|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
71.37.197.153
Can anyone suggest a high value say $100-200 dollar range FM tuner?
By high value I mean beat sounding for this price point. Thanks to all that respond......
Follow Ups:
try a yamaha tx-950 around $100 on ebay
I owned a lot of tuners. A Fisher FM-100B or KM-60 tube type tuner can be found for $200. The Fisher multiplexer is great too.If SS is your desire, a Kenwood KT-990D has some of that Fisher magic.
Edits: 08/23/14
Great tuner at a good price used, Should be in your budget.
For that money if interested in tubes go for a Sherwood S3000III, IV or, V and have it gone through. Total bill can be in the upper end of your range. If ss, look for a Sherwood S3000 either the All-Silicon or FET versions. There is a FET/Microcircuit version, the last international but while it seems they are hardy, finding a replacement Microcircuit if needed likely will be nearly impossible as the design seemed both short lived and not widely used.
Don Brian Levy, J.D.
Toronto ON Canada
I bought this on a whim on eBay for about $80 and it sounds much better than a Sony ST-S730ES or Magnum-Dynalab MD-90. Plus it has remote. The Marantz is a very good sounding tuner!
Happy listening.
Regards,
JerryS
HI AudioSoul,
Here a a few choices which meet your criteria, are tolerant of HD noise and in your price range.
Marantz ST 6000
Marantz ST 17U
Denon TU 767
Denon TU 800
Kenwood KT 990D
Sony J75
Rotel 990BX
Sansui TU X701
All of these provide good bang for the buck, and are readily available, except for the Sansui which is tougher to find.
Good luck, have fun.
HA
Both hard to find probably: Sony HDR-F1HD and Kenwood KT-5020. The Sony will pull in more stations though the Kenwood is quite good But the Kenwood has way better sound, one of the better sounding tuners.
.
PIoneer TX-9500 often sells on the auction site for less than $100. Mine sounds almost as good as my McIntosh MR-78. There are many good vintage analog tuners from (Sansui, Kenwood, Pioneer, Marantz, etc.) that should provide good value and sound (once aligned!) Make sure you get one that rejects HD radio interference if this is an issue with your stations.
FM radio is pretty dire in most parts of the world, not just in Nth America. Down here it's mostly awful.What does 'beat sounding for the price' mean? or did you mean to type 'best'?
Do you have any good sounding (low compression) FM stations nearby, that also transmit music you care about? We could then call these your 'desired stations'. And, where are their transmitters on the map, in relation to you?
Relating to this last issue, do you have, or propose to use, a good antenna, and aim it at each of the desired stations? IE a directional item (with more gain than a dipole) mounted up high outside - or similar in your loft space?
If no to 2 and 3 then the concept of a 'high value tuner' rather falls to bits IMO.
'Best' sound from any tuner comes only when driven by a strong signal that is also free of multi-path. And a directional antenna is essential to attain both qualities in the signal.
To put it another way - "How good an antenna will I need for those stations?"
There are lot of good enough tuners around to be satisfying for < $200. If you have stations and an antenna to suit your needs.
Noting that IF the desired stations nearby also use IBOC (aka HDRadio) you will need a tuner that can reject these sideband signals when it is receiving an FM signal.
You need to have answers to each of these issues before you choose a tuner.
Once you do the TIC site aka Tuner Information Centre is more likely to be able to help you find a tuner than anyone here. As there is a wide range of good used FM tuners, but only a handful of good new items for <$200. One of which is sold by Marantz.
Warmest
Tim Bailey
Skeptical Measurer & Audio Scrounger
Edits: 08/15/14
The problem in my area was reception over "noise". I live in NJ and near three Military bases. So you can imagine the interference. Compounded by Philadelphia's incredibly discourteous country and latin stations blasting out what I'm SURE is FCC unregulated power.
The Sony was the only tuner to actually bring in hard to pull in stations and clean up almost all of the interference.
Thank you for the very um very detailed explanation. I realize there are other factors involved, I am just looking for a tuner that is generally known to be a good one. I am not that interested to do any real research. I know that any tuner in the $100-200 price range will have some compromises. Thanks again for the info....
You asked and had it explained to you.
Considering a tuner without the right antenna - for it, for where you are is like thinking about considering owning a car without considering the right tires for the conditions it will face, and how you drive.
But it is your money.
Warmest
Tim Bailey
Skeptical Measurer & Audio Scrounger
Post a Followup:
FAQ |
Post a Message! |
Forgot Password? |
|
||||||||||||||
|
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors: