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Any owners of a McIntosh MX-118 find the tuner section noisy when listening to FM stereo broadcasts? The tuner is quiet when switching to mono. I think its because of the unit's sensitivity to HD radio self noise and not some malfunction.
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If you can identify the problem stations, other users may be able to say whether HD Radio (IBOC) interference causes them trouble also. Even on tuners very susceptible to IBOC noise, not every station will have it. Please see also the related thread on Audiokarma. I had an MX-130 that was susceptible to IBOC on KBAQ (Phoenix) but quiet on its sister station with less power. See also hdradio.com to see whether your broadcasters are using it. Good luck!
The noise does seem to be on all stereo stations. Perhaps there is an alignment issue.
The MX-118 and the MX-130 both use that coil L108 and sometimes they need tweaking or the discriminator needs to be touched up a bit..Your noise is coming thru the multiplex and if the 19kc is off a hair,that will cause that noise as well..Try a better antenna first but if you still have issues,it needs an alignment.
Honest amplification is better than excessive 2nd order distortion anytime.
Stereo FM will tend to be noisier if the signal is weak or your RF section isn't quite up to the task. (The latter will not be the case for your tuner.) The solution is to upgrade your antenna. Nothing beats a roof-mounted yagi with a rotor, and the installation is pretty easy as long as you pay attention to proper grounding, and you know how to affix something to your roof without causing leaks.
Next best if you are in a house is a yagi in the attic, again with a rotor.
If those aren't possible, then start playing with a folded dipole or rabbit ears. Also check with your cable company to see if they have an FM feed.
Use a preamp in the antenna feed line only if that line is long - adding a preamp does nothing to help with short feeds, and can actually make things worse. And if you have a long feed, get the coax with the lowest loss/length in the FM band that you can live with. (The lowest loss cables tend to be thicker and stiffer, so are harder to install.)
If there is a very strong station close to you, it can overwhelm stations you want, especially adjacent channels... but it can also cause problems with stations elsewhere on the dial, as it might appear to "echo" up the FM band. If that's the case, put a notch filter in the feed line to suppress the offender. Chris Scott cab make you one, and he does fine work.
If you are handy, there are lots of plans online for DIY antennas that duplicate some of the no-longer-made greats, like the Finco FM5.
Check the yahoo fmtuners group - they are largely into DXing, so getting the most out of antennas is their thing.
WW
"A man need merely light the filaments of his receiving set and the world's greatest artists will perform for him." Alfred N. Goldsmith, RCA, 1922
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