.