[1ZIP]

Just curious how of many you have a tuner as part of your Bryston set up.  I know FM has taken a back seat to CD's. ipods, streaming etc. and there is a forum someplace that speaks to tuners. But I'm interested in feedback specific to those who have Bryston.  What tuners do you have or would recommend?  I suspect that, as good as Bryston is, adding a vintage tuner like a Sansui 919, Mac MR-78 etc. would sound exceptional.  Just curious.

[Mag]

Just my .02 cents
I don't have a tuner but digital satellite. The sound is good however after listening for awhile it becomes irritable for which I don't consciously have an explanation other than compression. It is more noticeable on TV's with just the sound coming out of tiny speakers. After I become irritable I end up muting the sound and I'm okay again.

[niels]

I used to own several very good tuners, amongst them the worlds best, Tandberg TPT3001A.
Time has however flown past the analog tuner, and my choice now is internet radio via the Logitec Squeezebox. It gives you the whole worlds radio stations, and also the live classical transmisions that used to be so famous.
Digital out from the Squeezebox into a (Bryston) dac is recommended.

[ec]

I have a Magnum Dynalab FT101A that I bought in the late eighties to early 90's.  Unfortunately, it probably has less than 4 hrs of use over the last 6+ years.  Reason why is that is it is in my basement theatre setup (all Bryston amplification with a few exceptions for passive subs and buttkickers).  The last time I used he tuner was when I was doing work in the basement and had it on for background music.   Sadly, I probably use my HT less than 4-5 hrs a month.  I just can't part with this tuner because it is great Canadian made product that looks great.

[kmanusa]

Currently, I own McIntosh MR-78 and MR-71 tuners.  I have also owned Tandberg TPT-3001a, Yamaha T-85, and others in the past.  I have two 4B-STs, BP-25mc, BP-20p, and a 10B crossover in my system.  Soundwise, I think the Tandberg sounded best when tuned to a strong station; the MR-78 is best with weaker signals.  I prefer the build quality of the MR-78 over the Tandberg and that is why I sold it.  Given the current poor state of FM broadcasting around here, I find the sound of the tubed MR-71 most pleasant. 

Personally, I would not invest a lot of money in an analog tuner these days, especially given the price premium placed on products like the Mac tuners.  They do work fine with the Bryston electronics, though.  Another factor to consider-- really good tuners benefit most from the use of a good outdoor antenna mounted high and way from obstacles.

[1ZIP]

I was a little surprised at the cost of some of the vintage tuners.  Audio Classics has a Day Sequerra FM Reference for a mere $3700.00 and a MR 78 in excellent condition for $1700.00.  Both are what, 25-30 yrs. old?  With the Mac, at least in part, it has to be the cold blue lights and the flickering meters and the Day is just a beautiful piece of equipment.  As you say given the state of FM today spending that kind of $$'s doesn't make much sense. 

[kmanusa]

A local dealer once insisted on lending me a Day Sequerra.  It was nice but I could never fugure out why he thought I'd be interested in it. I did not have a good antenna at that time so whatever special abilities it may have had would never have been evident to me.

Agreed the tuner prices are crazy.  In the case of the MR-78, it did have excellent performance and was not just another pretty piece of gleaming hardware.  I bought mine more than 15 years ago in a local repair shop.  It didn't cost me too much but it sure has gone up since then.

[Phil A]

My Bedroom system backs to the basement system and so I have them interconnected through the wall.  I had a Sony 444ES rec'r and a bit over a month ago got a Marantz 6300.  I listen to FM about once every year and half to two years.  I busy filling a USB hard drive with WMA lossless files and I use that to compress stuff for my Zune in the car.  I have a WD media player (have not used it yet) and when I end up with 5,000+ songs in WMA lossless hooked to the main system and looped to other places I don't have much need for a tuner.  I don't even listen much in the car with the Zune and CDs.  I had XM for 3 mos. free when I got the car and didn't even listen for more than a couple of hours.  I can't get that excited about FM with all my other choices.

[doug s.]

Just my .02 cents
I don't have a tuner but digital satellite. The sound is good however after listening for awhile it becomes irritable for which I don't consciously have an explanation other than compression. It is more noticeable on TV's with just the sound coming out of tiny speakers. After I become irritable I end up muting the sound and I'm okay again.

as many know, i am a tuna-holic.     while i don't own bryston gear, i can say that, w/o a doubt, if you have good non-commercial stations in your locale, that play music you like, the sound you can get, w/a quality fm receiver, is fantastic.  easily comparable w/the finest digital and analog playback systems.

my experience w/satellite radio mirrors yours, mag - i find it completely unlistenable, even for a minute, if i actually try to sit in the "sweet spot" and listen.  and, even as background music, i get a headache after a short time.  20-30 minutes is all it takes.

over the past fifteen years, i have owned over 100 tunas; i presently have about forty...     but, i do a lot of fm listening, not yust as background music.  easily 90% of the time my stereo is on, i am listening to fm.  i am fortunate that there's a few local public stations in my area that play music i really like, and the broadcast quality is wery good.

regarding specific tunas, i am quite opinionated about them.  i believe all the mac s/s tunas are extremely over-rated; the two i owned - mr77 and mr74 - are considered by most tuna fans as mac's best sounding tunas ever made.  (even richard modaferri, designer of the mr78, has said a well sorted mr77 will sound better than the mr78; the mr78 excels at dx'ing, not sonics.)  i must say that the mr77/74 easily rank in the bottom five of all the tunas i have owned, sonically speaking.  flat 2-d soundstaging, not the best soundstage width, nor the last word in dynamics and extension.  all in all, a plain boring sound.  the mac tubers do sound wery fine, but they are still exceeded by several much less expensive tunas, both tube & s/s, so they are not wery cost effective.  as for the m-d tunas, the are also extremely over-rated, imo.  their most expensive tunas are decent, but way over-priced, equaled or surpassed, imo, by many $200-$800 wintage tunas.  the ft101a i used for six months was down at the bottom of the list, along w/the macs, sonically.  the tandberg 3001a, (i owned two, one completely refurb'd, and upgraded w/better p/s caps), was a nice sound, for sure, but equaled sonically by many, (a couple you can get for <$100), surpassed by many more, and extremely unreliable.

the fmtunerinfo.com site and its sister yahoo tuna forum site are a wealth of info for those wanting to delve into fm sound.  which i highly recommend, of course!   

some links:
http://fmtunerinfo.com/
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/FMtuners/
http://www.radio-locator.com/

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

[1ZIP]

Phil;

...to each his own!  It's another interesting aspect of audio where there was an enormous amount of science and engineering
that went into the development of electronics that could snatch a signal out of an all to uncooperative atmosphere and produce some very nice sound.  Even with all the technological advancements I'm still impressed and marvel at the technology that was the precursor to the choices that are now enjoyed.

[smerlas]

I am running a ROTEL HD Tuner which is a couple of years old.  My system is on continuously.  I mute the system before going to sleep at night and unmute in the morning when getting ready for work. During the day even when I am at work the stereo is on and the tuner playing.  In the evening when I am winding down is when I fire up the BCD1.

The HD in the tuner does make a difference, you can hear when the HD signal drops and the regular signal takes over.  Which by the way coincides with large snow events during the winter, signals seam better during the summer months, atmospheric effect on the signal I think.  The ROTEL has the ability to connect satellite but that has had no appeal to me.

And having the artist and song title scroll across the display is handy, I find myself wanting that option when listing in the car or at the office.

[kmanusa]

Debating and comparing the merits of various FM tuners can be fun.  But unless you have some decent signals to listen to (most FM stations around here use heavy compression and there is a limited range of musical choices even on "public" stations), and a good antenna to connect up to, you won't be getting anywhere near the performance the radios are capable of.

There are some more distant stations I'd like to listen to but to get a decent signal I would have to put up a rotatable yagi antenna on a mast/tower so that I can receive these stations adequately.  Trying to listen to them with an attic-mounted antenna pointed in the wrong direction is an exercise in futility.  So, I have a choice between getting good reception of compressed, junk music or poor reception of a (very) few good stations.  Any of my tuners is way overkill for this setup...your mileage may vary of course!

[doug s.]

Debating and comparing the merits of various FM tuners can be fun.  But unless you have some decent signals to listen to (most FM stations around here use heavy compression and there is a limited range of musical choices even on "public" stations), and a good antenna to connect up to, you won't be getting anywhere near the performance the radios are capable of.

There are some more distant stations I'd like to listen to but to get a decent signal I would have to put up a rotatable yagi antenna on a mast/tower so that I can receive these stations adequately.  Trying to listen to them with an attic-mounted antenna pointed in the wrong direction is an exercise in futility.  So, I have a choice between getting good reception of compressed, junk music or poor reception of a (very) few good stations.  Any of my tuners is way overkill for this setup...your mileage may vary of course!

agreed - in many instances, a mast-mounted rotatable yagi on the roof or a tower, is a necessity to get decent reception.  and, even if not a necessity,  it can prowide better reception than other alternatives.  if you have even a few good stations, tho, it's highly recommended, imo.  in my case, i listen pretty-much to only three stations, but between them, i get excellent music - classical, jazz, latin, world, folk, electronica.  i used to get good new alternative/progressive rock, but i can no longer receive that tiny college station since i moved a few years back...

ymmv,

Doug s

[Fernar]

I am using a old Audiolab 8000T (from many yeas ago) - at the time it was supposed to be one of the best tuners around... I still use this for FM... I did try a Denon DAB tuner (TU 1800) some time ago - I was looking to not only get access to DAB, but also the abillity to have a remote control.... but the Denon didnt give a good FM performance vs the Audiolab, and DAB sounded awful - (mainly due to the high compression used in DAB - 128 bits does not sound good through a high performance hi-fi system..!) so now I get access to FM via the Audiolab, digital radio via my Sky+ (better than 128 bit DAB) and internet radio via a Hifidelio - for background music (this was originally purchased so that I could have a music server attached to my hi-fi - but it also gave access to internet radio).

I hear that Arcam now have a DAB tuner that is 'future proof' - apparently it can be upgraded to take into account DAB+ and the better more efficient decoders.. will be interesting to try it out sometime

[denjo]

I am using a old Audiolab 8000T (from many yeas ago) - at the time it was supposed to be one of the best tuners around... I still use this for FM... 

The Audiolab 8000T is still one of the best tuners around! I am using my trusty Audiolab 8000T as well and while many pieces of equipment have come and go, the 8000T is still around!

[ashtarul]

I have a Quad FM4. Decent sound for little money.

[doug s.]

I am using a old Audiolab 8000T (from many yeas ago) - at the time it was supposed to be one of the best tuners around... I still use this for FM... 

The Audiolab 8000T is still one of the best tuners around! I am using my trusty Audiolab 8000T as well and while many pieces of equipment have come and go, the 8000T is still around!

yes, i second this - i owned one; its performance was about as good as it gets...  some folks have had reliability issues; mine worked perfectly...

doug s.

[kmanusa]

agreed - in many instances, a mast-mounted rotatable yagi on the roof or a tower, is a necessity to get decent reception.  and, even if not a necessity,  it can prowide better reception than other alternatives.  if you have even a few good stations, tho, it's highly recommended, imo.  in my case, i listen pretty-much to only three stations, but between them, i get excellent music - classical, jazz, latin, world, folk, electronica.  i used to get good new alternative/progressive rock, but i can no longer receive that tiny college station since i moved a few years back...

ymmv,

Doug s

Hey Doug, can you lend me a couple of stations?? I promise I'll only listen to them when you are not! 

Seriously, I don't mean to hijack the thread but were you happy with the refurb of your Tandberg TPT-3001a?  I had mine refurbed and while I was happy with the work, the cost was high.

[doug s.]

agreed - in many instances, a mast-mounted rotatable yagi on the roof or a tower, is a necessity to get decent reception.  and, even if not a necessity,  it can prowide better reception than other alternatives.  if you have even a few good stations, tho, it's highly recommended, imo.  in my case, i listen pretty-much to only three stations, but between them, i get excellent music - classical, jazz, latin, world, folk, electronica.  i used to get good new alternative/progressive rock, but i can no longer receive that tiny college station since i moved a few years back...

ymmv,

Doug s

Hey Doug, can you lend me a couple of stations?? I promise I'll only listen to them when you are not! 

Seriously, I don't mean to hijack the thread but were you happy with the refurb of your Tandberg TPT-3001a?  I had mine refurbed and while I was happy with the work, the cost was high.

you can listen to my stations anytime, even when i am listening, that's the beauty of fm! 

re: tpt3001a, heinz preiss did mine; i think he's retired now.  i was fine w/the way it turned out.  i know some folks (like soundsmith) charge a ton for refurb.  heinz was quite reasonable, i thinkit cost me something like $250...  personally, i do not think it's worth it, since even something like a jvc fx1100bk or a hitachi ft8000 both go toe-to-toe performance wise w/the tandberg, and likely won't need anything other than a touch-up alignment.  and both can be found for $100, give or take...  i sold both my 3001a's, can't say i really miss them.

ymmv,

doug s.

[Phil A]

I've owned tuners in the past that I really liked.  That was before CD though.  That's when I had a turntable and probably only 40 good albums (e.g. MoFis) as the rest of my albums were beat up from being played on lousy equipment.  I used to listen more prior to the early 1980s.  I actually had a separate huge FM only antenna at one point.  I lived halfway between NY and Philly at that point and was able to pull in many quality stations.  The way most stations broadcast (let alone what they play), I don't even have a handful in my area I would consider worthy of listening to if I have a good tuner.  I do look on Audiogon now and then for tuners or other stuff.  I probably have listened to about five hours of radio over the past dozen years.  At the rate I buy discs (CDs, SACD, DVD-As, DVD-Vs, Blu-Rays), it is probably only a couple of times a year at best when I'm caught up and have nothing to listen to.  With the internet available too now, it's hard for me to imagine being seriously interested in a tuner.  I have a USB hard drive I'm filling with WMA lossless files (and I compress them for the Zune for the car) and when I'm finished and they are available to play in my system with my WD Media Player I can't imagine wanting to not hear better quality audio of my choice vs. random stuff (much of which I don't own since it doesn't interest me) of lower quality via a tuner.  I understand why some people like them.  When I listened I had decent quality tuners and if higher fidelity stuff hadn't come along I'd be all over finding and getting a good tuner.