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I just picked up a KT-8300 on a CL deal, so now I'm thinking about sending it off for alignment and mods. Sound quality rather than DXing is my main interest, since installing an antenna that would be appropriate for DXing in this neighborhood would probably not fly with the city. A Fanfare FM-2G is probably about it, but that should be okay for the stations I listen to. Doing a little searching on Radio Road has brought up the name of Mike Williams at Radio X - is there anyone else I should consider? I'd prefer to deal with someone in the Twin Cities area if possible, since that would be within driving distance.
TIA.
Follow Ups:
I had a KT8300 that was modded by TunerX. I have no complaints regarding the sound quality of that tuner. I think it compares with anything Kenwood was making back then. Just my impression comparing to my 600t which was upgraded by Bill Ammons. Thats who I would send the the 8300 to no question. My experience sending a Sony to TunerX was not a good one in the least. He totally ignored an issue with the tuner and went ahead and did his "mods" Me thinks that having a component all squared away first operationally comes first before considering mods. A tech closer to you is Mark at Absolute Sound Labs and he fixed the Sony for me as well as getting everything to perform perfecty. His services are top notch and you do have to pay well for that. However , these 2 that I have mentioned are bona fide techs. If I recall, Ammons is a RF engineer as well. He designed a filter adder board to improve on tuner selectivity/sensitivity. one of those or both. Dont recall the particulars. It's a great tuner and I highly recommend a yagi rotatable roof top antenna. The improvement in reception is no less than astonishing and this will of course optimize your sound quality.
...so I should know soon if he's still taking "patients".
Todd,
I have a couple of 8300s. good tuners. both are heavily upgraded. If you get into doing the mods or upgrades, the biggest sonic improvements in desending order are:
1. new filter caps and bypassing the filters with film and foil caps in the power supply ( I use the Nichicon for bypasses and PW types main filters)
2. soft recovery rectifiers in the power supply
3. bypassing the interstage electrolytic coupling caps with film and foil in the audio stages.
4. using bulk foil resistors in the few power supply locations.
good luck.
J
Incidentally, there's a listing on CL for St Cloud, MN for another KT-8300 with a KA-801 amplifier. No affiliation whatsoever - I just noticed the ad, and I like mine a whole lot, so I thought someone else might be interested.
Typical audio upgrades include replacing coupling capacitors with ELNA Silmic II and replacing the original op-amps with later audio grade op-amps.
Unfortunately, these type of mods have not been well received by the 'status quo' as most simply purchase the best sounding tuners in stock form. Thus, not many techs perform these mods.
What you mentioned is probably the most significant "easily heard" and easy mod one could do. Need to be careful though, as replacing *all* electrolytic coupling caps with Silmic IIs can make the sound too soft and too bassy. I would say, in general, no more than two stages of Silmic IIs before a (preferably) film output cap. The mids tend to get significantly recessed with too many Silmic stages. Luckily this "mod" is easy to do and hear, so can do one stage (edit: and channel, to compare) at a time. Cheap too!
Edits: 01/11/15
Actually, I have (had) a lot of those terribly expensive and rather compact Sprague 10uF @ 50 volt poly caps. So, I do mix.
Totally on the same track. I have a lot of the (apparently very uncommon now?) Roederstein 10uF/250V polycarbonate caps that I tend to really like the sound of (it's quite distinctive re the mids, and lasts pretty much forever). So I mix to taste with the Silmic IIs, can give a whole new life to a tuner: the (actual) silk of Silmic and the smooth sweetness of PC.
There aren't a lot of good-sounding FM stations around here anymore, they mostly all need sonic help. Only one (jazz) sounds like you may actually be listening to an LP, and another (classical) also has enough dynamic range to be stimulating. Unfortunately those aren't my preferred genres...
Love Kenwood tuners. IMO they had the best designers (I'm a ham too) and it's true they built to a price, but they really knew their stuff. And they were/are very reliable too. I have one that's been powered on 24/7 since the 90s. I would buy pretty much even the cheapest Kenwood tuner for $100, if it was looking good and everything appeared to work (usually old stuff that looks like new was taken good care of).
Todd,
Before you decide on an antenna, use a map and FMFool to find the bearings of the transmitter/s for each station you are going to bother with. (I'd expect there'd be lots you wont bother with. )
Only then will you know if an omni will do the job.
IF many are within say a 30 degree arc then a directional antenna (with gain) may be feasible. Even two?! pointed at relevant clusters of bearings.
Warmest
Tim Bailey
Skeptical Measurer & Audio Scrounger
Looks like a good resource, Timbo - thank you.
Realistically, 95% or more of my listening is to one station - KSJR-FM, which is the classical Minnesota Public Radio station located about 11 miles away. FMFool shows it as requiring a 48' antenna for LOS reception, but realistically, I get perfectly acceptable reception with a mere dipole antenna only 4' above ground level. When I'm looking to broaden my horizons, I generally turn to the limitless dessert menu offered by the Cambridge. The audio quality isn't even close to the Kenwood, but it's sometimes nice to turn on a good blues station that simply wouldn't be an option on the FM.
;-)I don't have any big problems here in Canberra, almost all FM stations are transmitted from Black Mountain Tower, see below, as is TV. All the ones I am interested in, as well, there are really only two.
But Canberra is very hilly, being within the Great Diving Range. So we need a good tight pattern, although gain isn't a big issue.The antenna array is aimed at Black Mountain for TV as well.
The whole thing currently needs work, mostly due to the age* of the short runs from each antenna to the FUBA (German) UHF:VHF:FM combiner, also on the mast.
I built the mast, from heavy scrounged thick-wall tubing, back in the '90s*nearly broke. Ought to replace it, with a thin-wall antenna mast.
Maybe when it is all done I will write it up. ? ;-)!
Need to reconnect the AM random wire antenna, too!!!! It used to run over to a good neighbour's chimney! It's tuned by a vane cap and a tapped coil. Why bother? We still have wide audio bandwidth AM down here.
Got a good novel for Xmas, Man Booker Prize 2014. Richard Flanagan's "The Road to the Deep North". But I have 7 books going currently, though.
Just got the 'new' PC back so I've been down the tunnel / rat-hole too much. Should go outside under the deck and read.
Warmest
Tim Bailey
Skeptical Measurer & Audio Scrounger
Edits: 12/27/14
I don't think that "AM" is used for much other than talk radio in the US these days...
that doesn't mean there aren't others; I just cannot think of any...
all the best,
mrh
Don't know how far this is from you but this is from TIC. This gentleman is also a moderator for the Yahoo McIntosh group.
TIC's top recommendation for tuner repairs (but not mods) is Mark Wilson, a/k/a Absolute Sound Labs, in Savage, Minnesota. Mark has been doing audio restorations since 1964 and his work has received rave reviews from several of TIC's most trusted contributors. Mark can handle repairs and restorations of almost any vintage equipment, including tubed gear and peculiar brands like Sumo, and offers a six-month limited warranty on any of his restoration work. As one of the very few authorized McIntosh Long Term Service Centers, Mark has access to original McIntosh parts, can service their equipment dating back to the 1950s, and also provides warranty service for newer Mac products. Contact Mark at restorationATabsoundlabs.com (replace the AT with an @ sign), call him at (952) 894-5580, or visit his website. Mark also has a special email address for McIntosh inquiries, mcintoshATabsoundlabs.com (replace the AT with an @ sign).
I had seen the Mark Wilson reference on TIC, but thought that he probably wasn't who I was looking for since it specifically states, "but not mods". I may give him a call anyway, since all I'm really looking for is replacement of caps and op-amps. He may be willing to tackle it if all I'm looking for is upgraded parts.
Thanks to both of you. I've been listening to the Kenwood for two days now, and frankly I'm not sure how much improvement I can reasonably expect by modding it. I had already been very much impressed, but my bride (who wears hearing aids) suggested that the difference between the KT-8300 and the Yamaha T2x I had been using was "like the difference between two and three dimensions". That's a pretty strong statement.
Mark is highly recommended by me as well. He had gone through a MR74 and a Sony ST-J75. The Sony was in dire need especially repair of a noisy transformer which was re-potted. There were components added to the board by others that made no logical sense. Mark cleaned that tuner up and restored it. There are often updates to a particular unit and Mark makes sure he is aware of what should be done. This is the case with MR 74 tuner and others I imagine.
Just to clarify, do you and the Mrs. both prefer the Kenwood to the Yamaha? The T2 is supposed to be pretty good. One person who has expertise in Kenwood mods but is not local to you is Bill Ammons:
http://www.fmtunerinfo.com/index.html#IF
He's in Phoenix. My experience has been that if you have a station with IBOC noise caused by HD Radio, narrower bandwidth can help a lot. See
https://sites.google.com/site/mpbarney/kenwoodkt-8300 for additional info. Good luck and keep us posted on your experiences!
Frankly, it's really no contest, and I too had thought the Yamaha to be a pretty decent tuner. Initially, I was a little disappointed by the additional hiss I heard from the Kenwood, but that was only until I discovered the IF band selector switch. As you've noted, once I switched to narrow band most of the hiss disappeared, and all that was left was music.
I don't think Bill is still doing tuner mods, but it would certainly be worth checking into.
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