I get what Uncle Mike's saying here, too, but .....

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In Reply to: RE: Is a HK TA-230 worth the cost of restoring posted by Eli Duttman on October 3, 2016 at 08:54:58:

The ROI on - rebuilding & rethinking - the TA230, IF he's not an originalist, could be quite high.
i) It would suit his Altec Valencia's very well.
ii) The FM stage simply needs a MPX (stereo decoder) kit, SS ones are not hard to find. If you need a low Z drive into the pre-amp? Add a 12AU7 in Cathode follower mode and you are good to go. SS for the audio?
iii) IMO&E most of the reported sound benefits from Valve FM tuners derive from their valved front-ends. ? They are likely to be resistant to strong out-of-band signals below 88 and above 108Mhz. There is a LOT of this RFI/EMI about. Classic SS tuners are not as likely to have this 'feature'. The FM stage will need to be driven hard by a directional antenna to improve the radio system's station selectivity.
iv) as it is a simulcast rcvr the AM stage/s may have/allow a wider audio bandwidth than most around today. Depends on AM where he is if this matters or not. A good AM antenna IE a longish random wire outside and a coil and a vane cap to tune it to desired stations - is a good thing.
OR CC Crane's AM device.
v) all valve power amps, even tiddlers, have the potential to benefit from a very high storage PSU. In a rcvr this helps quieten all the line sources .... and phono. You do have to ditch the valve rectifier and replace it (OR bypass it) with modern SR SS Schottky diodes to cope with much bigger capacitors, and maybe add a choke, but that's all.
LBNLeast? My main system's tuna is a rebuilt & rethought simulcast rcvr. It had two AM BCB stages and we now have wide audio bandwidth AM. We added a Stereo MPX kit and turned off the power amps.
While this path is not as simple and could involve some further commitment to antennas, my experience - though not including the power amps confirms it can be worthwhile.

Warmest

Tim Bailey

Skeptical Measurer & Audio Scrounger

Edits: 10/07/16

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Follow Ups Full Thread

Topic - Is a HK TA-230 worth the cost of restoring - airtime 08:42:51 10/03/16 (4)

RE: Is a HK TA-230 worth the cost of restoring - Uncle Mike 14:48:02 10/03/16 (0)

RE: Is a HK TA-230 worth the cost of restoring - Eli Duttman 08:54:58 10/03/16 (2)

I get what Uncle Mike's saying here, too, but ..... - Timbo in Oz 23:42:07 10/07/16 (1)

RE: I get what Uncle Mike's saying here, too, but ..... - Uncle Mike 07:20:33 10/08/16 (0)

Follow Ups

I get what Uncle Mike's saying here, too, but ..... - Timbo in Oz 23:42:07 10/07/16 (1)

RE: I get what Uncle Mike's saying here, too, but ..... - Uncle Mike 07:20:33 10/08/16 (0)

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