[Robert D]

If Bryston puts out a Tuner
With there Name On It BRYSTON 

You Wannnnaaa Bet How many I can unload !

1 here Sold 17" black 


Visa 6153XXXXXXXXXXXX 

Robert

 

[Robert D]

I don?t even mention my Nad Tuner in my Description of my products

Robert

[doug s.]

Are tuners still popular

I absolutely and thoroughly enjoy FM radio.  It is where I first heard a majority of the titles I have accumulated over the years.  Since I installed my 7's and BP26 in June 80% of my listening has been to the two stations nearby that play classical and jazz. Right now I am seriously considering plunking down $3,500.00 for the Magnum Dynalab MB102T (T is for triode output stage).  Even on my garden variety 20 year old Adcom GFT 555 I swear the sound is near CD quality if not better than many CD's on these two stations.  Plus, if I'm too lazy to go through the thought process to choose a CD to listen to I just turn the selector knob on the BP26 to tuner.  There are many weekly and nightly shows that offer a variety of music and commentary to listen to.  I will spend this money at the expense of replacing my turntable and make the tuner and SACD player my two primary sources.  I will also buy high quality balanced interconnects and a new antenna for the tuner as well.

I think this is at least the third time a thread has popped up regarding this subject in the past year so I would say FM radio has some degree of popularity out there.

easily 90% of my listening is to fm.  i am blessed with 4 non-commercial stations in my area that play music i like with a quality signal.  if you have never heard a quality tuna broadcasting a good signal, you don't know what you are missing. 

i am a "tuna-holic"; i presently own >40 tunas, and have listened to & sold over 60 more, over the past ten years.  i strongly suggest awoiding any m-d tunas - extremely over-priced for the sound quality, imo.  there are literally dozens of wintage tunas you can buy for <$500, (sometimes a lot less), that will outperform the md108, let alone the md102.  even the sony xdr f1hd when modded, will likely outperform it.  i own a stock xdr f1hd, and it's easily the best at quieting a noisy signal of any tuna i have ever heard.  its sonics come up a bit short compared to the best, tho it is improved a lot when run thru a tube buffer stage.  i am seriously considering sending one to mike williams for mods; he is a well respected fm modder, (he's done a couple for me), and if he says its sound is up w/the best after his mods, i believe him.  i am especially interested in the mod to force it into analog reception on hd stations - analog sounds better than hd.

http://radioxtuners.com/Sony%20XDR-F1HD.htm

if i were going to inwest in a new hi-dollar tuna, i would be looking at the accuphase t1000; word from those who have tried it is that it sounds noticeably better than whatever is second-best, when run thru its digital out into a quality dac.  it's not much more money than the md102t.  for everything you wanted to know about tuna but were afraid to ask, check out the tuner information center (tic) and its related yahoo forum:

http://fmtunerinfo.com/
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/FMtuners/

not meaning to spam this thread, but i have a few tunas i would be willing to sell presently, of warying prices and quality - pm me if interested. (1zip is correct about the sansui tu517/717 - even stock, i'd put it up against the md102t.  and yes, i have one f/s.    )

doug s.

[doug s.]

I don?t even mention my Nad Tuner in my Description of my products

Robert

my nad 4300 is one of those <$100 tunas that will go toe-to-toe w/the more expensive m-d offerings.   

doug s.

[1ZIP]

Doug S.:

I paid $200 for my 717 and it was in near mint condition.  I shipped it back to Mike and he did a full upgrade and mod(s). for less then 5 bills.  It took about a 100 hours for the new caps to burn in
but the performance is astounding.

I would highly recommend Mike at Radio X for any tuner work.  Excellent work and a great guy to work with!

[Toka]

I would love to see a well-designed tuner in this day and age. The Sony unit is nice and with some mods can be really good, but can still be better. McIntosh just released a deluxe tuner, so its not without precedent.

[doug s.]

I would love to see a well-designed tuner in this day and age. The Sony unit is nice and with some mods can be really good, but can still be better. McIntosh just released a deluxe tuner, so its not without precedent.

i would be surprised if the mac tuna sounds better than the sony.  the accuphase t1000 is the tuna to get, if you want modern.  the roksan caspian is also wery nice, but, due to exchange rates, it's now ~$2.3k; again wintage will do better for less.  at $1250, it wasn't too over-priced...

doug s.

[alexone]

...i like the "tuna" - "tuner" wordgames!


al.

[95Dyna]

Are tuners still popular

I absolutely and thoroughly enjoy FM radio.  It is where I first heard a majority of the titles I have accumulated over the years.  Since I installed my 7's and BP26 in June 80% of my listening has been to the two stations nearby that play classical and jazz. Right now I am seriously considering plunking down $3,500.00 for the Magnum Dynalab MB102T (T is for triode output stage).  Even on my garden variety 20 year old Adcom GFT 555 I swear the sound is near CD quality if not better than many CD's on these two stations.  Plus, if I'm too lazy to go through the thought process to choose a CD to listen to I just turn the selector knob on the BP26 to tuner.  There are many weekly and nightly shows that offer a variety of music and commentary to listen to.  I will spend this money at the expense of replacing my turntable and make the tuner and SACD player my two primary sources.  I will also buy high quality balanced interconnects and a new antenna for the tuner as well.

I think this is at least the third time a thread has popped up regarding this subject in the past year so I would say FM radio has some degree of popularity out there.

easily 90% of my listening is to fm.  i am blessed with 4 non-commercial stations in my area that play music i like with a quality signal.  if you have never heard a quality tuna broadcasting a good signal, you don't know what you are missing. 

i am a "tuna-holic"; i presently own >40 tunas, and have listened to & sold over 60 more, over the past ten years.  i strongly suggest awoiding any m-d tunas - extremely over-priced for the sound quality, imo.  there are literally dozens of wintage tunas you can buy for <$500, (sometimes a lot less), that will outperform the md108, let alone the md102.  even the sony xdr f1hd when modded, will likely outperform it.  i own a stock xdr f1hd, and it's easily the best at quieting a noisy signal of any tuna i have ever heard.  its sonics come up a bit short compared to the best, tho it is improved a lot when run thru a tube buffer stage.  i am seriously considering sending one to mike williams for mods; he is a well respected fm modder, (he's done a couple for me), and if he says its sound is up w/the best after his mods, i believe him.  i am especially interested in the mod to force it into analog reception on hd stations - analog sounds better than hd.

http://radioxtuners.com/Sony%20XDR-F1HD.htm

if i were going to inwest in a new hi-dollar tuna, i would be looking at the accuphase t1000; word from those who have tried it is that it sounds noticeably better than whatever is second-best, when run thru its digital out into a quality dac.  it's not much more money than the md102t.  for everything you wanted to know about tuna but were afraid to ask, check out the tuner information center (tic) and its related yahoo forum:

http://fmtunerinfo.com/
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/FMtuners/

not meaning to spam this thread, but i have a few tunas i would be willing to sell presently, of warying prices and quality - pm me if interested. (1zip is correct about the sansui tu517/717 - even stock, i'd put it up against the md102t.  and yes, i have one f/s.    )

doug s.

Thanks for the info and opinions, Doug.  I have a price quote for a new MD102T with S250 antenna for $3,075.00 US.  If I'm not mistaken that's almost half the price of a new Accuphase T1000 so it certainly should be better for the price.  Is it the value proposition that causes you to not prefer MD or is it a performance issue?  I'm open minded about this and just want to understand.  Like anything else I have a hard time believing something that cost $100.00 is better than something costing $3K made by a very reputable manufacturer.

Regards,

Bill

[doug s.]

Thanks for the info and opinions, Doug.  I have a price quote for a new MD102T with S250 antenna for $3,075.00 US.  If I'm not mistaken that's almost half the price of a new Accuphase T1000 so it certainly should be better for the price.  Is it the value proposition that causes you to not prefer MD or is it a performance issue?  I'm open minded about this and just want to understand.  Like anything else I have a hard time believing something that cost $100.00 is better than something costing $3K made by a very reputable manufacturer.

Regards,

Bill

bill,

i thought the accuphase t1000 retailed at $4500, and could be had a bit less.  prices may have gone up.

my only personal direct experience w/m-d tunas has been w/the ft101a; i had one for ~6 months.  it was ok; about like my adcom gft-1a.  i'd rank them both about 10th from the bottom of all the tuna i have sampled.  while i haven't sampled the better m-d stuff, i trust those who have, based upon their ewaluations of tuna i am familiar with.  and, even if cost were not a factor, i wouldn't recommend the m-d tunas.

tho i haven't heard anyone discuss the new $9k md109; i'd take 1zip's modded sansui tu717 over any other md offering, md108 included.  and, if i could afford the md109, i would get the accuphase instead, based on my experience w/the three accuphase tunas i have bought & sold, and based upon what the tuna guys say about the m-d's.  and yes - my experience w/my $100 sony xdr f1hd plus ase z-man tube buffer leads me to believe that this, plus ~$200 worth of mods from mike williams will sound at least as good, if not better than the md102t.

and, is the s250 that whip-style antenna, formerly known as the st-2?  if so, any cheap $5 standard wire dipole will outperform it in 99% of applications.  this, i do have first-hand experience with, as well as many others...

on the tic website, jim rivers did a shootout of almost 100 tunas.  the md108 didn't do too badly - about 19th or 20th iirc.  but, it's kinda spendy for that ranking, imo...  while this "shootout" list is certainly not to be taken at gospel; it's a good starting point, and gives you an example of quite a few wintage relatively affordable tunas that many folks find to be outstanding - not only jim rivers.

my best adwice i could offer you is to try yourself.  but, do not buy new, especially something like the spendy m-d 102t!!!  wait for a used one, if you must try it.  that way, you won't take a bath if (when?) you want to sell.  imo, m-d makes a lot of money selling tuna to unsuspecting fm newbies, who mebbe have a lot of "auduiophile" experience, read the commercial rags, want good sound, and have been taken in by m-d's marketing, and by rewiews of folks that aren't really big fm fans...

ymmv,

doug s.

[Phil A]

Are tuners still popular

I absolutely and thoroughly enjoy FM radio.  It is where I first heard a majority of the titles I have accumulated over the years.  Since I installed my 7's and BP26 in June 80% of my listening has been to the two stations nearby that play classical and jazz. Right now I am seriously considering plunking down $3,500.00 for the Magnum Dynalab MB102T (T is for triode output stage).  Even on my garden variety 20 year old Adcom GFT 555 I swear the sound is near CD quality if not better than many CD's on these two stations.  Plus, if I'm too lazy to go through the thought process to choose a CD to listen to I just turn the selector knob on the BP26 to tuner.  There are many weekly and nightly shows that offer a variety of music and commentary to listen to.  I will spend this money at the expense of replacing my turntable and make the tuner and SACD player my two primary sources.  I will also buy high quality balanced interconnects and a new antenna for the tuner as well.

I think this is at least the third time a thread has popped up regarding this subject in the past year so I would say FM radio has some degree of popularity out there.

easily 90% of my listening is to fm.  i am blessed with 4 non-commercial stations in my area that play music i like with a quality signal.  if you have never heard a quality tuna broadcasting a good signal, you don't know what you are missing. 

i am a "tuna-holic"; i presently own >40 tunas, and have listened to & sold over 60 more, over the past ten years.  i strongly suggest awoiding any m-d tunas - extremely over-priced for the sound quality, imo.  there are literally dozens of wintage tunas you can buy for <$500, (sometimes a lot less), that will outperform the md108, let alone the md102.  even the sony xdr f1hd when modded, will likely outperform it.  i own a stock xdr f1hd, and it's easily the best at quieting a noisy signal of any tuna i have ever heard.  its sonics come up a bit short compared to the best, tho it is improved a lot when run thru a tube buffer stage.  i am seriously considering sending one to mike williams for mods; he is a well respected fm modder, (he's done a couple for me), and if he says its sound is up w/the best after his mods, i believe him.  i am especially interested in the mod to force it into analog reception on hd stations - analog sounds better than hd.

http://radioxtuners.com/Sony%20XDR-F1HD.htm

if i were going to inwest in a new hi-dollar tuna, i would be looking at the accuphase t1000; word from those who have tried it is that it sounds noticeably better than whatever is second-best, when run thru its digital out into a quality dac.  it's not much more money than the md102t.  for everything you wanted to know about tuna but were afraid to ask, check out the tuner information center (tic) and its related yahoo forum:

http://fmtunerinfo.com/
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/FMtuners/

not meaning to spam this thread, but i have a few tunas i would be willing to sell presently, of warying prices and quality - pm me if interested. (1zip is correct about the sansui tu517/717 - even stock, i'd put it up against the md102t.  and yes, i have one f/s.    )

doug s.

I have a TU717 which has been modded and I had a stock one too at the same time.  Didn't go nuts with the mod (about $400) and it sounds very good.

[doug s.]

...i like the "tuna" - "tuner" wordgames!


al.

it started for me when i first read, years ago, about sumo's tuna offering "charlie".   

doug s.

[srb]

it started for me when i first read, years ago, about sumo's tuna offering "charlie".

When and where did the substitution of the letter "w" for "v" and "y" for "j" start?  Or was that when those letters on your keyboard went south?   
 
Steve

[doug s.]

it started for me when i first read, years ago, about sumo's tuna offering "charlie".

When and where did the substitution of the letter "w" for "v" and "y" for "j" start?  Or was that when those letters on your keyboard went south?   
 
Steve

that started for me when i shared a house w/three turkish guys.  that's how they talked.  the only time i ever heard them say "v" vas ven a vord begain w/a "w".   

doug s.

[doug s.]

bill, this one's for you:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270479765208


a thing of beauty, for sure - i have always loved the look of these tunas, even tho the performance is lacking for the price, imo.  this one is s/s, but you can add the tube stage from m-d and still save some serious money.  or yust get an outboard tube buffer stage, and save even more.  while still way overpriced for its performance, imo, at least you can re-sell w/o losing a bundle.

doug s.

ps - if you are really wanting to spend $3k, pm me - i have something that, tho not the best walue, imo, at least will be worth it, performance-wise.   

[vegasdave]

I still wanna see a Bryston turntable!

I think that more and more people are starting to look at turntables again.....

Yep.

[1ZIP]

Tuner competition:

McIntosh MR-88  AM/FM/XM/HD  $4000.00 - Released Spring of this year

http://www.mcintoshlabs.com/products/1333.asp

[doug s.]

Tuner competition:

McIntosh MR-88  AM/FM/XM/HD  $4000.00 - Released Spring of this year

http://www.mcintoshlabs.com/products/1333.asp

the last nice sounding tuna mac made was the mr71.  and, the sherwood s3000ll/lll/iv/v series tunas sound better than that one...

doug s.

[James Tanner]

Hey guys,

I am not a critical tuna listener but I have been listening to my cable feed on our BDA-1 DAC - signal is a 48k/16Bit PCM feed.

How would you compare the quality turners of old and today to the internet and cable box offerings?

james

[1ZIP]

doug s.:

You may be right, but I'm going to try and audition the new 88 in home against my 717 and see what happens.  I've gotten the bug lately on anything MAC....must be the blue lights and meters.  I'm easily amused

James:

Overall that might be a difficult comparison to make.  The audio quality of any source is of primary importance but, at least for me, when I turn on the tuner the last vestiges of the little kid left in me continues to be amazed by a box that pulls music and voices out of the thin air.  Some of us never grow up!  The comparative audio?  The sound coming out of a tuner just seems to be more alive, immediate and personal.  Go figure!