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I bought mine in the mid 90's. It has been powered up almost 24/7 minus the power outages. So far no problems, no service, no upgrades - no nothing. It works great - why argue with success? Just because someone who could be the very person who is running an upgrade service is urging me get it serviced or buy something used and have it serviced as well :-) With Naim-Audio gear and (SF Electa Amator II's, Quad 989, SF Guarneri and Klipsch Forte-1's) I hear detailed, slightly warm sound - no fatigue and can be very engaging. I think 'pleasant' or 'semi-warm' mid-range is my way of describing it. Not 'thin' by any sense of the word. There isn't anything that sticks out that would annoy anyone. Base-freaks probably will not be pleased because low-end response is about average - it sligtly improves with my REL B1 sub. Staging can be deep & wide, in some cases wider than the speakers depending on the program. Imaging of instruments & vocalists is good but I wouldn't go as far as 'pin point imaging'. It's certainly not vague or an abstract wall of sound - there's a sense of placement and separation. There's some floor noise with Etude but not significant enough to distract. It's not the the quietest tuner I have listened. The sound is about even with the speaker plane - not recessed or forward. This tuner is sensitive to microphone effects during news broadcasts and poorly recorded music on certain programs. Lack of sibilance is better than average which I think is minus one big distraction. I have the external antena but never needed it. The rabbit ears from Dynalab gives strong reception from local stations. My other choices would have been either Linn or Naim but prices of those units in the mid 90's were quite a bit higher than Etude which has been an excellent compromise. I read some of the reviews on
http://www.fmtunerinfo.com/reviewsM-N.html#magnum
I auditioned some of the units that were in the shoot-out. The analogies the reviewer was using comparing some of the units to girls he either once dated or wanted to date - whatever it was - it's corny, rednecky, and total waste of time. The reviewer is one step away from writing the audio-porn - poor man's sixmoons.audio type of review except those guys at least take good photographs but that's where it ends. When I read sixmoons.audio reviews on few occasions, it was like the reviewer was describing his sexual fantasies with some imaginative partner. In all cases he's always having this big f... session with this equipment that costs the price of a luxury car - nothing more than audio-fiction but audio-porn would be more descriptive. The reviewers are errand-boys for the manufacturers. All I got out of FM tuner reviews was about which product had more base and could pick up more stations. Thanks but no thanks.
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