Re: Old Tuners- Favorites ?/ Questions

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Posted by BFitz on March 19, 2001 at 10:57:20

In Reply to: Old Tuners- Favorites ?/ Questions posted by Erational on March 18, 2001 at 20:56:34:

"Also I am concerned about channel drift with these old tuners, is that unfounded ? "

Yes. Most, even the 50's tube units, have AFC, or automatic frequency control. It locks the tuner to the center of the channel.

"How do they stack-up against modern tuners (besides sound)"
Which modern tuners? Mega buck audiophile ones, or ones built in HT receivers? the first are pretty good, the latter are pretty poor in comparison.

Tube units sound the best, and need some maintenance. The better tube units, when properly aligned, have amazing sensitivity as well. The one area they may fall down in is selectivity. By that I mean, for example - a strong station at 97.5 and your favorite one, a weak station is at 97.7. It takes a great tuner to listen noise free to the weak station. If you have a direction antenna with rotating rotor you can work around the issue more easily than off a omni-dipole. The later units listed below usually had selectable IF filter bandwith for this reason, and handle this situation more easily than most tube units. See the VTV Tuner article for more on tube tuners.
I use a tuner two ways - background music, and for listening at decent volume. I have some cheap digital readout tuners for background. For listening, the tube units excel. The '75-'80 top shelf japanese units are really the best all around for both, but don't have the tube sound. Examples are the Kenwood KT8300, Pioneer TX9500II/TX9800, Sansui TU9900.
For tube tuners, beyond the Marantz and Mcintosh stuff, most the Fisher tube units were great, as well as the Sherwoods and Scotts.
If you have 3 or 4 really quality classical and jazz stations, it is worth the investment to buy a few units and play. I'm hooked.
Bob

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Follow Ups Full Thread

Topic - Old Tuners- Favorites ?/ Questions - Erational 20:56:34 03/18/01 (20)

Re: Old Tuners- Favorites ?/ Questions - Pland 18:33:33 04/01/01 (0)

Fisher FM100 -- Mono, Tube Rectified, Stock, Amazing! (nt) - Willie the Squid 19:08:15 03/24/01 (0)

Re: Old Tuners- Favorites ?/ Questions - PaulN 17:44:11 03/23/01 (0)

Re: Old Tuners- Favorites ?/ Questions - johng 14:17:48 03/23/01 (0)

Re: Old Tuners- Favorites ?/ Questions - Russellc 14:07:15 03/22/01 (1)

Re: Old Tuners- Favorites ?/ Questions - Byzen 16:22:10 03/22/01 (0)

Re: Old Tuners- Favorites ?/ Questions - Buzz 01:02:44 03/20/01 (3)

Re: Old Tuners- Favorites ?/ Questions - kelley@cyberzone.net 10:03:26 04/01/01 (0)

I have a Sansui T-60 that's very similar - Dougman 19:38:07 03/27/01 (0)

Re: Old Tuners- Favorites ?/ Questions - Jelly Roll Mozart 13:02:32 03/21/01 (0)

Scott 4310....(nt) - will 15:27:50 03/19/01 (5)

Re: Scott 4310....(nt) - Brian 17:52:06 03/19/01 (1)

Re: Scott 4310....(nt) - BFitz 12:40:12 03/20/01 (0)

Re: Scott 4310....(nt) - bean_counter 16:10:27 03/19/01 (2)

Re: Scott 4310....(nt) - will 17:36:09 03/19/01 (1)

Re: Scott 4310....(nt) - Brian 21:37:55 03/19/01 (0)

Re: Old Tuners- Favorite - Jeff Starr 11:46:18 03/19/01 (0)

Re: Old Tuners- Favorites ?/ Questions - bean_counter 11:37:42 03/19/01 (0)

Re: Old Tuners- Favorites ?/ Questions - BFitz 10:57:20 03/19/01 (0)

McIntosh MR-77 - eric the red 00:09:21 03/19/01 (0)

Follow Ups

Re: Old Tuners- Favorites ?/ Questions - BFitz 10:57:20 03/19/01 (0)

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