I wouldn't expect a valve tuner to perform well off an indoor antenna

Radio Road

Which tuner to get and getting the most from it. Thank God, for the radio!

Posted by Timbo in Oz (A) on October 10, 2011 at 14:56:29

In Reply to: "New" NAD 4020a posted by ChadHahn on October 9, 2011 at 20:25:53:

Your idea that a tuner can be tested without any antenna at all, makes me wonder how much you understand about getting good sounding results from a tuner, particularly one with valve RF stages.

Valve tuners are far less sensitive than SS, and thus need to be driven far, far harder to get to full quieting (10-20 times more signal), and are even less good at picking out stations close to each other on the dial. They need all the help they can get. They can sound marvellous when they are fed right.

Omni-directional antennas won't help much on the last problem. Amplified indoor antennas are very prone to amplifying all the EMI/RFI coming from home appliances, TVs and PCs. And the tuner can go into front end overload and become noisy. Click below.

You may get lucky if your most desired station is physically close to you and 'alone' on the dial.

To guarantee the best possible sound from a valve tuner on all desired stations you will need a directional antenna, and likely a rotator. Factor it into your budget.

FM stereo just is directional, it is built in to the system.

When people write in here to describe the improvement from a directional antenna, they all note the striking improvement in sound quality.

FM is in some ways my best source. I am fortunate that we have a national Classical/Jazz network of powerful transmitters, purist sound and miking, and lots of live acoustic broadcasts of local and visiting groups. In the last four weeks we've had two direct broadcasts from the Vienna Phil who were on a national tour. Better sound than any recording I have.

To deal with all the mountains we are surrounded by, my antenna array includes a long/wide-band VHF antenna* with a good tight pattern and enough forward gain for both the valuable stations. * It was made by Antenna craft for Tandy, 3 decades ago! Luckily we have one big tower with all the TV and FM transmitters on it, and the direction to it is reasonably unobstructed, if over a ridge.

[ Another review page ?

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/278294-REG/Terk_Technologies_AF1_AF_1_AM_FM_Q_Amplified.html ]

Warmest

Tim Bailey

Skeptical Measurer & Audio Scrounger

some reviews of your antenna, which are not encouraging! (Open in New Window)

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Follow Ups Full Thread

Topic - "New" NAD 4020a - ChadHahn 20:25:53 10/09/11 (9)

RE: "New" NAD 4020a - Swiller 17:34:50 10/21/11 (0)

RE: "New" NAD 4020a - hahax@verizon.net 20:46:38 10/10/11 (0)

I wouldn't expect a valve tuner to perform well off an indoor antenna - Timbo in Oz 14:56:29 10/10/11 (4)

RE: I wouldn't expect a valve tuner to perform well off an indoor antenna - ChadHahn 18:01:27 10/21/11 (3)

You might be lucky with the Terk, most aren't! - Timbo in Oz 18:17:07 10/21/11 (2)

RE: You might be lucky with the Terk, most aren't! - ChadHahn 21:09:54 10/21/11 (1)

We have two kinds of good public radio here, a national network - Timbo in Oz 23:34:37 10/21/11 (0)

RE: "New" NAD 4020a - Eli Duttman 05:59:09 10/10/11 (0)

RE: "New" NAD 4020a - Neff 05:03:43 10/10/11 (0)

Follow Ups

I wouldn't expect a valve tuner to perform well off an indoor antenna - Timbo in Oz 14:56:29 10/10/11 (4)

RE: I wouldn't expect a valve tuner to perform well off an indoor antenna - ChadHahn 18:01:27 10/21/11 (3)

You might be lucky with the Terk, most aren't! - Timbo in Oz 18:17:07 10/21/11 (2)

RE: You might be lucky with the Terk, most aren't! - ChadHahn 21:09:54 10/21/11 (1)

We have two kinds of good public radio here, a national network - Timbo in Oz 23:34:37 10/21/11 (0)

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